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TIL The University of British Columbia has a modern First Nations Longhouse constructed with Western redcedar logs and was designed to reflect the architectural traditions of Coast Salish-styled longhouses. It serves as an intellectual, social, spiritual, and cultural home for Aboriginal students

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rRodM TIL gorillas are in a semi-permanent state of flatulence, meaning they're always farting, due to the bacteria in their gut and the almost 40 pounds of vegetation they consume daily
rNYpy TIL that in 2013 a climber found a box full of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds on a remote glacier on Mont Blanc. Authorities determined they were likely from an Indian plane that crashed there in 1966 and gave the climber half the gems (worth $169,000) to reward his honesty in turning them in.
gMa8W TIL in 2017 raccoons and chimps were put through the Aesop's Fable test, to see if they could learn to displace water to get food from a container. Many succeeded: the raccoons used their hands to manipulate the container in creative ways, and one chimp simply peed into the container (which worked).
5VD1B TIL: In December 2024, a single mutation known as Q226L was found to enhance the ability of H5N1 ('bird flu') to infect human cells, particularly in the respiratory tract. Previously, at least three mutations were thought to be required for the virus to infect people and spread between them.
gAb9 TIL the first ever aerial photograph of an American city is of Boston in 1860. The photo, made from a hot air balloon, is titled: “Boston, as the Eagle and the Wild Goose See It”