› added 9 years ago

345

TIL when he died, MLK was planning a Poor People’s Campaign, demanding jobs, health care, and decent homes for the poor. He wanted protesters to march on Washington and stay until their demands were met. The protest began 5 weeks after his murder.

Read more npr.org

via ift.tt

bNN4 TIL that Elizabeth Taylor had a genetic mutation of the FOXC2 gene, which gave her an extra row of eyelashes.
E1Zex TIL that the word 'bald' in 'bald eagle' has nothing to do with the definition as a lack of hair. Rather, the term bald eagle is derived in English from the word 'piebald', in reference to their white heads and tail feathers in contrast to the darker color of the rest of their bodies.
5YgE9 TIL that the US Navy has been training dolphins to carry out military tasks such as locating underwater mines and flagging enemy swimmers since the 1960's
yl5M TIL that there is a medical condition named akinetopsia where you cannot perceive the motion of objects but can still see acutely and recognize objects normally. Everything seems to be frozen in time only to “jump ahead” in time and freeze again.
BrNOk TIL humans can gain the ability to see ultraviolet light. We simply have a layer in our eyes which filters it out. Individuals who suffered eye damage from disease, injury or surgery have sometimes gained the ability to distinguish ultraviolet light.