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TIL APOPO, a Tanzanian wildlife agency trained African Pouch rats to sniff out landmines and diagnose tuberculosis by smelling sputum samples. The rats were so effective that the US Fish and Wildlife Department spent $100,000 on a program where Pouch rats were trained to combat wildlife trafficking.

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l7LD1 TIL Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great’s harem housed over 5,000 women, from concubines to queens, each chosen for beauty, wit, or politics. Marrying Hindu princesses for alliances, Akbar turned his harem into a melting pot of power, where women influenced court politics and cultural fusion thrived.
wLVro TIL four-legged animals like horses and dogs don't have backwards knees. Those joints are actually their ankles, which bend in the same direction as our ankles do.
8elWX TIL the guy who says "Here we go" and "Metronome" in the AJR song "Bang!" is Charlie Pellett, the official voice of the New York City subway who can be heard saying "stand clear of the closing doors" at every stop.
nem6r TIL Juicy Fruit Gum, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Cream of Wheat, the moving walkway, and the movie theater were all introduced at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, among other inventions
bPPa TIL that in MAY 1997, an IBM supercomputer known as Deep Blue beat then chess world champion Garry Kasparov, who had once bragged he would never lose to a machine. After 15 years, it was discovered that the critical move made by Deep Blue was due to a bug in its software.