› added 6 years ago

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TIL that 70% alcohol is better at disinfecting surfaces than 91% alcohol. In one experiment, a 50% alcohol solution killed Staphylococcus Aureus in less than 10 seconds, but a 90% solution failed to kill it even after two hours of contact time.

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VBMEQ TIL the cover of the Carpenters' single "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" was designed by Andrew Probert, who, among other things, would go on to design Star Trek's Enterprise 1701-D.
oB0gW TIL that dogs can use their highly evolved sense of smell to detect the odor signatures of various types of cancer in humans.
PY5YG TIL Over the Shinkansen's (Japan's Highspeed Rail) 50-plus year history, carrying over 5.3 billion passengers, there has been not a single passenger fatality or injury due to train accidents.
wRPP TIL Alexander II, Emperor of Russia sold Alaska to the USA fearing it will fall to British hands.
awb60 TIL that prior to 158 years ago in the West, babies were born and assigned the age 1 at birth. This was because scholars thought the number 0 was connected to a void which was connected to Satan, therefore not giving babies a year “0” at birth.