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TIL that in 1994, a 17-year-old boy scout named David Hahn attempted to build a nuclear reactor in a backyard shed at his mother's house in Commerce Township, Michigan. The experiment emitted measurable radiation and the EPA eventually declared the property a Superfund cleanup site.

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via reddit.com

pL7A TIL the only photographs showing the moment Robert Kennedy was shot were not used in court but sealed for twenty years. When the photographer asked to have them back he was told they were accidently burned. Reappearing after a lawsuit they were then stolen from the courier transporting them.
Oka7 TIL in 1966 Ford sold an electric car that could travel 200 miles after 1 hours charge using Sulfur-Sodium battery.
8egab TIL a 2011 study, published in The Journal of Sex Research, found that two out of five single women and one out of five single men in "friends with benefits" relationships hoped that their relationship would eventually turn into a full-fledged romance.
WkMbY TIL in 1962 two US scientists discovered Peru's highest mountain was in danger of collapsing. When this was made public, the government threatened the scientists and banned civilians from speaking of it. In 1970, during a major earthquake, it collapsed on the town of Yangoy killing 20,000.
JJQ TIL That the single largest infiltration of the United States government in history was up to 5,000 covert agents, and was carried out by the “Church” of Scientology.