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TIL until late 1942, it was common for German U-boats to provide torpedoed survivors with food, water, and the direction of the nearest landmass. This ended when a U-boat towing lifeboats and flying the Red Cross flag was attacked by a US bomber.

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xVRW1 TIL that leftist mural artist Diego Rivera was commissioned to paint a mural in the lobby of Rockefeller Center. His mural included a portrait of Lenin, leading the Rockefellers to cancel the commission and destroy the unfinished mural. Rivera later recreated the piece in Mexico.
loKN7 TIL that MDMA (aka ecstasy) can help alleviate PTSD, even after taking it just once or twice. In a 2018 study, 100% of participants showed reduced symptoms of PTSD one year after the trial. 67% lost their PTSD diagnosis altogether.
1aRv8 TIL that British doctors performed a covert study of the length of time chocolates last on nurses' stations in hospitals, published in the British Medical Journal. They found that the 'decay rate' of the chocolates follows an exponential decay pattern with a half-life of 99 minutes.
EgyZP TIL in 1948, Paul Hermann Müller won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the potent toxic effects on insects by DDT. This pesticide was later on linked to deaths and adverse reproductive effects in both animals and humans.
v1GEK TIL: Tea was fashionable in Britain only after Charles II's Portuguese wife, Catherine of Braganza, popularized it. When she arrived in England she asked for a cup of tea, but was given ale instead.