› added 4 months ago

17

TIL U.S. pennies made before 1982 are 95% copper, but starting in 1982, the Mint switched to 97.5% zinc with a thin copper coating due to copper’s rising cost. Both types were made in 1982. Copper pennies weigh 3.11g, zinc ones 2.5g.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

Med5B TIL in 1848, Phineas Gage had an accident where a 43inch iron rod pierced through his cheek and came out of his skull. He survived mostly unscathed but he became a completely different person, going from a hardworking, pleasant man to a surly, aggressive alcoholic who was unable to hold down a job.
Zp9A4 TIL: Apples are not native to North America. They originated in Kazakhstan, in central Asia east of the Caspian Sea. The capital of Kazakhstan, Alma Ata, means “full of apples.” By 1500 BC apple seeds had been carried throughout Europe. The Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans cultivated apples.
x6MD5 TIL during WWII, the U.S. developed bat bombs, attaching napalm to hibernating Mexican free-tailed bats to ignite Japanese cities. Tested in 1942-43, the project caused accidental fires in US military camps but was canceled in 1944 for the atomic bomb
wonnY TIL that Abraham Lincoln delivered a captivating speech that was so engrossing that reporters in attendance ceased taking notes, resulting in a loss of the speech's content.
Zpk5o TIL that a parasitic flatworm forms pulsing, brightly coloured sacs, called broodsacs, inside the tentacles of snails. It’s zombifying, caterpillar-shaped parasite pod that exists solely to trick birds into spreading the flatworm.