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TIL that pregnant mice exposed to unfamiliar males often terminate their own existing pregnancies and mate with the new male. This is called the Bruce effect

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7rDdZ TIL Tamil Siddhas carve iconic symbols for the Hindu god Shiva out of solidified mercury, using a secret process to solidify the mercury passed down through centuries which has still not been totally understood or replicated using modern chemistry
PY9vE TIL the original ending to Back to the Future would have Marty driving 88 mph towards a nuclear blast in a nuclear test site. However, Universal deemed it too expensive to shoot in the desert, so the lightning scene was instead shot at the Universal backlot and is shown in the final version.
JYB0l TIL that the word "ninja" is actually pronounced "shinobi" in the native kun'yomi kanji reading. It is a shortened form of "shinobi-no-mono," which translates closely to "stealthy person." "Ninja" is an on'yomi, a pronunciation of the names of the two Japanese letters that make up the term.
gM0PA TIL Harry R. Truman refused to leave his lodge at the base of Mount St. Helens in Washington state despite evacuation orders due to its seismic activity, saying to reporters "If the mountain goes, I'm going with it." He was killed by the pyroclastic flow from the eruption on May 18th, 1980.
6Endl TIL that prior to the development of modern guns, soldiers needed to use their teeth to open cartridges, so militaries introduced requirements about the minimum number of the teeth of their soldiers. In some cases soldiers would pull or damage their teeth in order to avoid military conscription.