› added 7 years ago

471

TIL a lawyer was hired for a traffic case. Instead of sitting his client at the witness table, he dressed another lawyer to look like the client. When the only witness (a policeman) was asked to point to the defendant in the room he pointed to the fake client. The real defendant was found not guilty

Read more nytimes.com

via ift.tt

pYdp8 TIL Thomas Edison liked to take naps while holding spheres, when he nodded off he'd drop the spheres and be awoken. The naps were meant to drive creativity. A 2021 experiment found the spheres acted as a “hypnagogia catcher” which allowed participants to have more spontaneous thoughts/creativity.
690kZ TIL In January 1944 the Australian 9th Division found the Japanese 20th Division’s entire cryptographic library in New Guinea. The codes were buried in a steel trunk during a retreat and found by engineers looking for mines. This find lead to around 36,000 messages being decrypted in March alone.
OGb5X TIL the Sonic Hedgehog protein is a key signaling molecule in human embryos that helps control how the brain, face, and limbs form. Without it, major body parts wouldn’t grow in the right places.
NX0EQ TIL an isolated, extinct volcano crater in Papua New Guinea is home to more than 40 unique species of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, including the world's smallest parrot
vPb9R TIL that despite being their enemy, George Washington was admired by the British people during the Revolutionary War. The members of Parliament even said he was better than the British generals.