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TIL whales earwax acts as a hearing aid. The wax has a similar density to water and allows sound to travel through the ear canal into the inner ear unimpeded—something that would be impossible if the ear was filled with air.

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LQNLr TIL that in 2013, an officer of Nashville's Covenant Church (which runs the school where yesterday's shooting occurred) sued the Covenant organization for allegedly shielding a child molester. The whistleblow charged that Covenant engages in "cult-like abuse of authority over vulnerable children."
kJWe4 TIL that a May 2024 study revealed the human brain now contains an average of 0.5% plastic by weight. This is 50% more than an equivalent study from 2016.
oWQW TIL John Snow is considered the Father of Modern Epidemiology, after successfully tracing back a cholera infection to a water pump in London in 1854.
V5e8 TIL after the release of Gayla Peevey’s “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” (1953) a campaign was launched to give her a hippopotamus for Christmas. The campaign succeeded & she was presented with an actual hippopotamus, which she donated to the city zoo. The hippopotamus lived for nearly 50 years
XEkar TIL that Jerry van Dyke, the younger brother of Dick van Dyke, was offered the lead role in Gilligan's Island but accepted a role in My Mother the Car instead. This show, about a man whose dead mother is reincarnated as a car, ended after one season and is considered among the worst shows ever made.