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TIL the Black Plague was so deadly it killed 50% of Europe's population in the 14th century & reduced world population by up to 200 million

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b9eL7 TIL of the Harlem Hellfighters (369th Infantry Regiment) who were assigned to fight with the French Army in WWI because US commanders refused to accept them for combat duty with white American troops - They went on to become the most decorated American unit of the war.
M7kgb TIL the test pilot for the first fighter jet would fly dressed as a gorilla in a hat to allow US Air Force psychologists to gaslight other pilots into believing they hadn't witnessed a “gorilla, wearing a derby hat, waving a stogie at them” flying a fast-moving plane without a propeller
R5De1 TIL the common ancestor of all vertebrates had not 3 but 4 cones for detecting color. Most mammals later lost 2 cones from being nocturnal and primates evolved one back after that!
m1x4x TIL that actor Chuck Lamb became famous for playing the role of dead bodies in film and television
b9Wg7 TIL In 2013, 19 living men in the Tyrol region of Austria were determined to be direct descendants of Ötzi the Iceman.