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TIL that the Hemlock Water Dropwort is the most poisonous plant in the UK. Its poison constricts the muscles, causing death by asphyxia, which also causes a rictus like death grin. Use of this plant in Phoenician Sardinia for executions is the origin of the term "Sardonic Grin".

wildfooduk.com

Submitted by AspireAgain t3_11zroqu on March 23, 2023 at 5:44 PM in todayilearned

46 comments

2,466

TIL that in WW2, a Marine Corps Corsair pilot used his propeller to chew off the tail of an enemy aircraft after his guns jammed, while under fire from the enemy plane's tailgunner. The enemy plane crashed but the Corsair pilot made it back to base, receiving the Navy Cross for his actions.

valor.militarytimes.com

Submitted by hipster_deckard t3_11v227u on March 18, 2023 at 9:54 PM in todayilearned

158 comments

5,698

TIL in 2007 a Ford Fusion that was modified to run on hydrogen fuel cells set the land speed record for fuel cell ground vehicles with a speed of 207.297 mph

wikipedia.org

Submitted by Texas_Rockets t3_11o5knr on March 11, 2023 at 12:19 AM in todayilearned

23 comments

270

TIL that mosquitos can be a nuisance for everyone but not for the people in Iceland. Simply because they don't exist there:

indiatoday.in

Submitted by bringmeturtles t3_11ya7zs on March 22, 2023 at 7:00 AM in todayilearned

63 comments

180

TIL using ditto marks, or putting quotation marks under words to repeat what they say, goes back as far as the Neo-Assyrian period (934-608 B.C.)

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by [deleted] t3_11s8m4b on March 15, 2023 at 8:42 PM in todayilearned

25 comments

411

TIL baby giraffes fall 6 feet to the ground they are born. The fall doesn’t hurt them, but snaps the umbilical cord and tears the amniotic sack, with the shock of the fall stimulating the baby to take its first breath.

monartosafari.com.au

Submitted by billyboysuedo t3_1280vhk on March 31, 2023 at 9:53 PM in todayilearned

6 comments

1,381

TIL that certain BEST Products stores were built with unique & controversial architecture. Stores such as the "Peeling Building", "Forest Building", "Tilt Building", "Inside/Outside Building" and others helped generate commercial success for the company at the time. (Zoomable store photos on link)

archdaily.com

Submitted by Sandstorm400 t3_11wszsb on March 20, 2023 at 7:28 PM in todayilearned

13 comments

TIL: Lake Poopo completely dried up after the water level in Lake Titicaca could no longer support feeding into Poopo

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by Dotst t3_121u91p on March 25, 2023 at 6:15 PM in todayilearned

75 comments

824

TIL recent research shows the demodex mite, which lives on most humans' skin, has an anus. Contradicting earlier findings.

academic.oup.com

Submitted by AudibleNod t3_124x9xb on March 28, 2023 at 6:12 PM in todayilearned

21 comments

TIL that Drew Carey refuses to ever submit himself for an Emmy Award nomination

deseret.com

Submitted by Sensitive_Deal_6363 t3_126dggk on March 30, 2023 at 5:58 AM in todayilearned

15 comments

TIL the US federal government captures and sells excess wild horses to the public

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by MoistCoyote t3_11ztpdd on March 23, 2023 at 6:56 PM in todayilearned

146 comments

386

TIL Jimmy Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, the single largest expansion of protected lands in history which more than doubled the size of the National Parks System

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by Guardax t3_122r9cd on March 26, 2023 at 4:17 PM in todayilearned

63 comments

4,210

TIL that on April 1st, 1906, American newspapers ran prank articles reporting that Chicago had been "invaded by hordes of prehistoric monsters dealing death and destruction", illustrated with doctored photos showing dinosaurs attacking the Windy City.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by TJ_Fox t3_11yl4ek on March 22, 2023 at 2:41 PM in todayilearned

33 comments

632

TIL that the Incans genetically modified and hybridized crops such as potatoes at sites like the Moray Terrace.

interestingengineering.com

Submitted by A_Generic_White_Guy t3_11x2bnu on March 21, 2023 at 1:07 AM in todayilearned

62 comments

393

TIL That There's a Bible Belt In The Netherlands

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by iamasinglepotassium t3_126mz9g on March 30, 2023 at 1:29 PM in todayilearned

51 comments

289

TIL the majority of ancient Greeks and Romans that were literate read out loud. Reasons for this include a lack of space between letters and no formalized system of punctuation that helped with pauses in reading.

bbc.com

Submitted by Ask_Me_If_Im_A_Horse t3_124v6lh on March 28, 2023 at 4:58 PM in todayilearned

36 comments

523

TIL sitting U.S. President Harry Truman went for a 440-foot deep ride on captured German submarine U-2513 in 1946

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by ElMontolero t3_11tjbev on March 17, 2023 at 6:36 AM in todayilearned

11 comments

157

TIL: "Jamaica Mistaica" is a song Jimmy Buffett wrote about the time Jamaican police shot his plane. The plane was also carrying U2's Bono when police, suspecting it was being used to smuggle drugs, began shooting. The plane (and its bullet holes) is now displayed at Buffett's Margaritaville.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by theotherbogart t3_11whmns on March 20, 2023 at 12:31 PM in todayilearned

25 comments

382

TIL that seagulls not only eat other birds and animals, but are cannibals and often eat seagull chicks, even their own.

bbc.co.uk

Submitted by TrolleyMcTrollerson1 t3_122zqcj on March 26, 2023 at 9:09 PM in todayilearned

153 comments

1,988

TIL that actor Red Foxx was only 49 when he starred in Sandford & Son. He wore makeup to look older.

groovyhistory.com

Submitted by SaltyDogBill t3_11nf0az on March 10, 2023 at 4:46 AM in todayilearned

205 comments

3,706

TIL that Mattiedna Johnson, born to Mississippi sharecroppers in 1918, used techniques she’d used to make things like butter, jam and soap on her childhood farm to develop techniques to capture and preserve molds for research that eventually helped in the development of drugs to fight scarlet fever.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by RedditPrat t3_126093h on March 29, 2023 at 8:48 PM in todayilearned

11 comments

1,578

TIL that The National Library of Medicine has a Pillbox dataset made up of 8,693 photographs of pills, with an accompanying database of drug information. It was built to help with the identification of unknown pills.

beautifulpublicdata.com

Submitted by jonkeegan t3_127p8cw on March 31, 2023 at 3:34 PM in todayilearned

7 comments

301

TIL a special law in the UK was created to ensure that the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital will forever be able to collect royalties from stage performances, audiobooks, book releases, etc. of Peter Pan in the UK. This is the only work with an 'exception' to copyright laws.

gosh.org

Submitted by [deleted] t3_126e6pb on March 30, 2023 at 6:28 AM in todayilearned

109 comments

6,723

TIL that USPS ships day old baby chicks in the mail

modernfarmer.com

Submitted by shelovesbackshots t3_11t22hk on March 16, 2023 at 6:24 PM in todayilearned

179 comments

1,285

TIL that the oldest film on IMDb is "Passage de Vénus", a six second series of photographs of the transit of the planet Venus across the Sun on December 9th, 1874.

en.wikipedia.org

Submitted by PresLyndonBJohnson36 t3_126p6t8 on March 30, 2023 at 2:45 PM in todayilearned

12 comments

230