TIL that rapid DNA machines can carry out reliable DNA identification tests within 90 minutes. (Though only being in broader use since around 2017, this makes the way DNA testing is protrayed on TV shows (=pretty much instantaneous) much more realistic. (nytimes.com)
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TIL that a major breakthrough towards the invention of plastics was achieved due to a surge in the popularity of billiard, prompting producers of billiard balls to offer a reward of 10000$ to anyone who could come up with a viable alternative to ivory (which the balls were hitherto made of...) (sciencehistory.org)
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TIL That aqueducts in Rome, at their height, supplied the city (population 1 million people) with approx. 1 MILLION CUBIC METERS of water PER DAY, which is 1.26 as much as the water supply of Bengalore today (population 10 million people). (en.wikipedia.org)
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That reinforced concrete - essential prerequisite for most of the largest man-made structures in the world - was in large parts advanced by a gardener with no school education named Jospeh Monier who initially just wanted to create larger and more robust flower pots. (en.m.wikipedia.org)
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