TIL biomass of large predatory fish has declined worldwide by at least 90% over the past 50–100 years, according to a study published in 2005. [Source]

TIL that ancient hunter-gatherer populations consumed between 100g-150g of fiber per day, contrasting with the 15g of fiber the average American adult consumes daily. Between 90-95% of Americans fail to meet daily fiber recommendations. [Source]

TIL about the Ash Street Shootout. An intense gunfight between US Army Rangers and the Crips. [Source]

TIL chewing gum is not biodegradable because it is made from synthetic polymers and plastics [Source]

TIL that there is no record of the death of 12 Years a Slave (1853) author, Solomon Northup. There is only one account of him alive after 1857, leading to speculation he was enslaved again. Historians believe he most likely died in 1863 or 1864. [Source]

TIL Parkinson's Law is an observation written in 1955 where "work expands to fill the available time", which inspired the facetious Stock-Sanford corollary: "If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do." [Source]

TIL that the actor Hervé Villechaize, most famous for staring as Tattoo on the TV series Fantasy Island was an accomplished painter. At age 16, he entered he entered the École des Beaux-Art and by 1961, at age 18, he became the youngest artist ever to have his work displayed in the Museum of Paris. [Source]

TIL Stephen King initally threw away the first few written pages of manuscript for "Carrie" in his wastepaper basket, giving up on the project. It was his wife, Tabitha King, who fished them out of the trash, and gave it back to him, telling him that the idea was good, and he ought to go on. [Source]

TIL Alexander the Great’s mother, Olympias, had his father’s new wife and infant daughter burned alive. Years later, soldiers refused to execute Olympias so instead her victims’ families stoned her to death. [Source]

TIL that (US) generic drug names aren't created by their manufacturers, they're assigned by the United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council [Source]

TIL about Cryptic Pregnancies, which is when a pregnancy shows little to no symptoms to the point that the woman can be unaware that she is pregnant until she is in labor in some cases. [Source]

TIL that despite their name, it is biologically impossible for a centipede to be born with exactly 100 legs because a genetic quirk dictates they always have an odd number of leg pairs. [Source]

TIL that 28 people have gone the moon and only 12 of them walked on it [Source]

TIL the Austrian Empire tried to colonize islands near India in 1778 with basically 5-6 people. Things didn't go particularly well. The colonists struggled with food and water shortages, their leader Gottfried Stahl died in 1783, and the survivors eventually abandoned the settlement. [Source]

TIL Up until 1981 Boeing used depleted uranium as counter weights in parts of their 747’s [Source]

TIL In 2012, an Irish mother delivered her first twin prematurely, and her contractions stopped. This allowed the second twin to stay safely inside the womb for another 87 days. This rare occurrence is known as a delayed-interval delivery. It broke the previous world record of 84 days. [Source]

TIL that in 1991, Nigerian prophet Daniel Abodunrin entered a lion enclosure at the University of Ibadan Zoo, believing God would shut the lions’ mouths just as He did for Daniel in the Bible. However, the lions pounced on and devoured him. [Source]

TIL that earthquakes can trigger outbreaks of lasting vertigo in humans, which is known as Post-Earthquake Dizziness Syndrome [Source]

TIL: Eumenes of Cardia who went from being Alexander the Great's secretary to defeating one of Alexander's greatest generals in his first major battle [Source]

TIL about heraldic hatching, a historical method of representing color without color. [Source]

TIL that Lou Hoover - Henry Hoover's wife - had a tradition of leaving one chair empty whenever she entertained company, as a reminder of ongoing child poverty. [Source]