› added 11 years ago

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TIL Polish doctor Eugene Lazowski saved 8,000 Jews during the Holocaust by injecting dead typhus cells into them, allowing them to test positive for typhus despite being healthy. Germans were afraid of the highly contagious disease and refused to deport them to concentration camps.

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Z86d4 TIL there is a Colombian species of Frog called Allobates Niputidea or in english, Allobates Not a Fucking Clue. This is because when discovered, the team had no idea of how to classify it.
KOgp9 TIL that the suicide plant, indigenous to Australia, when touched can cause pain for years. The treatment is to expose the skin to hydrochloric acid. And if the plant hairs are broken off during removal, it increases the level of pain.
xVndk TIL Dusty Hill from ZZ Top wanted to feel "normal" after their "Worldwide Texas Tour". So he cut his hair, got a job at an airport, went by the name of "Joe" and would go out on Friday nights with coworkers so he could feel "grounded".
kOv5g TIL about the worst space related disaster in history. In 1994 China launched an untested rocket which immediately crashed into a nearby village, destroying it--killing hundreds. Officially only 6 died.
6E4k7 TIL Helly Juell Hansen was a Norwegian captain that first produced clothes in 1877 to protect his crew against the harsh Nordic weather. His revolutionary new product infused linseed oil into cotton fabric. 141 years later, in 2018 the company was sold to Canadian Tire for $985 million.