› added 2 years ago

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TIL that many people believe sharks don't get cancer; this is from a 1992 book, "Sharks Don't Get Cancer," which invented claims to sell shark cartilage as a cancer remedy

0woyL TIL a Princeton University undergraduate designed an atomic bomb for his term paper. When American nuclear scientists said it would work, the FBI confiscated his paper and classified it. Few months later he was contacted by French and Pakistani officials who offered to buy his design. He got an "A".
GVLJ TIL that a Jewish tradition where a rabbi sucks the blood from a freshly-circumcised penis, has caused many babies to contract herpes. 2 have died and 2 have suffered brain damage since 2000.
KOG4w TIL: Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, discoverer of the X-Rays, chose the name himself and didn't want them to be named after him. It is used worldwide with exception to his native Germany where they are call Röntgenstrahlen (Röntgen-Ray)
epMxE TIL that The Offspring used the same spoken word sample on their hit "Pretty Fly For A White Guy" (released in 1998) as Def Leppard's "Rock Of Ages" (released in 1983). The spoken word sample was just jibberish made up by Def Leppard's producer because he did not want to use the standard 1-2-3 count
AQVn TIL Synsepalum dulcificum is a “Miracle Fruit” which, after consumed, makes sour foods taste sweet. And in the 1970’s an attempt to commercialize this fruit for that purpose failed with accusations of the sugar industry sabotaging the research to prevent loss of business