› added 13 years ago

174

TIL that penicillin was so scarce and precious before 1944 that it was extracted from the patients’ urine to be re-used

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8ekxG TIL that the Oiseau Canari- the first French built and crewed plane to cross the Atlantic- carried an American stowaway
XEPLP TIL that in 1999, Furbies were banned from the National Security Agency's Maryland headquarters because it was feared the toys might repeat national security secrets.
D1pRg TIL of BASE jumper Frank Gambalie, who drowned while fleeing park rangers after an illegal base jump from El Capitan. Months later, fellow BASE jumper Jan Davis attempted a jump to protest the ban and prove it was safe, when she fell to her death
p8wBe TIL Your body can’t actually detect oxygen. When you hold you breath and feel the need to breathe, that is your body trying to get rid of carbon dioxide. (4:05 in video)
69YLW TIL that the French had for the best part of 5 centuries a very lucrative salt tax. So much so that at some point it was as valuable to France, as the American silver mines were to Spain (according to Cardinal Richelieu)