› added 5 years ago

172

TIL The treadmill originated in prisons and were used to pump water or crush grain

Read more mentalfloss.com

via reddit.com

a8BgL TIL the smoot is a unit of measure named for Oliver R. Smoot, an MIT student who as a fraternity pledge was forced to measure the Harvard Bridge using himself as a ruler. A smoot is equal to five feet, seven inches.
6op8 TIL that contrary to its primitive&stone age image, parts of Africa entered the Iron age independently, and possibly before the rest of the world
l7W51 TIL: The Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911 by a Louvre employee
MeVeW TIL when Gandhi's wife was stricken with pneumonia, doctors told her husband that a shot of penicillin would heal her, he refused to have "alien" medicine used and she died. Soon after, Gandhi caught malaria and, relenting from the standard applied to his wife, allowed doctors to save his life.
4klNb TIL that Snapdragon plants can “hear” - they make more nectar when pollinators buzz nearby. Plants that were played buzzing recordings sweetened their nectar and made more of it. 🐝