› added 6 years ago

213

TIL a recent study showed that subjects preferred to give themselves electric shocks rather than occupy themselves with their own thoughts for 15 minutes. Most people seem to prefer to be doing something rather than nothing, even if that something is negative

Read more wjh-harvard.edu

via reddit.com

QJnDp TIL that until the 1970's, the words moron, imbecile and idiot were actually medical diagnosis
7pOX TIL that people are ticklish where we are must vulnerable to attack (behind the knees, armpits, etc.) Our response to being tickled trains us to quickly block those locations as if in a defensive fight.
woKb7 TIL antivenom is made by injecting small amounts of venom into farm animals until they produce antibodies which are then extracted via drawing the animal’s blood.
v1Lax TIL that the written form of the Finnish language was largely created by one man, who was born at an unknown date somewhere around 1510. The invention of the printing press and the first sails to the Americas predate first texts ever written in Finnish.
neJPP TIL that before and during the American Revolution, the English, both in England and in the colonies, mostly spoke with a rhotic accent, meaning they pronounced the r in words, like in today's General American accent.