› added 12 years ago

69

TIL that the Romans decided it was a good idea to put lead in everything, and consequently had severe cases of lead poisoning.

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5V0eP TIL of Dr. Krueger who discovered that sections of our brain can fall asleep while remaining conscious.
5Nnn TIL that Charles Darwin was one of the first scientists to demonstrate the effects of inbreeding depression, with his own children. Darwin’s wife was his first cousin.
wLZZY TIL that in the early 19th century, oysters were cheap and mainly eaten by the working class.
GY7mE TIL of Cannibal Island - a small island in Siberia where the Soviet Union forcibly deported 6,000 citizens. They were abandoned with few supplies and only flour for food. Disease and cannibalism quickly ran rampant and after 13 weeks, 2/3 of the original deportees were dead.
v15J7 TIL that whilst investigating the spread of HIV in Los Angeles and San Francisco, researchers used the letter 'O' to refer a case of someone "outside the state of California". The letter O, however, was interpreted by some readers as the numeral 0. The designation ''Patient Zero'' was born.