› added 4 years ago

151

TIL that in the 1952 polio epidemic in Denmark, mortality was over 85 per cent due to a shortage of respirators. Dr Bjorn Ibsen invented a new kind of ventilator, proved it worked and then recruited thousands of volunteers to hand-pump them for weeks (they were fully manual). Mortality fell to 26%.

Read more researchgate.net

via reddit.com

ALMd TIL Raul “Mike” Vargas survived over 90min inside the Station Nightclub fire. While trying to escape he fell and was buried under a 5ft tall pile of bodies. The bodies helped insulate him from the fire and he ended up walking out with only a few burns on his legs
Nrl6 TIL Russia secretly had maps so detailed of the Canadian Arctic during the Cold-War that other ships now use them over official maps.
N7ZOQ The longest human tunnel traveled through by a dog skateboarder is 30 people and was achieved by Otto the Skateboarding Bulldog in Lima, Peru, on November 8 2015.
VyOZ TIL that Wayne Gretzky, despite not having played hockey since 1999, still holds or shares 61 NHL records.
yQ5JX TIL The 6th biggest Pyramid in the world was built in 1991 and is a BassPro Shops Megastore.