› added 3 weeks ago

5

TIL that Sudhir Venkatesh, a sociology PhD student, infiltrated a Chicago gang to study urban poverty, and ended up becoming leader for a day

Read more npr.org

via reddit.com

PYKgO TIL that the word restaurant comes from the first public dining establishments in Paris. The kitchens sold soups and broths which were advertised as 'restoratives' which is where we get the modern word restaurant from.
oBQBY TIL in 1996, NASA established the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics program in order to research propulsion that requires no propellant mass. Topics of interest include experiments and theories regarding gravity and electromagnetism, vacuum energy, warp drives and worm-holes and quantum effects.
v1yVD TIL the words 'cream' and 'Christ' are cognates; they derive from the same root meaning 'anoint' (rubbing things together with oil both practically and religiously).
a61J TIL that it’s illegal to be fat in Japan
W7jJB TIL In 1990, Freddie Mercury recorded the song The Show Must Go On in a single take and while dying of AIDS