› added 7 years ago

94

TIL 3 Harvard scientists were paid US$50,000 in the 1960s to promote sugar use and paint fat as the bad guy

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

mPwP TIL that today is the birthday of the New York subway. The subway system officially opened on Oct 27 1904 making 110 years old. It was the first rapid-transit subway system in America.
nWKg7 TIL that ancient Roman concrete’s resilience comes from lime clasts, which helped it self-repair cracks and maintain strength over centuries
N74PP Until the 21st century, birds were largely dismissed as simpletons. How smart can you be with a brain the size of a nut? And yet the more we study bird intelligence, the more those assumptions are breaking down. Studies have shown, for instance, that crows make tools, ravens solve puzzles, and parrots boast a diverse vocabulary. Their brains may be tiny, but birds have been known to outsmart children and apes.
OyVX TIL for the 2005 remake of King Kong, it took 4 months longer to recreate The Empire State building in CGI than it did to build the actual Empire State Building in real life.
QJDOk TIL that the trick from "Office Space" where they stole tiny fractions of a cent from a large number of transactions and put it into their own bank accounts is called 'salami slicing'