› added 7 years ago

274

TIL the first widely available antibiotic was not penicillin, but a drug called Prontosil. Prontosil and drugs derived from it saved millions of lives up till the 1960's. Its creator, a German named Gerhard Domagk, was awarded the Nobel Prize for his efforts.

OoK9e TIL about Virophages, small virus-like particles that hijack the reproductive process of larger viruses for their own reproduction, and in the process sometimes deactivate the larger virus and help fight infections
vyKx TIL that Wilson the Volleyball from the movie Castaway was inspired when screenwriter William Broyles, Jr deliberately stranded himself for one week on an isolated beach in the Sea of Cortez in which a volleyball washed up on shore
e0Byk TIL that in the "Cookie Monster" study, experimenters randomly appointed one person the leader of a small group. When an experimenter brought in a plate of 5 cookies, the "leaders" were more likely to take a second cookie, and to eat with their mouths open and get crumbs all over the place.
b6L4 TIL that Martin Luther wrote a 65,000 word antisemitic treatise called “On the Jews and Their Lies,” which states that Jews are “full of the devil’s feces…which they wallow in like swine,” and that their synagogue is “an incorrigible whore and an evil slut.”
4XWeN TIL about Amy Rorbach, a reporter for ABC News, who underwent a mammogram live on air in 2013 to promote the procedure for Breast Cancer Awareness month. It was discovered that she did have cancer, and the procedure likely saved her life.