› added 11 years ago

285

TIL that male survivors of Ebola Virus Disease can harbor active virus in their sperm, and transmit the disease sexually months after their own recovery.

Read more phac-aspc.gc.ca

via reddit.com

ep5e5 TIL in 1870, Italy completed its unification by defeating the Papal States, which contained Rome. Though his army was outnumbered, the Pope insisted on symbolic resistance before surrendering, resulting in ~68 deaths. Rome was captured, and the Pope’s territory was eventually reduced to Vatican City
Zp8lQ TIL: US torpedoes at the beginning of WW2 had an extremely high dud rate that took awhile to be acknowledged because the US Navy refused to allow live testing of ordinance as a cost saving measure.
BrkDD TIL of Unsinkable Sam, a ship’s cat who survived 3 ships’ sinkings during WW2, once on a German battleship before being adopted by British sailors and sinking twice more. The third time he was found clinging to driftwood, ‘angry but quite unharmed.’
gpN9 TIL that during World War 2, the US briefly renamed Hamburgers to “Liberty Steaks”. As Hamburgers sounded too German.
wLKx6 TIL the word "quack" comes from the Dutch word "quacksalver", and originally referred to doctors and dentists who advocated mercury amalgam fillings. When mercury amalgams were invented in the 1800s most medical professionals rejected their use as too dangerous.