› added 3 years ago

64

TIL That the continent of Antarctica was originally going to be called Australia, until the colonial authorities in Sydney took the name for their continent. After that Antarctica had no official name for over 80 years until the 1890s. It was just referred to as the Antarctic Continent.

yQ8rJ TIL that listening to music which we have an emotional attachment to, the body releases dopamine, resulting in goosebumps, or "chills." The stronger the attachment, the more dopamine that is produced.
grOgL TIL in 1987, United Airlines purchased Hertz, Westin, and Hilton for $2.3 billion, and rebranded itself as Allegis Corp., a one-stop fly-drive-sleep travel company. Stock prices tanked, investors balked, and it was dismantled less than 4 months later.
Km4B TIL even though statues from Ancient Egypt portray pharaohs as thin and healthy, archaeological evidence (analysis of mummies) reveals that most of them were diabetic, had heart disease and had bad teeth due to having a diet rich in sugar.
Mek9K TIL of ancient Egyptian king Psamtik's experiment to discover the origin of human language. He forbade anyone to speak to two infants. Their gibberish sounded like Phrygian, which Psamtik concluded to be the origin of language. Phrygian emerged in the 8th century BC;2000 years after ancient Egyptian
PXpJ TIL a battle, involving over 30,000 Roman troops and a larger Pontic opposition, resulted in a tie, after both sides withdrew from the field scared, as they witnessed a ‘silvery-hot’ meteor bombarding the middle ground between them.