› added 7 years ago

148

TIL there are only eight extant species of bear in the world.

Read more reddit.com

via ift.tt

Y7RN7 TIL from 80s-00s George Michael was the most played artist on British radio.
rNR0e TIL the Greek orator Demosthenes was said to treat his speech impediment by talking with pebbles in his mouth and shouting above the roar of the ocean waves.
jmVN TIL Antarctic explorers would lure penguins to their ship to be eaten by playing musical instruments. When a bagpipe was played, the penguins fled in terror.
EgOdP TIL By the 1700s, aristocrats started eating tomatoes, but they were convinced the fruits were poisonous because people would die after eating them. In reality, the acidity from the tomatoes brought out the lead in their pewter plates, and they actually died of lead poisoning.
wL1ZY TIL that "world’s leading source of high-grade uranium" was accidentally found in 1966 by a bunch of oil dudes who took a Geiger counter on a plane so they could write off their fishing trips as business expenses.