› added 4 years ago

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TIL that Nobel laureate Stanley Prusiner who discovered prions, an infectious protein in the brain, was attacked by both the scientific establishment and the media when he presented his ideas due to the thinking that an infectious protein would be impossible.

Read more nobelprize.org

via reddit.com

wL51 TIL Isaac Newton was like Dirty Harry in 17th century London - chasing counterfeiters of the Royal Mint, bribing crooks for info, threatening criminals and their famlies, eventually focusing on his nemesis. And then he burned all his notes to cover his dirty ways of catching crooks.
eN4J TIL of Alamjan Nematilaev who in 2003, aged 7, went to a hospital after movements were detected in his enlarged abdomen. An operation intended to remove a cyst uncovered the fetus of Alamjan’s identical twin brother, which had lived as a parasitic growth inside the boy throughout his entire life.
OoQd7 TIL the 1st season of the kids show Courage the Cowardly Dog ended with the main character (Courage) becoming a puppeteer for his owners (the two main protagonists)'s lifeless bodies after they were turned into marionettes. He goes mentally insane from living alone after a while.
rRoee TIL: British pub names are derived from the picture chosen for the pub. Back in the old days most of their customers were illiterate and could only recognise a pub by its picture.
V1PG TIL a facebook contest was fixed by 4chan that sent Pitbull to perform at a Walmart in Kodiak, Alaska. Knowing it was setup, he went anyways.