› added 5 years ago

81

TIL from 1939 to 1972, the United States Public Health Service conducted a number of tests regarding the impact of untreated syphilis in unknowing subjects. The revelation of this led to the passing of the National Research Act, requiring informed consent from human participants in medical studies.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

GvYE TIL a pilot on Southwest flight 1248 quoted the movie “Airplane!” saying, “I picked a bad day to stop sniffin’ glue.” The plane then overran the runway, into a busy intersection, killing a 6 year old boy on the ground.
e0eEJ TIL in 2015 A man had his sentence doubled after an appeal judge decided his original 4 year sentence received from starting a toilet fire on a commercial aircraft from a cigarette was too lenient
kObXW TIL that Armenian cucumber is not actually a cucumber. It's also known as "snake melon" in English, and is a muskmelon like cantaloupe. It's called "qithaa'" in Classical Arabic (mentioned in the Qu'ran re:the Promised Land), "Arab/Palestinian cucumber" in Hebrew, and "fakoos" in both languages.
ldmN TIL a school spied on their students using the webcams on laptops, and then tried to punish some students for things they saw them doing.
neQwW TIL that in 1769, the Royal Society issued a series of tests to ensure Mozart was actually 8. Daines Barrington, who conducted the study, was convinced after seeing Mozart abandon his harpsichord in the middle of playing to chase a cat; they could not 'bring him back for a considerable time'.