› added 9 years ago

66

TIL the word vaccine comes from the Latin root “vacca,” meaning cow. This is due to the discovery that smallpox could be prevented by inoculating patients with the much less severe cowpox virus.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

WV7A TIL That (almost) all watches in advertisements are set to 10:10 because, among other things, the manufacturers logo is usually in the top-centre and so it’s nicely framed by the hands
xB71 TIL The aerodynamics of the McLaren P1 create more downforce than the weight of the car itself. The rear wing also retracts past 150mph to prevent the downforce from breaking the suspension.
6EZam TIL: "Preformationism" was the historical belief that sperm were actually fully-developed miniature men who grew into a fetus once deposited inside the womb.
KwM9 TIL the children’s book “Love You Forever” was about the author’s two dead babies.
lopD1 TIL there is a scientific journal called “Combustion and Flame”