› added 4 years ago

551

TIL that psychological stress can cause coughing

Read more ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

via reddit.com

B9WD TIL it was widely believed in the 17th and 18th centuries that man was powered by explosions, such that 23,000 times a day, a human breathed in air containing nitrous particles that, combined with the fire of the heart or the sparks of nerves, created the small explosions that moved the body.
9Em TIL Harvard Law library allegedly has a book bound by human skin.
d8Jmj TIL that the average workweek for a manufacturing employee in the 1890s was 100 hours. The five day, 40-hour workweek didn't become standard until 1940 thanks to the passing of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which required employers to pay overtime to anyone working more than 40 hours.
0YL5 TIL the Supreme Court has ruled police have no legal duty to enforce restraining orders, after police failed to act on the restraining order of a mother whose 3 children were later murdered by her ex-husband.
1V44 TIL That when Oprah gifted cars to her entire audience, she refused to pay the taxes on the gifts, hence only allowing people willing to pay the gift tax (up to ~10k) to walk away with a car.