› added 5 years ago

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TIL Da Vinci discovered that severing the spinal column of a frog resulted in instant death. But it seems he felt disturbed by hurting living things, stopped working on live animals, and became a vegetarian. In fact, he loved animals so much that he would buy birds at the market and let them go.

yVx6l TIL that after Japan opened up to the world in the 1850s, Japanese art styles influenced European artists including Van Gogh, he called the influence Japonaiserie.
Y4Y7 TIL Power posing to boost testosterone as described in Amy Cuddy’s famous TED talk fails to replicate in independent studies
vaRr TIL Def Jam Records founder Rick Rubin was in a punk band called The Pricks that asked friends to heckle during a gig in order to start a brawl leading to the band being kicked off stage & the show being shut down by a “cop” who was really Rubin’s father, in an effort to create buzz around the band
Ooyee TIL that Hungarian comedian Géza Hofi used to give sarcastic "shout-outs" to government informers and secret police spies watching his shows during the Communist era. He got away with it because his act was seen as a way for people to blow off steam under the authoritarian regime.
459X TIL that despite being used to make balloons float and our voices squak, helium is a rare element (on Earth) which is only getting rarer due to the fact it floats out of our atmosphere. This is problematic, as it has useful scientific applications, and is currently essential in MRI technology.