› added 11 years ago

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TIL During the second World War, pharmaceutical giant Bayer used slave labour and even bought slaves from Auschwitz to use a human guinea pigs for new drugs.

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b9mka TIL that Duct Tape was originally called Duck Tape. In WWII, Johnson & Johnson created a waterproof rubber adhesive tape applied to a durable duck cloth backing for use as waterproof sealing tape on ammunition cases: "Duck Tape". Later it was used to seal air ducts in forced-air heating HVAC systems
BYly TIL that for an April fools prank, Virgin cola announced they had a new technology that would turn their cans blue when they expired. They advised their customers not to buy blue cans. Coincidentally, Pepsi had just released their bright blue can design.
W80d TIL that the lowland gorilla’s scientific name is actually “Gorilla gorilla gorilla”.
b94np TIL the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 that started out as a mild flu and then a second wave hit that killed 3% of the world's population, even healthy people. This was more deaths than WWI.
BrwVk TIL that the African Spiny Mouse can release it's skin (like a lizard releases it's tail) on attack and completely regrow it. This feature, which is called autotomy, has given hope for replicating regeneration capabilities in humans. The African Spiny Mouse is the only known mammal, to do this.