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TIL that in 2005 scientists created a 100% effective non-human Ebola Vaccine which could potentially be ready for licensing by 2010 or 2011. However, it “sat on the shelf” due to the resistance of drug companies as poor countries couldn’t afford to pay and Ebola was “rare”.

Read more nytimes.com

via reddit.com

1aM4 TIL The Apollo Astronauts, unable to qualify for life insurance and not insured by NASA, resorted to ‘insurance autographs’, signing just before launch in the expectation that the value would skyrocket in the event of their deaths
LQM6d Today I learned the Panhellenic Games is the collective term for four separate sports festivals held in ancient Greece. The four Games were the Olympic, Pythian, Nemean and the Isthmian games.
9YjrB TIL Japanese doctor Tetsu Nakamura devoted his life revitalising deserts in Afghanistan, making forests and wheat farmland and contributing to peace. Nakamura was decorated with the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun and Afghan National Medal.
OoMv4 TIL that Poo-phoria occurs when your bowel movement stimulates the vagus nerve, which descends from the brain stem to the colon. It takes a particularly "large mass of stool" to trigger poo-phoria and its vagal-nerve-induced feelings of exhilaration, intense relaxation, and goose bumps.
woA01 TIL that a group of college students once used physics to beat Las Vegas’ infamous roulette machine with a machine in their shoe, giving them over a 20% advantage over the house when working.