› added 4 years ago

121

TIL The gas bags inside hydrogen airships of the 1930s were made from the outer layer of a cow’s intestines. Joined together when wet, the living tissues grow together, creating an impermeable bond. The gas bags of the Graf Zeppelin were made from the guts of around half a million cows.

Read more ptt-museum.dk

via reddit.com

dmjE TIL that 1 in 4 11 year olds in London are functionally illiterate, either unable to read or write properly
Y7Jwx TIL about an energy drink sold in the 1920s that was water with (flavorless) Radium, a highly radioactive element. Thousands like Eben Byer suffered “Radium Jaw” (gore warning)
KYll9 TIL the strange case of the famous writer of crime stories Agatha Christie vanishing for 11 days in 1926 at the top of her career, allegedly for loss of memory
oRA0A TIL about the campaign to ban Water. The dihydrogen monoxide parody is a parody that involves referring to water by its unfamiliar chemical name and is attributed to "Coalition to Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide" by UCSC.
eGmL TIL scientists believe the “Spokane Flood” was the largest ever megaflood to occur on our planet and would have drowned a 40-storey building. The waterfall it created carried 10 times the water of all modern rivers combined.