› added 4 months ago

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TIL in treatment studies, the placebo effect is sometimes enhanced when a participant taking a placebo has regular appointments with a researcher, especially in elderly people who are more reclusive.

5myR TIL a woman grew up isolated in the Siberian forest, without seeing anybody outside her immediate family until they were discovered in 1978. She remains there still, as the sole surviving family member.
XEv6j TIL that the famed Allied spy Nancy Wake cycled 500 km (310 mi) in three days. She and her radio operator was ambushed and was forced to flee, leaving the radio, so she cycled to the nearest resistance radio and back in three days.
EgZr0 TIL Ramanujan’s work has been analysed and studied for decades since his death as a source of new mathematical ideas. Researchers are still discovering mere comments in his mathematical writings turning out to be profound that remained unsuspected until nearly a century after his death.
neZRd TIL Daniel Berrigan— an anti-war priest wanted by the FBI for raiding a draft office & burning draft cards as part of the “Catonsville Nine” in 1968— emerged from hiding at a Cornell University rally, gave a speech, & was smuggled offstage inside of a large puppet. He evaded capture for 4 months.
Lk7RQ TIL that there is an Australian shrub known as the "Suicide Plant" or the Gympie Gympie plant, that's sting can last years and is so agonising that people have been known to commit suicide after touching the plant.