› added 11 months ago

55

TIL There was once a highly contagious disease that caused people to start dancing uncontrollably!

Read more history.com

via reddit.com

Y7jZ TIL that former journalist Solomon Shereshevsky appeared to have no limits on his ability to memorize, memorizing poems in foreign languages (which he could not understand) within minutes and recalling them verbatim years later; however he could not recognize faces because they were so “changeable.”
5lV9 TIL that Gottfried Leibniz, in addition to inventing calculus, also built an early computer, investigated binary numbers, and worked on developing a programming language… in the 1600s.
mxpZv TIL that a farmer called Almon Strowger invented automatic telephone switching because he didn't trust his local telephone operator. She was the wife of his competition and Strowger suspected that she was diverting requests for his services to her husband’s business instead.
4kb9o TIL that sugar doesn’t directly cause hyperactivity in children. Instead, the excitement around treats, the setting (like parties), and the expectations of parents and children play a bigger role in perceived energy boosts.
Wk5Pd TIL that Lake Chad, in Africa, was at one point larger than the Caspian Sea