TIL that Shazam (Billy Batson), published by Fawcett comics was the #1 selling comic-book, and was lapping Superman in sells, until DC put a stop to it - taking them to court and claiming he was a Sup
TIL about Nicholas Barbon, Barbon observed the power of fashion and luxury goods to enhance trade. Fashion demanded the replacement of goods before they had worn out; he believed this directed people
TIL astronomers detected a four-carbon sugar called erythrulose in a molecular cloud 26,000 light-years from Earth, suggesting that complex organic molecules can form in space before planets exist.
TIL Antabuse (Disulfiram) is a medication used to stop alcoholics from drinking by causing intolerable side effects. It functions by blocking the same enzyme responsible for "Asian Flush Syndrome" – t
TIL refrigerating batteries used to be common practice to slow the discharge process and extend their lifespan. Today, modern batteries should not be refrigerated due to the risk of damage from conden
TIL Machiavelli never saw The Prince published — it appeared in print in 1532, five years after his death — and by 1559 the Church had put it on the Index of Forbidden Books.
TIL consumed by a forbidden passion for his stepmother, Stratonice, Antiochus of the Seleucid Empire fell gravely ill. To save his life, his father, King Seleucus, divorced Stratonice and gave her to
TIL the Romans destroyed entire mountains with pressurized water to mine gold: at Las Médulas in Spain — the largest gold mine in the Roman Empire — seven aqueducts fed a technique called ruina montiu
TIL that the population of Detroit, Michigan has grown for 3 straight years since 2023, reversing a trend of 65 consecutive years of population loss from 1957 to 2022. It currently sits at America’s 2
TIL that from 2013 to 2015 a maths forum user called "Cleo" posted correct answers to integrals that had stumped everyone, often within hours, never showed any working, and said a medical condition st
TIL that the Piltdown Man hoax shaped scientific thinking for over 40 years: fossils presented in 1912 as the "missing link" between humans and apes were widely accepted before being revealed in 1953
TIL that the record for largest outdoor film set belongs to The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), which built a 400 x 230 metres (1312 x 754 feet) replica of the Roman Forum, built in Las Matas near Ma
TIL that in 2011, a gold-plated necklace recovered from the Titanic, belonging to First Class passenger Eleanor Widener, was stolen from a museum in Copenhagen. It remains missing.
