TIL that the sculpture "L'Homme au doigt" was auctioned for $141.3 million, making it twice as expensive as the most expensive auctioned jewel (the Pink Star diamond), and almost the exact same price
TIL Jimi Hendrix was inspired to write the song "The Wind Cries Mary" as an apology after having a heated argument with his girlfriend Kathy Mary Etchingham over a plate of lumpy mashed potatoes.
An unhealthy Western-style diet was associated with a faster cognitive decline in people with a genetic risk of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study on 185 older adults followed for more than 7 y
TIL a Babylonian clay tablet called Plimpton 322, made around 1800 BC, lists number patterns matching Pythagorean triples, over 1,000 years before Pythagoras was born
Babies ‘will face almost twice as much’ extreme fire weather in Europe than great-grandparents. Under current policies, which will result in 2.6C of warming, children born today can expect to experien
Sex differences in attention are present at birth. The findings suggest that some psychological differences between males and females (such the development of social skills) may be influenced by both
A recent study published in Imaging Neuroscience indicates that engaging in a very slow jog for just ten minutes can improve a person’s mood and enhance their ability to focus.
Engineered Probiotic Wipes Out 43% of Colorectal Tumors in Mice: The engineered E Coli packed a triple-whammy – chemotherapy produced directly inside the tumor, an immune stimulant, and a localized fo
Research shows that people with low implicit self-worth, or a large mismatch between their conscious and unconscious self-esteem, are quicker to detect subtle facial expressions of anger and disgust.
TIL King Mithridates VI took small doses of poison daily to make himself immune to assassination. When he later tried to poison himself to avoid capture, it didn't work, and he had to ask a guard to k
TIL that as a baby, Harambe was taken home by a zoo employee at night, bottle-fed and even had his diapers changed after his mother stopped caring for him at about 21 days old.
TIL that in 1977 GM secretly put Chevy engines in Oldsmobiles, and a jury awarded 14,000 owners $550 each in one of the biggest consumer fraud cases in US history.
TIL the world's first bike path made entirely of recycled plastic waste was opened in the Netherlands, taking equivalent amounts of over 218,000 plastic cups out of landfills.
TIL cities are actively using vertical vine coverage and green canopies on buildings as a low-tech solution to drop surface temperatures by up to several degrees.
TIL that the infamous comic where Hank Pym hits his wife Janet was meant to be an accident. According to writer Jim Shooter, Pym was meant to accidentally strike her while making a dismissive gesture.
Targeting the best-connected buyers of green hydrogen makes subsidies up to 41% more cost-effective. Over half of the 10% most connected sit in five German or Belgian industrial regions.
TIL a Border Patrol checkpoint caused a six-hour traffic jam, prompting Key West to secede from the United States, declare war, surrender one minute later, and ask for $1 billion in foreign aid.
TIL about "koden," or cash given at a funeral in Japan. Unlike "shugi" for weddings, "koden" banknotes must NOT be pristine so it won't look like the giver was expecting the decendent's passing. Atten
TIL that the spiciest peppers in the world all belong to the exact same species called Capsicum chinense, named because it was mistakenly thought to come from China. It includes the habanero, Scotch b
People with a severe mental illness, such as depressive, neurotic, and stress disorders, alcohol and drug use, and schizophrenia, die more than 10 years earlier than the general population, finds mort
TIL the Brewer & Shipley hit song, "One Toke Over the Line", despite being banned on many radio stations for its drug references, was performed on "The Lawrence Welk Show" in 1971 as a "gospel number"
TIL bears preparing to hibernate actively seek out foods helping them purge gastrointestinal parasites - allowing animals minimize harm parasites may otherwise cause in empty bowels of sleeping bears
TIL the famous airplane the Spruce Goose is actually made of birch. A longstanding rumour is that mechanics working on the plane called it the "Birch Bitch."
TIL the head of Germany’s armed forces in WWII was Wilhelm Keitel: nicknamed “Lakitel” or Lackey because of his willingness to be nothing but Hitlers mouthpiece. He was known as a blindingly loyal toa
