Today I found out what causes leprosy. Known as Hansen’s Disease, leprosy is caused by a type of bacteria (mycobacterium leprae) that multiplies very slowly. Its incubation period can last up to 20 years and it mainly affects the skin and peripheral nerves. Contrary to the social stigma, leprosy is not highly contagious, and does not cause body parts to […]
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Today I found out Marie Antoinette never said “let them eat cake”. Now, I know what some of you are thinking, “Of course she didn’t, she spoke French!” But, in fact, she didn’t say “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” either. In fact, this saying in France actually pre-dated her arrival there by anywhere from about thirty years to as much […]
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Today I found out American “buffalo” are not actually buffalo. The American “buffalo” are actually bison. Specifically, they are “Bison bison”. The only true buffalo are the Asian water buffalo and the African buffalo. The American bison are actually very closely related to the Wisent, which are European bison. American bison are also somewhat closely related to cattle. In fact, […]
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Today I found out the difference between Cement and Concrete. In general terms, the word cement refers to any kind of binder that tightly holds other materials together. Concrete, on the other hand, is a mixture of materials like sand, gravel, and small rocks combined with any type of cement and water. The concoction is then allowed to dry and […]
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Today I found out the Earth is hottest when it is furthest from the Sun on its orbit, not when it is closest. During the period when the Earth is furthest from the sun (aphelion), the average temperature of the entire planet is about 4°F (2.3°C) higher than when it is closest to the sun (perihelion). On average, the intensity […]
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Today I found out fortune cookies were invented in Japan, not China or America. The commonly held notion that they were invented in China typically comes from the fact that they are primarily served in Americanized Chinese restaurants. However, you will not find fortune cookies in actual Chinese restaurants, nor will you find historical records of a similar food item […]
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In 1972, a 29 year old Nolan Bushnell and a 35 year old Ted Dabney were fresh off a sort of successful failure in an arcade game known as Computer Space, which was more or less just a very blatant rip-off of a previous game Bushnell had come across called Spacewar! The pair had gotten a company called Nutting Associates […]
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Today I found out Keanu Reeves’ first name is pronounced “Kay-ah-noo”, not “Key-ah-Noo”. That isn’t the only misconception surrounding his name. The name itself means “the coolness”, but is often incorrectly said to mean “cool breeze over the mountains”. Reeves’ was named after his uncle Henry Keanu Reeves. In Keanu Reeves’ early days in Hollywood, his agent thought his name […]
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Today I found out the holiday season has the lowest suicide rate of any time of the year, not the highest. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the holiday season actually is the time of the year when there are the least amount of suicides with the lowest point being December 1st and the lowest rate of […]
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Today I found out “Brontosauruses” technically never existed. As children, we went through school learning the fascinating facts about dinosaurs that roamed the earth millions of years ago. We studied the Tyrannosaurus rex, the Stegosaurus, and the beloved Brontosaurus. What many of us may have never learned, however, was the controversy of the giant gentle Brontosaurus. Did it really exist? […]
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Today I found out alcohol does not “cook out” of food in most cases. The myth that alcohol does all cook out stems from the fact that alcohol has a much lower boiling point temperature (173° F / 78.5° C) than water (212° F / 100° C). Thus, if the temperature is above 78.5° C, then the alcohol should boil […]
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Today I found out Al Capone’s brother was a police officer who at one point was also a prohibition enforcement officer. James Vincenzo Capone, born in 1892, was 7 years old when his infamous brother Al was born. Growing up in Brooklyn, he felt the city life didn’t suit him and decided to head out west. As such, he left […]
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Today I found out bubble wrap was originally designed to be used as wallpaper. Bubble Wrap was invented by two engineers Al Fielding and Swiss inventor Marc Chavannes in Hawthorne, N.J. in 1957. The two were not, however, trying to make a product to be used as packaging material. Rather, they were trying to create a textured wallpaper. They started […]
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Today I found out how Gecko’s feet stick to almost anything. It has been observed since the 4th century BC that geckos have the ability to climb walls, hang upside down, and apparently “stick” to anything. Aristotle was the first known to have commented on the phenomenon, stating gecko’s have the ability to “run up and down a tree in […]
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Today I found out what the company name “3M” stands for. While today 3M makes a variety of products from medical and office supplies to electronic circuitry, in 1902 they started out as a mining company, who, as it turned out, wasn’t very good at mining. Specifically, they started out with the intention of mining the necessary types of stone […]
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Today I found out dog mouths are not cleaner than human mouths. If this were the case, I’m pretty sure a dog’s mouth would be some sort of medical miracle, considering: they rarely if ever have their teeth brushed or mouths cleaned; they literally put their mouth on everything; and they use their tongue as toilet paper for not only […]
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Today I found out Whitey Ford gave Pete Rose his “Charlie Hustle” nickname. It was during spring training of what would turn out to be Pete Rose’s rookie year that Ford gave the nickname to him. The exact event that lead to the nickname is somewhat in dispute. The most commonly held story is that he gave Pete Rose the […]
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Today I found out what R.S.V.P. stands for, namely Répondez S’il Vous Plaît, which translates roughly as “please reply” or “reply if it pleases you”. So how did R.S.V.P. make its way into being used for wedding invitations and the like? This dates all the way back to around the 11th century when French became the fashion among the elite […]
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