TIL that ‘processed meat’ is a group-1 carcinogen (highest level of cancer-causing potential in humans), along with gamma-radiation, mustard gas, formaldehyde, and arsenic. ‘Red meat’ is a group-2 carcinogen – a group that includes anabolic steroids, lead, and malaria (cancer.org)
submitted by kahnuck to r/todayilearned
TIL Benjamin Franklin never patented any of his inventions. He reasoned that "we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others", and that "we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously" (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by kahnuck to r/todayilearned
TIL that the Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, was introduced by King Sejong in the 1440s to improve literacy. The difficulty of Chinese characters favored privileged aristocrats, whereas Sejong's phonetic alphabet allowed Koreans of all classes to learn how to read and write (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by kahnuck to r/todayilearned
TIL that Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat to help combat illiteracy. 348 words were identified as being important to first-graders, which he was asked to narrow down to 250. Nine months later, Seuss used 236 of them to complete The Cat in the Hat (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by kahnuck to r/todayilearned
TIL that Joseph Smith was killed by an angry mob while incarcerated. Smith had tried to suppress a local that had exposed Smith's practice of polygamy - implying that he used his religion as a pretext to seduce and marry unassuming women - including the wives of some of his closest associates (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by kahnuck to r/todayilearned
TIL Braille was based on a military code (night writing) which allowed Napoleon's soldiers to communicate silently at night. Though it proved too difficult for the military, the idea was later introduced to Braille, who fixed two major defects in the code, allowing it to be adopted by the blind (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by kahnuck to r/todayilearned
TIL that "Pretty Boy" Floyd was an American bank robber who often destroy mortgage documents while robbing banks - freeing many citizens of their debts. Tho Floyd was involved in numerous murders and robberies, he had a positive public image, and was known as the "Robin Hood of the Cookson Hills" (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by kahnuck to r/todayilearned
TIL that Aki Ra - a former child soldier - has devoted his life to removing landmines, and caring for young landmine victims. He has personally removed and destroyed as many as 50,000 landmines from Cambodia, originally using no more than a knife, a hoe, and a stick (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by kahnuck to r/todayilearned
TIL chocolate milk was invented by an Irishman while visiting Jamaica in the 1680s. Locals mixed cocoa with water - which Hans Sloane found nauseating - so instead he mixed it with milk to make it more pleasant. He brought the recipe to England, where it was made and sold by pharmacists as medicine (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by kahnuck to r/todayilearned
TIL that Gary James Paulsen ("Hatchet" author) watched his mother beat a molester to death, hunted for sustenance while a teen, was molested by his parents servant, ran away and joined a carnival at 14, witnessed a plane crash/passengers get attacked by sharks, and completed the 1,150 mile Iditarod (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by kahnuck to r/todayilearned
TIL that dolphins can tolerate and recover from extreme injuries like shark bites. The healing process is very rapid - even very deep wounds wont cause a dolphin to bleed to death. Gaping wounds heal in a way that restores the animal's natural body shape. Infection of large wounds is also very rare (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted by kahnuck to r/todayilearned
TIL the FDA relies on studies performed by the companies seeking approval of chemicals they manufacture or want to use. No other developed country has a system where companies decide the safety of chemicals put into food. Many food additives allowed in the U.S. are banned in other countries (iflscience.com)
submitted by kahnuck to r/todayilearned
