Sam asks: If you gave a color blind person something like LSD or some other sort of hallucinogenic drug, would they see colors they couldn’t before? First a little primer on colour blindness from the good people at ColorBlindAwareness.org: Most color blind people are able to see things as clearly as other people but they unable to fully ‘see’ red, […]
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Today in History: April 7, 1906 Mount Vesuvius, located on Italy’s west coast, is mainland Europe’s only active volcano. It’s considered one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes because of the largely populated areas surrounding it, including the city of Naples. It’s estimated that two million people live in the immediate vicinity of Vesuvius. The volcano has erupted at least […]
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In this “Weekend Why” episode of the podcast, you’re going to learn just why it is that cats love catnip. Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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In this “Weekend Why” episode of the podcast, you’re going to learn why a gecko’s feet can stick to *almost* anything. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. Why There is an Area of New York Called “The Bronx” and Why Ambulances are Called That This is thanks to a seventeenth century Scandinavian man by the name of Jonas Bronck, originally from Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands. In 1639, Bronck […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn whether it is actually dangerous or not to drop a penny from the top of the Empire State Building. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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This is an article from TheMedicineJournal’s Dr. B. Green. Check out more from TheMedicineJournal.com here. Cramps come in four categories: True cramps, Rest cramps, Tetanic cramps, and Dystonic cramps. The most common of these is the True cramp. While there are different causes of muscle cramps, like the involuntary contractions associated with seizures, we’ll focus on muscle cramping related to […]
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Jennifer asks: Why is a donkey and an elephant associated with the Democrats and the Republicans? The donkey is stereotypically bumbling, slow, and stubborn; the elephant– big and clumsy. Being compared to one of these animals is not exactly flattering in this sense. Yet, for well over a century, they have been the popular symbols of America’s major political parties […]
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Today in History: April 4, 1960 On April 4, 1960 “Ben Hur” dominated the 32nd annual Academy awards at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, setting a new record sweeping 11 of the 12 categories it was nominated for, including Best Picture, Actor, and Director. The epic historical drama was adapted from a novel written in 1880 by Lew Wallace […]
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Today I found out the origins of all 50 U.S. state names. Alabama This southern state was named for the Native American tribe that lived there when the European settlers showed up. In their own language, they were called the Albaamaha. It’s likely that this name means something along the lines of “plant gatherers,” though this isn’t known for sure. […]
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Matt asks: In an organ or blood transplant/transfusion, does the donor’s DNA get kept and integrated into the new host? Depending on the type of donation, the DNA stays for a short time, a long while, or maybe even forever. Chimerism and Microchimerism Scientists have known for years that a single organism can have cells that are genetically distinct. Sometimes, […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn how and when humans came up with the idea for spoons, knives, and forks, and the surprising resistance to the adoption of forks which were seen by some as an affront to God. Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going […]
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Today in History: April 3, 1045 Edward the Confessor was born in 1003 to King Ethelred the Unready and his second wife Emma, the sister of Richard, Duke of Normandy, and was the last Anglo-Saxon king to sit on the throne of England. He was responsible for the building of Westminster Abbey, one of the great churches of England, and […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn about the amazing story of the only known man to survive two nuclear attacks. Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by going here: Daily Knowledge Podcast
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Ever been suddenly awakened from sleep by something that sounds like booming thunder, a shotgun blast, or perhaps a bomb singing the song of its people? But when you awake, you realize there was no apparent external source for the sound? Well, congratulations, you just experienced a rather curious condition known as Exploding Head Syndrome, and you’ve likely not got […]
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Today I found out that the father of Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a billionaire. Seinfeld would have been a lot different with another actress playing Elaine, and that’s what would have happened if Julia Louis-Dreyfus had decided to live the life of an heiress rather than pursue acting. And that wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. Julia’s father is multi-billionaire […]
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Controversial research programs, unethical experimentation, and human trials have been part of the medical field for centuries. It doesn’t make it any less wrong, but certain scientists with questionable ethics have gotten away with a lot in the name of, well, science. The more (in)famous examples of wayward science include eugenics sterilization, electroshock therapy, ionizing radiation experiments, and the CIA […]
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Today in History: April 2, 1805 Hans Christian Andersen was born on April 2, 1805 in Odense, Denmark to a cobbler and a washerwoman. Although they were poor, his parents doted on him and encouraged him to develop his imagination by putting on puppet shows and making up his own stories. His mother introduced him to the world of folklore […]
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