“When the outside world, with all its material wealth, suddenly descend[ed],” on remote cultures whose technology was limited to stone and wood, new belief systems often arose. On many of the islands of the southwest Pacific, the affluence and power of Western explorers, missionaries and colonists led to the creation of a number of religious sects that all shared a […]
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This is yet another great article from our friends over at The Medicine Journal– Jessica asks: Is it true there are ways to target losing the fat around your stomach? If so, how? A quick internet search will yield countless claims of ways to remove the unwanted fat from around your mid-section. From over-hyped diet pills promising to reduce levels […]
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This Day In History: May 21, 1999 On May 21, 1999, Susan Lucci, who’d been portraying “All My Children’s” legendary femme fatale Erica Kane for just shy of three decades, finally won an Emmy Award after being nominated an astounding 19 times. Having been nominated so many times to no avail, Lucci hadn’t even bothered to prepare an acceptance speech. […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn about how one of the greatest philosophers and enlightenment thinkers only was able to exclusively spend his time on such endeavors because earlier he’d exploited a flaw in the French lottery, making himself and a few others vastly wealthy. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You […]
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Very little is known about Lance-Corporal James Welch prior to his actions during WWI. However, we do know some basic details. According to Welch’s grave in Bournemouth crematorium, he was born in 1889 on July 7th in the small English village of Stratfield Saye. Welch must have had a fairly boring childhood because literally the next thing recorded about his […]
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Warning: By necessity, this one contains profanity and vulgar references. So you may or may not want to read through it first if you normally share these articles with humans of the particularly youthful persuasion. 
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is famously known for being a child prodigy and one of the greatest musical composers of all time. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is one […]
This Day In History May 20, 2005 On May 20, 2005, The Simpsons aired its 400th episode, earning the distinction of being the longest running series in television history. Not bad for a show that started as a cartoon used between sketches for a comedy series. Simpson’s creator Matt Groening got the gig on “The Tracey Ullman Show” in 1987 […]
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In this episode, you’re going to to learn the incredible tale of Colonel William Rankin and his harrowing journey through a cumulonimbus cloud. [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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Image via Randy Miramontez / Shutterstock.com Image via catwalker / Shutterstock.com Image via s_bukley / Shutterstock.com 731: In 1799, a young boy named Conrad Reed found a 17-pound “rock” while playing at a creek on his family farm in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. He and his family kept it as a doorstop for three years. His father, John Reed, impressed […]
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Becky asks: When did women start growing out and painting fingernails? On humans and other primates, nails are a flattened version of a claw which likely developed to aid in gripping and climbing. However, they can also act as a visible “health report.” Someone in poor health, or infected by a fungus, might have yellow, brittle nails, while someone in […]
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When someone is “blowing smoke up your arse” today, it is a figure of speech that means that one person is complimenting another, insincerely most of the time, in order to inflate the ego of the individual being flattered. Back in the late 1700s, however, doctors literally blew smoke up people’s rectums. Believe it or not, it was a general mainstream medical procedure used to, among many […]
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Today in History: May 19, 1536 On May 19, 1536, Anne Boleyn, the woman for which King Henry VIII cast aside a Queen, broke with the Catholic Church and drove his country to the brink of civil war, climbed the scaffold to meet her death at that same King’s command. She was the first Queen of England to be legally […]
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In this weekend why episode of the podcast, you’re going to learn why chocolate is bad for most dogs and exactly how much of each type of it they’d need to ingest for it to be fatal. You’re also going to learn what you should do if your dog eats chocolate to maximize the chances of your dog surviving the […]
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In this weekend why episode of the podcast, you’re going to learn why chemotherapy will typically cause a person’s hair to fall out. You’re also going to learn about the theoretical upper limit for the age a human could potentially live to based on cell division limits. Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. WWII Files: Japan’s Secret Weapon- Exploding Balloons WWII saw the development of some zany designs for weapons, such as when the U.S. developed pigeon guided missiles and (literal) bat bombs (the latter of which were a little too effective, accidentally destroying the testing base […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn whether the age-old home remedy for burns, egg-whites, is actually a good treatment. You’re also going to learn a whole lot about potential complications from burns, a couple of which may surprise you, and how to treat them. Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also […]
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Diane M. asks: Where did the expression “pulling my leg” come from? For those who aren’t familiar with the phrase, when someone says, “You must be pulling my leg!” they usually mean, “You must be joking/teasing/making something up.” Extremely popular in the 20th century, the origin of this phrase is still something of an enigma to etymologists. There are two […]
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Derek asks: Is it true that a T-Rex couldn’t see you if you didn’t move? If so, how do scientists know this? In the immensely popular movie Jurassic Park, there’s the famous scene where the giant T-Rex is attacking a jeep during a thunder storm. As it attacks, Dr. Alan Grant, a self-respecting paleontologist, yells, “Don’t move! He can’t see […]
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