As fascinating as it is horrifying, fetus-in-fetu is a developmental abnormality where, in utero, the larger of a set of twin fetuses absorbs the other into her body. The condition is usually diagnosed shortly after the surviving twin is born, although in a few horrific cases, the absorbed twin is not discovered until adulthood or death. Technically arising only in […]
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“Elementary, my dear Watson“, sometimes quoted as, “Elementary, dear Watson“, is one of those phrases that everybody knows the character of Sherlock Holmes said. You know, just like everyone knows that Kirk said “Beam me up Scotty” and Darth Vader said, “Luke, I am your father”. The thing is, none of those characters ever said any of those things. They […]
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Kris W. asks: What is it in seaweed that is used in making ice cream? Seaweed didn’t exactly come into play during those “make your own ice cream” science experiments you probably did in elementary school, but it is sometimes used in the making of commercial ice cream. No, it isn’t just in seaweed-flavoured ice cream, either. Seaweed is actually […]
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Today I found out why our galaxy is called the Milky Way and what it’s called in other languages. No, it has nothing to do with the candy bar. Like many words we use today, the English name of our galaxy is derived from its Latin name: Via Lactea. Translated, that means “the road of milk.” The Romans actually got […]
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Because we’re now covering a lot more daily topics here on Today I Found Out, and because I had a bunch of my Daily Knowledge Newsletter subscribers request something like this via email (the newsletter is free, by the way and you can subscribe here ;-)), I thought I’d start doing a “Weekly Wrap” which will more or less be […]
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“The Brady Bunch” was a hugely successful sitcom which ran for 5 seasons (117 episodes) from 1969 to 1974. One of the show’s stars was Robert Reed, a Shakespearean trained stage actor. Previous to “The Brady Bunch”, Reed had also been a co-star of a very successful drama called “The Defenders” with E.G. Marshall in the early 1960s. Usually when […]
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Anthony Johnson first came over to America as an indentured servant, arriving in 1620 in the Colony of Virginia. He did not come over willingly, as many did, agreeing to become indentured servants in exchange for passage to the New World. Rather, Johnson was captured in Angola by neighboring tribesmen and eventually sold to a merchant who transported him to […]
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Myth: There are only three states of matter. I remember growing up and learning all about solids, liquids and gases. My science class in elementary school never talked about other states or phases of matter. As I aged and advanced in my education, I began learning about the other states. I naively assumed the new states of matter I was […]
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Nick asks: Is it true that there was once a girl with no vagina who got pregnant after giving oral sex, then getting stabbed in the stomach? Well Nick, I’ve got to say, I was extremely skeptical on this one just from the sound of it (as was the editor here at TIFO). It’s got “urban legend” written all over […]
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Today I found out that the soft drink 7 UP used to include a psychiatric medication as one of its ingredients. The lemon-lime flavored soda, 7-UP was created by Charles Grigg of the Howdy Corporation in 1929 and first launched two weeks before the stock market crash that spurred the Great Depression… Timing! It was originally named “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime […]
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In an era where full service gas pumping seems to be a thing of the past, Oregon not only still offers this type of service to its citizens but the “beaver state” also does not offer them any other choice – Oregonians are not allowed to pump their own gas! Of fifty states, only two do not allow “self-service dispensing of […]
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Sarah asks: Who invented the TV dinner? TV dinners weren’t officially created until the 1950s under that name, so before that time single guys, people that simply can’t or hate to cook, and harried moms had to find other ways to rustle up dinner in a hurry. It’s hard to imagine surviving in such primitive conditions, but our ancestors were […]
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Today I found out about the Rosewood Massacre of 1923. Rosewood, Florida was established around 1845. It was a quiet place that prospered in 1870 when a railway depot was set up to transport the abundant red cedar, from which the town got its name, from Rosewood to a pencil factory in cedar key. Unfortunately, within thirty years the population […]
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G. Peterson asks: Why do we call a time when something needs done by a “deadline”? Great question! We all have deadlines. And when we hear about other people’s deadlines it’s understood that they refer to a time limit of some kind. But where does the phrase come from and what was its original meaning? The first references to a […]
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To call Pac-Man a mere game would be an injustice. It’s a cultural icon, a symbol of an entire decade, as well as an entity that redefined gaming itself. Evidence of this can be found not only in its initial success, but also by the fact that it continues to be loved and valued by every new generation of gamers. […]
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Today I found out that Cheerios used to be called CheeriOats. Cereal has become such a go-to food for breakfast for children and adults alike that it’s difficult to think that it hasn’t always been around. In the grand scheme of things, cereal is a relatively modern invention. Cheerios entered the cereal playing field a bit late, and they weren’t […]
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It was 5:12am, local time on April 18, 1906, when residents of the San Francisco Bay area in California experienced major shaking. 20-25 seconds later, they learned the hard way that that shaking was nothing compared to what they would experience for the next 45-60 seconds. The epicenter of the 7.7 – 8.25 quake was about 2 miles from the city of […]
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The Hindenburg disaster will probably always be remembered as the singular event that killed airship travel. In truth, there were other events that occurred which also contributed, but none stand out in the public consciousness more than the demise of the Hindenburg. The image of that huge ship falling from the sky and erupting into flames before burning to nothing […]
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