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Factoids
The facts behind some myths and misrepresentations.
| Factoid | The Facts |
|---|---|
| Black Holes | The English physicist Stephen William Hawking proved that in the vicinity of tiny black holes, it is possible for one member of an electron-positron or proton-antiproton pair of particles to escape while the other is hurled towards the singularity. |
| Cocaine | Cocaine was extensively used in the 19th century in throat and eye surgeries. It was so commonplace, cheap, and popular that it was not banned either by the strict Prussians or by the British in the 1868 Pharmacy Act. People drank cocaine in wine. |
| Census | The first complete world census was carried out in 1801: US, Ireland (5 million), China (295 million people), India (131 million), Russia (33 million), France (27 million), Ottoman Empire (21 million), Germany (14 million), Spain (11 million), UK (10 mil. |
| Columbus, Christopher | He is a deeply controversial figure. He had a son out of wedlock with his mistress. His second, third, and, possibly, fourth trips were financed by property expropriated from Jews exiled from Spain in 1492. He introduced the slave trade to the Americas. |
| Crossword Puzzle | The surprising fact is that it was invented only in December 1913. It was first published as a "word-cross" puzzle in New York of all places - in a Sunday weekly called the "World". |
| Eating Disorders | Both Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are indeed more common among adolescents. But close to 80% of all deaths from anorexia nervosa are among people older than 45. |
| Egg | A human female is born with 150,000 hollow balls of cells. Each "ball" - a follicle - contains an immature ovum (egg cell). By the age of 16-18, only 30-40,000 of these follicles survive. |
| Foreign Accent Syndrome | The brains of stroke victims play odd tricks on them. A small group of stroke survivors develops a speech impediment known as "Foreign Accent Syndrome". In the first known case, in 1941, a Norwegian woman spoke in a German accent. |
| Gandhi, Mahatma | His first political activity was as a member of the executive committee of the London Vegetarian Society. |
| Glass | Solid glass "remembers" its previous state as a fluid. It, therefore, acts as though it were a solution - as though various materials, such as soda, lime, and silica - were added and diluted in a solvent. |
Created by:
samvak
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