21 Things I Literally Just Learned That Completely Changed The Way I Look At The World

    Believe it or not, people used to believe babies don't feel pain.

    Andrew Ziegler
    by Andrew Ziegler

    BuzzFeed Editor

    1. The first-ever Marvel movie, Captain America, was made in 1944, and it featured a Cap (played by Dick Purcell) who sometimes carried a gun and shot at people:

    2. Up until the late 1980s, it was widely believed that babies don't feel pain. So common was this belief in the mainstream medical community that infants who were undergoing surgery weren't given any type of anesthesia or pain relief.

    A newborn baby
    Nenov / Getty Images

    3. This is the actual violin that was played on the deck of the Titanic as it was sinking, according to surviving eyewitnesses. It belonged to Wallace Hartley, who led the quintet band. Wallace's body was found floating in the Atlantic several days after the sinking and his violin was found strapped to his back and stored safely inside its case. It sold for $1.7 million in 2013:

    The inscription reads: "For Wallace on the occasion of our engagement. From Maria"

    4. There is so much trash and feces left behind by climbers on Mount Everest that it's been dubbed "the world’s highest garbage dump." As climate change causes the ice on the mountain to melt, even more trash from decades ago is being exposed and the filthy water that drips down the mountain is posing serious health risks to the locals who have lived there for generations:

    5. History repeats itself in the strangest ways. By now, you've probably heard of the 1918 flu pandemic, which became a major health crisis a little more than 100 years ago. Well, what you might not know is that there were anti-maskers back then too. There was even an organized group called the Anti-Mask League.

    6. In 2014, scientists discovered an ancient virus that had been lying dormant in the Siberian permafrost for 30,000 years and that, when thawed, became infectious again. Though this particular virus poses no threat to humans, it's a stark warning about what sort of long-forgotten threats to humanity might be unearthed as the globe continues to warm.

    Tatiana Gasich / Getty Images, Aitor Diago / Getty Images

    7. Do you see that tendon in the middle of the wrist in the right photo? That's called a palmaris longus and studies suggest it's missing in either one or both arms in a significant percentage of the human population. Cats use this same muscle to retract their claws:

    8. It's hard to believe this was captured more than 180 years ago, but it's true. The photo (the one on the left is what it actually looked like; the one on the right is a touch-up) is believed to be "the first photographic portrait ever taken":

    9. There's an island in the Bahamas that's inhabited by feral pigs, and you can go there and feed and swim with them. It's not known exactly how they got there or how long they've been there — these pigs are not native to the Bahamas. One theory suggests a group of pigs may have survived a shipwreck and swam over. Whatever the case, they're living the good life now:

    10. Though the photo below depicts a replica, an actual blue whale heart weighs roughly 400 pounds and is the size of a golf cart (not a Volkswagen Beetle, as is popularly claimed):

    11. Flamingos turn pink because of the food they eat. If they don't eat that food, they won't turn pink:

    12. The Sun is so massive that 1.3 million Earths would be able to fit inside of it. This model helps illustrate this unimaginable difference in size:

    13. Darius the rabbit, who's four feet long (1.2 meters) and is recognized as the world's longest rabbit, went missing this week. Darius's disappearance is being investigated as an abduction (!!!) and there's currently a £2,000 reward available for his safe return:

    14. This is what the skeleton of a pufferfish looks like:

    15. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination would change the course of history, actually survived an assassination attempt earlier that day when a bomb that was intended to kill him ended up exploding underneath the car directly behind his in the motorcade. Fate would intervene, however, when Archduke Ferdinand decided to take an unplanned detour to the hospital to visit those injured in the attack. On the way, his chauffeur accidentally made a wrong turn and came to a stop right in front of 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, who shot and killed him, setting off World War I. Here's the coat the archduke was wearing that day, still covered in his blood:

    16. Last week, I learned about the volcano in Geldingadalir, Iceland, that's expected to ooze lava for as long as several years. Here's what it looks like from above, surrounded by tourists:

    17. The tarantula hawk is a species of spider wasp that gets its name for its penchant for hunting tarantulas, which it's able to paralyze with a single sting. In fact, these terrifying creatures boast the second most painful sting on the planet (bullet ant is the first):

    18. Kati Kariko is an unsung hero of the COVID-19 pandemic:

    Nathan Heller @nathanheller

    Story of a 66-year-old researcher, an immigrant, who rarely got grants, never got her own lab, never earned more than $60K. For four decades, she kept working on mRNA—a path considered foolish. Her work is the basis for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. https://t.co/wOvCEM8jja

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    Twitter: @nathanheller

    19. In pre-Incan, ancient Peruvian cultures, the elites would have their skulls elongated as a status symbol:

    20. At the Lidl supermarket in Dublin, Ireland, you can stock up on groceries _and learn _history. Not only is there a plexiglass floor in the center aisle that exhibits a millennium-old medieval house, but also near the checkout is _another _plexiglass floor that displays part of the stage of an 18th-century theater:

    And last but *definitely* not least:

    21. This is Odette Sansom Hallowes — codename "LISE" — who was a highly decorated spy during World War II. She was hired by the British government to infiltrate Nazi-occupied France and assist in recruiting, training, and arming members of the French resistance. She would eventually be captured and brutally tortured by the Gestapo. Even as they ripped out all of her toenails she would repeat these words: "I have nothing to say." She never once revealed the whereabouts of her co-conspirators and comrades in arms, and was ultimately sent to Ravensbrück, a concentration camp for women. Despite it all, Odette Hallowes survived the war. She died at the age of 82 in 1995:

    Want to see what I learned last week? Click here to find out. And click HERE to see what I learned in March.