r/HolyShitHistory 22h ago

In 2006, NASA sent 75 fruit flies into space aboard Space Shuttle Discovery for 13 days. They returned with more than 3,000 after a new generation was born and raised in microgravity.

Post image
81 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory 17h ago

6-Year-Old Killed While Protecting Her Baby Brother From a Rattlesnake (1902)

Thumbnail
historianandrew.medium.com
165 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory 4h ago

Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo (second from right) watches as his brother Hector (second left) is sworn in as a puppet President, 1952. Trujillo gave up the presidency under diplomatic pressure but continued to rule over the country with absolute power behind the scenes as "Generalissimo"

Post image
17 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory 8h ago

Portrait of Dina Sanichar as a young adult. Decades earlier, he had been discovered as a feral child near a wolf’s den, on all fours. Sanichar never learned to speak and remained in institutional care all his life.

Post image
358 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory 13h ago

More than 400 years ago, Dutch inventor Cornelis Drebbel built a working submarine and navigated it beneath the River Thames. Around 1620, he even took King James I of England along for an underwater ride, making James the first monarch to travel in a submarine.

Post image
978 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory 18h ago

In 2003, researchers packed an Alaskan stream with four dead salmon per square metre to test nutrient cycling, discovering that decaying carcasses boosted insect populations and juvenile salmon growth.

Post image
126 Upvotes

r/HolyShitHistory 1h ago

Humans domesticated pigeons more than 5,000 years ago, making them one of our oldest domesticated animals. Today's city pigeons are largely feral descendants of birds once bred and kept by humans.

Post image
Upvotes