With over 28.6 million members, this Reddit community is not your regular subreddit. Rather, it’s the internet’s beloved powerhouse that celebrates knowledge, curiosity, and intelligence.
By sharing something new to learn every single day, if not hour, Today I Learned has gained a following that keeps Reddit alive and gives our daily browsing the added value we crave.
So this time, we wrapped up a new batch of intriguing tidbits, surprising facts, and little-known bits of history to pour some brain stimuli into our feeds. Pull your seats closer, get your notebooks ready, and enjoy the TIL world right below!
Psst! More of TIL goodness awaits in our previous posts here, here, and here.
To find out more about the benefits of learning new things every day and ways to nurture our curiosity through life, Bored Panda reached out to Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, the CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts and best-selling author of seven books, including a global bestseller Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters. Scroll down to find out what he said!
#1
TIL Rip was a stray dog adopted by an Air Raid Patrol in WW2. Although not trained for rescue work, he sniffed out over 100 victims trapped beneath buildings. He was awarded the Dickin medal for his work, which has been held partially responsible for prompting the training of search and rescue dogs.
Image source: HoneyGlazedBadger, wikipedia
#2
TIL Ireland limits taxation on writers, artist, composers, painters, etc. for their contribution to culture
Image source: Darth_Kahuna, Min An
#3
TIL that scientists trying to study birds in Australia fitted them with tracking harnesses, and the birds helped each other take the harnesses off.
Image source: MalC123, Florian Hahn
#4
TIL during a preview of the Sistine Chapel paintings, one of the Pope’s men criticized all the “disgraceful” nudity. So Michaelangelo painted the critic’s likeness into the Last Judgement, wearing nothing but a snake that’s biting his d**k.
Image source: Pfeffer_Prinz, wikipedia
#5
TIL Queen guitarist Brian May uses banjo strings on his electric guitars. Banjo strings are much lighter (thinner) and can bend much easier, making that signature Queen sound.
Image source: Status-Victory, wikipedia
#6
TIL that in Laguna, Brazil, bottlenose dolphins actively herd fish towards local fishermen and then signal with tail slaps for the fishermen to throw their nets. This collaboration has been occurring since at least 1847.
Image source: graycatfat
#7
TIL that 65% of cancer survivors surveyed by ‘war on cancer’ said that they had been ghosted by friends or family after their diagnosis.
Image source: Murphyitsnotyou, Jon Tyson
#8
TIL that in 2013 a climber found a box full of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds on a remote glacier on Mont Blanc. Authorities determined they were likely from an Indian plane that crashed there in 1966 and gave the climber half the gems (worth $169,000) to reward his honesty in turning them in.
#9
TIL the New Zealand army helped in making the LOTR films by filling as Soldiers and Orcs
Image source: Proud-Equipment3816
#10
TIL: Researchers in Botswana ran an experiment to reduce lion attacks in cows. They painted large eyes on the cow backsides. After several years, they showed fewer (zero) attacks on the eye-butt cows vs unpainted cows (15).
Image source: Geek_Nan
#11
TIL Quaternary Twins are when two babies are both cousins and genetically siblings. This happens when two identical sisters have children with two identical brothers.
Image source: Convillious, salyerstwins
#12
TIL that Albert Göring, Hermann Göring’s Brother, was opposed to Nazism, and helped Jews and others who were persecuted escape Nazi Germany. He died in 1966 never having received recognition for his actions.
Image source: Kallipolis_Sewer
#13
TIL the 1993 Chinese film, “An Old Man and his Dog” was banned in its native country for decades due to the discovery that the dog trainer and body double to the lead actor was a serial killer who fed his victims to dogs, including the ones onscreen.
Image source: lsaille1, Nancy Guth
#14
TIL that urine comes from your blood, not directly from your digestive system.
Image source: FutureSkeIeton, HelpStay.com Exchange
#15
TIL: Steve Jobs offered Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux a job at Apple under the condition he stopped developing for Linux. He declined the job offer.
Image source: EngineerMinded, wikipedia
#16
TIL Patricia Stallings was wrongfully convicted for the murder of her infant son under suspicion of antifreeze poisoning before being released due to a biochemist finding that her son had methylmalonic acidemia after hearing about her case on the television series, Unsolved Mysteries.
Image source: 90PercentCoffee, Robert Laursoo
#17
TIL that during a battle with American troops led by Gen. Custer, Chief Sitting Bull moved within rifle range, methodically filled his pipe, encouraged others to join him, slowly smoked as bullets flew by, and returned unscathed as a display of contempt and courage.
Image source: attackADS
#18
Today I learned that in Central Europe there are hunger stones (hungerstein), in river beds stones were marked with an inscription, visible only when the flow was low enough to warn of a drought that would cause famine.
Image source: Eruvan
#19
TIL of ‘Denny’, the only known individual whose parents were two different species of human. She lived ninety thousand years ago in central Asia, where a fragment of her bone was found in 2012. Her mother was a Neanderthal and her father was a Denisovan.
Image source: Megdatronica, theguardian
#20
TIL that in New Jersey, it is illegal for criminals to wear a bulletproof vest while committing a crime
Image source: sheggysheggy, Nur Andi Ravsanjani Gusma
#21
TIL that using recycled glass to make new glass requires 40% less energy than making it from all new materials. It saves energy because crushed glass melts at a lower temp than the raw materials. Glass is sometimes recycled into “glassphault” or is used as a landfill covering over waste materials.
Image source: frogcharming
#22
TIL Ronald Reagan started eating Jelly Belly’s to quit smoking and kept it up so much that during his terms as President he would have more than 300 thousand jelly beans shipped to the White House each month
Image source: immaownyou, Steven Lilley
#23
TIL after tigers escaped from a zoo in Georgia and killed a man, advice was issued on what to do if you meet a tiger, including: don’t approach it, don’t run away, and don’t urinate
Image source: pufballcat, Rick L
#24
TIL that Ben Franklin’s invention of the lightning rod was blamed by church leaders for the 1755 Cape Ann earthquake off the coast of Colonial Massachusetts — as his “heretical rods” interfered with the “artillery of Heaven” & deprived God of using lightning as “tokens of His displeasure.”
Image source: zombieinferno, reza jahangir
#25
TIL Tasmanian Devils bear up to 50 babies, but only have four nipples. The first four babies that successfully make it from the birth canal into the pouch stand a chance of surviving, while the rest die and are eaten by the mother.
Image source: thejamescullen, David Clode
#26
TIL a “Chernobyl necklace” is a horizontal scar at the base of the throat from surgery to remove thyroid cancer caused by fallout from a nuclear accident
Image source: rocklou
#27
TIL in 2013 in Florida, a sink hole unexpectedly opened up beneath a sleeping man’s bedroom and swallowed him whole. He is presumed dead.
Image source: RedditPowerUser01
#28
TIL that maggot therapy is an FDA approved treatment option for ulcers and wounds to promote healing. Live maggots are placed at the site of injury and eat the necrotic tissue, while also secreting anti-microbial chemicals.
Image source: turk_a_lurk, Robert Gunnarsson
#29
TIL that due to ADA standards, elevators going up ding once and elevators going down ding twice to help those with disabilities
Image source: darpacheetos
#30
TIL actor Matt Doherty, who played Les Averman in the Mighty Ducks films, didn’t know how to skate or play hockey at all when he was cast in the first movie. By the time they shot the 3rd movie, he was captain of his high school hockey team and had been offered a scholarship to play in college.
Image source: CletusVanDamnit
#31
TIL animal “zoomies” have a technical name: Frenetic Random Activity Periods, or “FRAPs”
Image source: ilovedogsandtits
#32
TIL about the 1936 presidential election in which Roosevelt received 98.49% of the electoral vote total, which remains the highest percentage of the electoral vote won by any candidate since 1820.
Image source: o_ahu, Library of Congress
#33
TIL in 2018, a 34-year-old man blew a hole in his throat by holding his nose and closing his mouth while sneezing. The expulsion of air from a sneeze can propel mucous droplets at a rate of 100 mph. He was given antibiotics and put on a feeding tube for 7 days and recovered with no permanent damage.
Image source: Str33twise84
#34
TIL the first victim of the Chernobyl disaster was Valery Khodemchuk who died as the reactor exploded, his body was never found and is entombed in the wreckage of the Chernobyl power plant
Image source: rocklou, wikipedia
#35
TIL that there’s something called the “preparedness paradox.” Preparation for a danger (an epidemic, natural disaster, etc.) can keep people from being harmed by that danger. Since people didn’t see negative consequences from the danger, they wrongly conclude that the danger wasn’t bad to start with
Image source: Choano
#36
Til wolverine was created because Marvel’s then editor in chief Roy Thomas wanted a Canadian hero to boost north-of-the-border sales
Image source: JOMO_Kenyatta, Jack O’Rourke
#37
TIL that the Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft has a replica of Nábrók (or necropants), a pair of pants made from the skin of a dead man or woman, which are believed in Icelandic witchcraft to be capable of producing an endless supply of money.
Image source: palimugre
#38
TIL of the museum infested with the Chilean Recluse spider (Loxosceles laeta), widely considered to be the most venomous of its kind. The museum, Finnish Museum of Natural History, is located in Helsinki & no one is sure how the spider, native to South & Central America, came into the museum.
Image source: bdrumzzz, wikipedia
#39
TIL in 1994, the family of 13-year-old Chris Kirkland made a bet that one day their son would play for Team England, with a bookie giving them 100-1 odds. The bet paid off in 2006, when the goalkeeper played for England in a match against Greece, with the family making £10,000
Image source: atomicbolt
#40
TIL of Puppy Pregnancy Syndrome, a psychosomatic illness found only in parts of India, where individuals who have been bitten by a dog believe that a puppy is conceived in their abdomen. Sufferers often report seeing the puppy in their reflection, or hearing it growl in their belly.
Image source: nickomoss
#41
TIL that during World War One up to 12 million letters a week were delivered to soldiers, many on the front line
Image source: hariseldon2
#42
TIL before Shazam was an app, it was a telephone service which you could call to identify a song. The caller would then get a text message with the song details.
Image source: wilymon, cottonbro
#43
TIL in 1972, diver Bret Gilliam survived a 325+ ft ascent, with an empty oxygen tank, after trying to save a colleague from attacking sharks.
Image source: mmmyesplease—
#44
TIL that the video for Weird Al’s “Smells like Nirvana” was shot in the same sound stage as the clip for Smells like teen spirit and also used most of the extras from the original, including the janitor that’s featured in various scenes.
Image source: AMonkeyAndALavaLamp
#45
TIL cheese has morphine-like compound named casomorphin
Image source: Anarcheddon
#46
TIL House Termites did make it over to England, but a 27 year government funded programme eradicated them in 2021.
Image source: enchantedspring
#47
TIL that there are only 20 ancient lakes (defined as carrying water for more than a million years) in the world, with only 3 in North America (Tahoe, Tule, Pingualuk). Nearly all are tectonic (i.e. rift zones) in origin, however 2 are from meteorite craters (Pingualuk in Canada, Bosumtwi in Ghana)
Image source: Sansabina
#48
TIL It took 20,000 hours of underwater repairs but the United States managed to refloat a majority of the battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor. Recovered ships including the USS West Virginia, USS California, USS Tennessee, USS Maryland, and USS Pennsylvania all fought in the Philippines.
Image source: jamescookenotthatone
#49
TIL about Project Possible, Nimsdai Purja climbed the 14 mountains that are above 8,000 meters in just Six months.They told Nims his project was simply impossible. So he called it Project Possible. While climbing Kanchenjunga he was partying the night before and was hungover during the climb.
Image source: Anthadvl
#50
TIL that in 1933, yo-yos were banned in Syria, because many locals superstitiously blamed the use of them for a severe drought.
Image source: slinkslowdown, wikipedia
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