“You live and you learn,” as a saying, remains undefeated. In fact, it’s hard not to, unless you really really enjoy living under rocks, and even there you might discover all sorts of new bugs. Fortunately, most of us actually enjoy discovering more about the world we live in.
The “Today I Learned” internet group is a gold mine for anyone who enjoys bite-sized nuggets of knowledge. Historical trivia, little-known facts, and cool science details all feature, so get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorite new facts and be sure to comment your thoughts below.
#1
TIL that priest Father Damien worked in Hawaii for 16 years, providing comfort to the lepers. He built homes and he treated lepers with his medical expertise. He prayed and comforted the dying. He later contracted leprosy but continued to give to the people and helped improve an orphanage.
Image source: LandscapeKind4598, William Brigham
#2
TIL due to efficient recycling processes, 75% of all aluminium produced world wide is still in use today
Image source: ikilledmypc, Chad Davis
#3
TIL Emma Gibson, frozen as an embryo in 1992, was born in 2017 to a mother born in 1991.
Image source: sanandrios, Amina Filkins
#4
TIL That the Pink Panther cartoon show was created due to the success of the character in the opening credits of the Pink Panther films
Image source: gnome512, Official Pink Panther
#5
TIL the humming noise produced by electricity is a different tone in Europe than it is in the US. The American electrical hum is a B-flat whereas the European electrical hum is a G
Image source: Gapplesauce37, Pixabay
#6
TIL that Adolphe Sax, the son of instrument designers, was prone to accidents. As a kid, he fell from a 3-story height, drank acidic water he mistook for milk, swallowed a pin, fell into a frying pan, was burned in a gunpowder blast, and fell into a river. He grew up to invent the saxophone.
Image source: RedditPrat, Unknown author
#7
TIL Buzz Aldrin’s mother’s maiden name was Moon.
Image source: Proper_Contest_4035
#8
TIL that when Will Smith was 12 his grandmother found his notebook of rap lyrics with curse words and wrote a note in it telling Will that truly smart people do not have to curse when expressing themselves. As a result he resolved not to use profanity in his music.
Image source: astarisaslave, Gage Skidmore
#9
TIL Teófilo Stevenson, widely regarded as the greatest Olympic boxer of all time, was offered a million dollars to defect from Cuba and fight heavyweight world champion Muhammad Ali. Stevenson declined, asking “What is one million dollars compared to the love of eight million Cubans?”
Image source: GoodSamaritan_
#10
TIL that Ancient Romans added lead syrup to wine to improve color, flavor, and to prevent fermentation. The average Roman aristocrat consumed up to 250μg of lead daily. Some Roman texts implicate chronic lead poisoning in the mental deterioration of Nero, Caligula, and other Roman Emperors.
Image source: breadlof, Commonists
#11
TIL at least one of the victims of the Vesuvius Eruption in 79 C.E was found with a vitrified brain. In other words their brain was turned to glass due to the extreme heat.
Image source: Dragonbutt45
#12
TIL In 1973, Keith Moon, the drummer for rock band The Who, passed out in the middle of a show. A random guy from the audience named Scot Halpin walked on stage and filled in on drums to finish the show.
Image source: Capable-Site-301
#13
TIL toilet paper wasn’t “splinter free” until the 1930’s
Image source: Chewbock, Vlada Karpovich
#14
TIL the biohazard symbol didn’t symbolize or refer to anything originally. It’s simply a shape that was picked as being symmetrical, hard to mistake, and easy to remember
Image source: JM1210, atluxity
#15
TIL that Brooke Greenberg, who died in 2013, had ‘Syndrome X’, which made her remain physically and cognitively similar to a 1 year old, despite being 20 years old at the time of her death.
Image source: _c4rdinal, Marcin Jozwiak
#16
TIL that in 2005, a Ph.D. student at the University of British Columbia nominated a fire hydrant to run for the Board of Governors (and even acted as its “translator”). The hydrant pulled in 900 votes, missing a seat by six ballots.
Image source: TheLeagueOfOwls
#17
TIL that the place Julius Caesar was murdered, “Torre Argentina,” is now a cat sanctuary.
Image source: _c4rdinal
#18
TIL Women’s shirt buttons are on the left-hand side because wealthy women used to be dressed by their maids and it was easier to access.
Image source: DwightKSchrute007, Liza Summer
#19
TIL that the Soviet space probe Phobos-2, , designed to explore Mars’ moons, failed because 2 of its 3 computers died, and since it used a system where the computers voted on any decision, the 1 healthy computer was unable to outvote 2 dead computers
Image source: casualphilosopher1, Perminov, The Difficult Road to Mars
#20
TIL the meerkat is the world’s most murderous mammal with 20% of all meerkats being violently killed by another meerkat, most commonly their mother, sister, or aunt
Image source: cwood1973
#21
TIL Song titles can’t be copyrighted. You can legally title a song “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Stairway to Heaven”, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or any other already used song title.
Image source: TallEnoughJones
#22
TIL; “Hello” came to prominence as a greeting with the invention of the telephone
Image source: Technical-Split3642, lensletter
#23
TIL that the least obese country in the world is Vietnam. Its obesity rates stands at only 2.1%, which is lower than Uganda (5.3%), and significantly lower than the U.S. (41.9%)
Image source: VegemiteSucks, Richard Mortel
#24
TIL 98% of passengers involved in vehicle crashes in Dubai were not wearing seat belts
Image source: Double-decker_trams, Mike Bird
#25
Til Americans have accumulated $21 billion Worth of unused gift cards. Almost 2/3 of people have a card and half of those will likely lose the gift card before using it
Image source: mankls3, Mike Mozart
#26
TIL that Bud Light’s big marketing push in the 80s was Spuds Mackenzie, a dog presented as “a cool dude”. Spuds was played by a female dog, named Honey Tree Evil Eye.
Image source: AlwaysTheNoob
#27
TIL Crows and other bird species will coat themselves in ants. Researchers aren’t sure why birds do this, but have called the process “anting”.
Image source: Geek_Nan
#28
TIL Charles Manson hypnotized Danny Trejo when they were in jail together.
Image source: peezle69, Gage Skidmore
#29
TIL Carrie Fisher’s ashes were placed inside a giant Prozac Pill
Image source: NamelessMexican, IMDb
#30
TIL that Edward Teller, the physicist who advocated for Oppenheimer to lose his security clearance suggested using nukes to create artifical harbours, fracking oil and preventing hurricanes
Image source: RiseDarthVader, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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