Learning something new triggers a dopamine hit. That’s right: taking in brand-new information brings the same sensation as going for a run, trading juicy stories with a good friend, or biting into a scrumptious piece of crispy, golden fried chicken.
They don’t even need to be useful or add value to your life. But once you know them, you can no longer unknow them. Some good examples come from the Today I Learned subreddit.
You don’t need to dig deep to know what this community is all about, but most of their posts would make you want to go down a rabbit hole. Here are a few for you to enjoy today.
#1
TIL that during the difficult birth of his son, Napoleon was asked if wife or child should be prioritized. He ordered the empress to be saved but both survived. Napoleon was traumatized by watching his wife’s pain saying “I had rather never have any more children than see her suffer so much again”
Image source: Designer_Reference_2, Jean-Baptiste Paulin Guérin (1783–1855) wikidata:Q3372678 After François Gérard
#2
TIL about the “Batman effect”: In an experiment, a woman appearing pregnant boarded a train. In some trials, another experimenter dressed as Batman also entered. Passengers were far more likely to offer the woman their seat when Batman was present—67.2% compared with 37.7%.
Image source: Giff95, Serge Kutuzov
#3
TIL that in the 1990s, Dolly Parton made $10 million in royalties from Whitney Houston’s cover of her song “I Will Always Love You.” She then invested the money into an office complex in a majority-Black neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee. She later described it as “the house that Whitney built.”
Image source: altrightobserver, 60 Minutes Australia
As mentioned in the intro, learning something new, whether it’s a new skill or just brand-new information, makes us feel good. One reason is that it makes us feel like our brains are working faster and better.
Learning something new encourages myelin growth, for one. Myelin is the protective layer around the brain’s nerve fibers that helps electrical signals travel faster and more efficiently.
#4
TIL Sleep triggers a “wash cycle” in the brain. Studies show that during sleep, the space between brain cells widens over 60%, allowing cerebrospinal fluid to flush out waste like beta-amyloid. Because of this, pulling an all-nighter stops this waste from clearing, causing brain fog.
Image source: whoiswhoJH, drobotdean
#5
TIL that cashier in most of USA are not allowed to sit.
Image source: CMDR_Pumpkin_Muffin, yaroslav-astakhov-
#6
TIL that Madonna personally changed a scene in Deadpool & Wolverine. Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy had to meet with her to get permission to use Like a Prayer, and Madonna gave them a note about the sequence. The filmmakers made the change within 48h, and said it made the scene better.
Image source: Sea-Ask8703, MTV and CBS
According to experts, dopamine release and myelin are what make us crave novel experiences. This is especially true when we repeatedly learn something new through practice or when it becomes a regular part of our daily lives.
#7
TIL South Korea has a rising trend of “dopamine sites”—fake shopping apps and food delivery trackers where users can customize orders and track virtual couriers. Designed to give users the satisfaction of spending without buying anything, nothing is ever delivered.
Image source: delano1998, Getty Images
#8
TIL a geologist was ridiculed for decades for claiming the Pacific Northwest was carved by a catastrophic Ice Age flood. NASA satellite images proved him right in the 1970s. He finally received geology’s highest honor at 96 and said “All my enemies have passed away, so I have no one to gloat over.”
Image source: FinancialGarage245, Dr. Julian Goldsmith
#9
TIL In 1846, a dead snail was glued to an index card at the British Museum. 4 years later they discovered it was actually still alive. The museum gave the snail a bath and it lived the remaining 2 years in a jar eating cabbage.
Image source: OperationSuch5054, Annie Newton Waterhouse
That is why experts also encourage curiosity. According to UCLA psychology professor Alan Castel, it happens when we least expect it: during moments of boredom.
“Boredom can lead to self-reflection as well as ‘incubation,’ where an idea may be percolating despite one not actively thinking about problem-solving (i.e., when you need some time to sleep on it before the ‘aha’ moment),” Castel wrote. v
#10
TIL during the shooting of American Psycho, Christian Bale spoke in an American accent off-set at all times. At the wrap party, when he spoke in his native British accent, many of the crew thought he was speaking that way to prepare for another film. They had thought he was American the entire time.
Image source: Away_Flounder3813, That Meme Moment
#11
TIL that after Christopher Eccleston left his role as the Doctor in Doctor Who, the BBC made a false statement about his reasons for leaving, and subsequently blacklisted him. Eccleston has since said he would not return to the show unless the producers responsible were sacked.
Image source: Sebastianlim, Doctor Who
#12
TIL NBC offered James Gandolfini $4 million to play the new Dunder Mifflin manager on “The Office” following Steve Carell’s departure. HBO offered Gandolfini $3 million to decline the role and protect his legacy as Tony Soprano. Gandolfini accepted their counteroffer.
Image source: Giff95, 60 Minutes
Castel also points out that curiosity has a dark side. An intriguing yet suspicious link may urge you to click, even when you know of the potential consequences at the back of your mind.
“Thus, there is a good balance between intense curiosity and just showing some interest, and this may help one age well,” Castel notes.
#13
TIL Argentina was the catalyst behind the invention of soccer’s yellow/red card system. In 1966, their captain refused an expulsion, later blaming language barriers. To prevent this kind of situation in the future, the universal color-coded system was developed so all players understand the calls.
Image source: br_ph, Володимир Король
#14
TIL in Norway everyone’s income, net wealth and tax paid are published online and anyone can search them. But you have to log in, the person you look up can see your name in their search history within the hour, and you’re limited to 500 look-ups a month
Image source: eleanorharland, Timur Weber
#15
TIL actress Angela Lansbury moved her entire family from California to Ireland because her daughter was starting to get involved with Charles Manson.
Image source: the_dj_zig, Unknown author
Many people believe a person’s real demise happens when they stop learning. One of the easiest ways to keep curiosity alive is to always ask why. As Castel points out, that simple question engages relational processing, which urges us to compare abstract thoughts or link things together to find an answer.
“Asking why is a great way to better understand the world, what is known and not known, and the rules that may apply in any given situation,” he said.
#16
TIL a hermit monk wrote a furious letter to the Church for not electing a pope fast enough, so they responded by making him pope. He refused and attempted to flee into the woods. The only noteworthy thing he did as pope was changing rules so popes could resign, and being the first pope to resign.
Image source: geosunsetmoth, Niccolò di Tommaso
#17
TIL NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, a fan of visiting zoos, claims gorillas would always go wild seeing him behind glass. Animal expert Ron Magill confirmed this, saying male gorillas were often intimidated by O’Neal’s size and presence.
Image source: Giff95, Zalgiris Kaunas
#18
TIL that “fair play” in detective fiction means authors must give readers a fair chance to solve the mystery. Central to 1920s “clue-puzzles” by writers like Agatha Christie, the rule dictates that all vital clues must be visible, decodable, and never withheld until the final reveal.
Image source: ralphbernardo, Sidney Paget
Most of the facts on this list may be eye-opening, but they are likely far from life-changing. And that’s what makes them fun to learn. The best part about it is that the world is full of obscure stories, strange coincidences, and scientific discoveries, so there is no shortage of brand-new information.
Now, let’s turn it over to you, dear readers. Which of these facts surprised you the most?
#19
TIL that most restrooms are free in the USA due to activism efforts in the 70s by the Committee to End Pay Toilets in America. Membership in the Committee cost $0.25, and members received a newsletter, the Free Toilet Paper.
Image source: StretchFrenchTerry, Robbgodshaw
#20
TIL that in 2018, a 14-year-old girl named Cindy Redmond had an air horn blasted into her ear by her friend’s stepfather after she wouldn’t get off her phone. This caused her to develop hyperacusis, a rare hearing disorder which makes any small noise cause her immense pain.
Image source: Sebastianlim, Action Media Productions
#21
TIL 77% of people preferred instant coffee over drip in a blind taste test
Image source: d8gfdu89fdgfdu32432, Engin Akyurt
#22
TIL in 2009 when Japan Airlines CEO Haruka Nishimatsu was forced to cut his employees’ salaries, he also cut his own to $90K. He also took the city bus to go to work, ate in the company cafeteria, & bought his suits at a discount store. He even knocked down his office walls so anyone could walk in.
Image source: tyrion2024, Iban Lopez Luna
#23
TIL when Shirley Temple retired from movies at age 22 in 1950, she discovered that her father had “drastically mismanaged” her money by making bad investments. Out of the $3.2 million she had earned during her career, only $44K remained in her trust account. She said “I wasn’t upset; I was shocked.”
Image source: tyrion2024, TODAY
#24
TIL that in 37 BC, the Roman polymath Marcus Terentius Varro warned his readers to avoid living near swamps because of “minute creatures which cannot be seen by the eyes” and cause disease. Microorganisms would not be observed until the 17th century
Image source: FastBreakPhenom, Andre Thevet
#25
TIL that Japan’s first astronaut, Toyohiro Akiyama, hated his time in space because he suffered from severe space sickness and chain-smoked four packs a day on Earth. His fellow cosmonauts later reported, in regards to his nausea, that they “hadn’t ever seen a man vomit that much.”
Image source: fan_tas_tic, NASA
#26
TIL a drinks vendor in Germany cheated $47,000 from a bottle recycling machine by putting a single bottle into it 177,451 times. He built a wooden tunnel and magnetic sensor to pull the bottle back out every time, listening to the radio while sitting at the machine all day to pass time.
Image source: delano1998, SHOX ART
#27
TIL Canada’s $1 coin is commonly called the “loonie” because it has a loon on the reverse. When a $2 coin was introduced, depicting a polar bear, an MP proposed it be called “Nanuq”, Inuit for polar bear, but he was ignored because the public instead preferred to call it the “toonie” (2-oonie).
Image source: NateNate60, Roman Manshin
#28
TIL two Bell Labs scientists spent a year trying to get rid of a hiss in their antenna, even evicting nesting pigeons and scrubbing out their droppings. The hiss stayed. It turned out to be cosmic background radiation left over from the Big Bang, and it won them the 1978 Nobel Prize.
Image source: Long__Ground, Branimir Klaric
#29
TIL researchers won the 2025 Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize for proposing eating Teflon as a zero calorie food. They cited 1960s DuPont studies where rats fed a 25% Teflon diet lost weight with no signs of toxicity, and patented it as a meal additive, but gave up after the FDA would not approve it.
Image source: Kyzzz, Kampus Production
#30
TIL towards the end of filming “Tenet,” Robert Pattinson gifted Christopher Nolan a book of Oppenheimer speeches. According to Nolan, the speeches showed Oppenheimer “wrestling with the implications of what’s happened and what he’s done.” This led to Nolan’s decision to make “Oppenheimer” (2023).
Image source: Giff95, Universal Pictures
#31
TIL Elizabeth Holmes’ boyfriend founded a blood-testing startup in 2024 with eerily similar claims to Theranos. Holmes reportedly advises him from prison
Image source: MustardSquirt
#32
TIL There are “hunger stones” in rivers in central Europe. These stones were carved during droughts to mark the water level as a warning to future generations that they will have to endure famine-related hardships if the water sinks to this level again.
Image source: Initial_Specialist69
#33
TIL that there are millions to hundreds of millions of Giant Squid (Architeuthis Dux) living in Earth’s Oceans. We know this because of the sheer amount of Giant Squid found in the stomachs of Sperm Whales requires a breeding population to be at least that large to have reproductive sustainability.
Image source: WitELeoparD
#34
TIL that the famous ‘London Fog’ of Victorian novels wasn’t natural weather. It was toxic industrial pea-soup smog created by burning soft bituminous coal. In December 1952, the Great Smog of London became so thick that movie theaters closed because the screen wasn’t visible from the fourth row.
Image source: Jesus_H_Christ_AMA
#35
TIL Halle Berry was given a fake script for X-Men: The Last Stand that included a fake plotline which centered on Berry’s character Storm in order to trick Berry into signing on for the film. Matthew Vaughan was originally going to direct it, but quit after learning about the fake Halle Berry script
Image source: tyrion2024
#36
TIL that Anne Frank had an older sister, Margot Frank. According to Anne’s own diary, Margot kept a diary of her own, which has never been found and is now considered lost literature.
Image source: Patrickpro_YT
#37
TIL in 2013 a man survived treading water for 28 hours in the ocean after he became ill, blacked out, & fell overboard. He woke up in the water with the boat he was on already 15 meters ahead of him. He encountered a shark, was stung by jellyfish & attacked by gulls before he was eventually rescued.
Image source: tyrion2024
#38
TIL of Tobias Geffen, the only non-Coca Cola Employee to view the secret recipe. Coke allowed it in order to get Coke certified as Kosher
Image source: socool111
#39
TIL the first same sex marriage license in the US was issued in 1975 because there was no law against it at the time and the clerk of court could issue licenses at her discretion. The same clerk denied a man who wanted to marry his horse as the horse was underage
Image source: standbyyourmantis
#40
TIL modern beekeeping rests on a single measurement discovered by a Philadelphia clergyman in 1851: leave bees a gap between about 6 and 9 mm and they will neither build comb in the space nor glue it shut — which is the only reason a beekeeper can lift frames out of a hive instead of destroying it.
Image source: dinosaruman
#41
TIL that Lionel Messi was diagnosed with Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD) at age 11 and required daily Human Growth Hormone (HGH) injections until he was 14 just to reach an average height.
Image source: guy_rocco
#42
TIL Hurricane Katrina permanently displaced so many people along the Gulf Coast that it is considered by most definitions to be a diaspora. 40% of evacuees were unable to return home, resulting in permanent demographic changes. The New Orleans population has still not recovered to pre-Katrina levels
Image source: WavesAndSaves
#43
TIL Tigers look orange to humans because we are trichromats, but they appear green to deer and wild boars because they are dichromats
Image source: Emperor_Ken
#44
TIL that there are so few Imax 70mm screens because many of the parts needed to build them no longer exist, along with the plans being lost. Between Oppenheimer and the Odyssey, Imax attempted to repair or rebuild as many new projectors as they could, and could only increase the number by 11.
Image source: Sebastianlim
#45
TIL that William Shatner offered to wrestle a real Bengal tiger that had been brought onto the set of Star Trek: The Original Series, only to quickly back down once he actually saw the animal up close.
Image source: Maximum-Artist448
#46
TIL that Peter Cullen based his voice for Optimus Prime on his older brother, Larry, a Marine who served in Vietnam. Before Peter’s audition, Larry gave him the advice: “Peter, don’t be a Hollywood hero, be a real hero. Real heroes don’t yell and act tough; they are strong enough to be gentle.”
Image source: Practical-1
#47
TIL Pope Leo XIV still plays Wordle and Words With Friends with his brother during their daily phone calls, a routine they kept from before his election
Image source: Kyzzz
#48
TIL Germany charges a 25 cent deposit on every single-use drink bottle and can, and gets 98% of them back, the highest return rate of any deposit scheme in the world
Image source: eleanorharland
#49
TIL wild animals in the African savanna are twice as likely to flee from the sound of calm human conversations than from the growls of lions, with 95% of observed species recognizing humans as the ultimate “super-predator”.
Image source: PresentSurvey9464
#50
TIL the girl who first suggested the name Pluto when it was discovered in 1930 at age 11, lived to see Pluto demoted to a “dwarf planet” in 2006.
Image source: fanau
#51
TIL Kevin Feige almost quit Marvel after Marvel Entertainment head Ike Perlmutter tried to force Robert Downey Jr. out of Civil War due to not wanting to pay him. Disney CEO Bob Iger responded by reshuffling the corporate system so that Fiege would answer directly to him rather than Perlmutter.
Image source: Sebastianlim
#52
TIL that out of every primate that has been studied, humans get the least amount of sleep.
Image source: krizzalicious49
#53
TIL when Heath Ledger passed away during filming of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Terry Gilliam rewrote the plot so that his character transforms passing through a mirror, allowing actors Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law to take over and donate their salaries to Ledger’s daughter.
Image source: Acrobatic-Post9811
#54
TIL Driving for more than two hours each day can steadily decrease the IQ of middle-aged drivers
Image source: ubcstaffer123
#55
TIL Neil Armstrong became involved in a legal dispute against his former barber he had for 20 years, Mark Sizemore. Sizemore sold Armstrong’s hair to a collector for $3,000 without consent. Armstrong threatened legal actions unless the barber retrieved the hair or donated the proceeds to a charity.
Image source: Zealousideal-Cup3529
#56
TIL that the Mr Bean movie opened opposite Starship Troopers in 1997, and its surprising success at the US Box Office and Starship Troopers’ underperformance was attributed by some to underage kids buying tickets to the former to sneak into the latter
Image source: Francis_J_Eva
#57
TIL We gradually lose bone mass as we age. Fortunately strength training can reverse this. When we lift weights, the stresses on our bones signal our body to remodel the bones to be thicker and stronger.
Image source: dzuyhue
#58
TIL that The Lion King was originally called “King of the Jungle”… until the Disney team remembered that lions don’t live in the jungle.
Image source: GossipBottom
#59
TIL that before receiving the $168 million divorce settlement from Michael Jordan, Juanita Jordan hired a private investigator to follow him for four years and document his infidelity
Image source: Competitive_Swan_130
#60
TIL Tron (1982) was considered ineligible for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects because “the Academy thought we cheated by using computers.”
Image source: ConcentratedStress
#61
TIL in 1973, a 2-man submarine laying cables became entangled and trapped 1,575 feet deep in the Atlantic. An international rescue effort brought the men to the surface after more than three days, with only minutes of air remaining. It remains the deepest successful underwater rescue in history.
Image source: carboncopy95437
#62
TIL that scientists reintroduced the Whooping Crane to an extinct migration route by guiding them through the air with an ultralight airplane they imprinted on. The pilot had to wear a crane costume to keep them from bonding with humans.
Image source: CalzonePie
#63
TIL that although potatoes alone do not provide complete nutrition, you can survive for years on a diet of nothing but potatoes and buttermilk.
Image source: JoeWinchester99
#64
TIL it was severely taboo for US presidents to leave the country while in office, with Theodore Roosevelt’s visit to Panama to inspect progress on the canal in 1906 being the first time a sitting president has left the country.
Image source: Cutalana
#65
TIL on 11 February 2012, a customer reportedly suffered a heart attack while eating a ‘Triple Bypass Burger’ at the ‘Heart Attack Grill’. These burgers contained 9,983 calories each. According to the now-closed establishments’s policy, anyone weighing over 350 pounds was offered unlimited free food.
Image source: haphazard44
#66
TIL that by law, HOAs in Colorado cannot prevent you from establishing a vegetable garden in any part of your yard.
Image source: Hailfog
#67
TIL a peer-reviewed psychology study found that identical twins (on average) ranked their co-twin above their romantic partner in their attachment hierarchy, while fraternal twins ranked the two about equally, and non-twin siblings ranked their romantic partner first.
Image source: SilverPeachBlossom
#68
TIL the world’s tallest known living tree, a 380-foot redwood in California called Hyperion, had its exact location closed off entirely in 2022 after visitors trampled its base so badly that ferns stopped growing around it, with trespassers now facing up to $5,000 in fines and six months in jail
Image source: autraya
#69
TIL Grad student David Radies was doing random sampling for a lichen diversity study in British Columbia when he saw logging tape tied around a red cedar at least two thousand years old. He discovered an ancient forest that was about to be logged, which was then saved as Ancient Forest park
Image source: ubcstaffer123
#70
TIL a broke, unemployed German shoemaker bought a used army captain’s uniform in 1906, used it to commandeer a squad of real soldiers off the street, marched them to a town hall, arrested the mayor, and walked off with the entire municipal treasury before anyone realized he wasn’t actually a captain
Image source: cape2k
#71
TIL that in 2024, William Duffy flew 24 Flat Earthers to Antarctica to observe the Midnight Sun, in which the sun stays above the horizon for the entire day, a phenomenon which would be impossible in a flat earth model. Though some changed their minds, the community still believes it was faked.
Image source: Sebastianlim
#72
TIL that at the famed NYC diner, Katz’s Delicatessen, upon entering you are handed a ticket. If you lose the ticket you’ll be charged a $50 ticket loss fee on top of the cost of your order.
Image source: UpperphonnyII
#73
TIL that Rome had a trade deficit with India nearly 2,000 years ago. Roman historians complained about a “drain of Roman gold” because Romans were obsessed with Indian spices and luxury goods, making it one of history’s earliest recorded trade-deficit complaints.
Image source: Effective_Bluebird19
#74
TIL that Pierce Brosnan was fired from the James Bond series during a 2 minute phone call with the producers.
Image source: stanxv
#75
TIL Marvel secured permission to use Thomas the Tank Engine in “Ant-Man” after the rights holders approved the presentation, with conditions that Thomas could not run over anyone, be portrayed as evil, or take sides in the battle.
Image source: Giff95
#76
TIL that Mississippi has no open container law, allowing the driver of a motor vehicle to drink and drive as long as they stay sober.
Image source: azzanrev
#77
TIL In 1980 the Supreme Court awarded the Sioux nations $122 million for the Black Hills, a settlement the tribes have refused on the grounds that acceptance would extinguish their claim to the land, leaving the award to accrue interest in a federal account now worth over $1 billion.
Image source: Tadhg
#78
TIL that about 1 in 2500 pregnancies cause no pregnancy symptoms or visible baby bump, and the mother only finds out she is pregnant when she starts giving birth.
Image source: PeasantLich
#79
TIL that Buzz Aldrin reported seeing flashes of light with his eyes closed during Apollo 11, and NASA later determined they were charged particles (radiation) passing directly through his eyeballs and triggering his retina, with no actual light involved
Image source: Long__Ground
#80
TIL ancient Greeks treated every stranger as a potential god in disguise. Their hospitality code, “xenia,” required hosts to bathe and feed guests before even asking their name—because a bad host risked the wrath of Zeus. The Trojan War was framed as punishment for violating it.
Image source: ralphbernardo
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