The human brain has about one billion neurons. Each neuron forms about 1,000 connections to other neurons, making up more than a trillion connections. If each neuron could only help store a single memory, you might have only a few gigabytes of storage space. But neurons combine so that each one helps with many memories at a time, exponentially increasing the brain's memory storage capacity to something close to 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes).
To put that into perspective, imagine your brain like a digital TV recorder. 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows — you could leave the TV running continuously for more than 300 years.
That's a lot of storage. So why waste it? Today I Learned, often shortened as TIL, is one of the biggest communities on Reddit. It has 25.9 million members, constantly sharing interesting trivia like the location of the clearest lake in the world or the reason why Nas listed his then 7-year-old daughter as an executive producer on his fifth album. To put some of your 2.5 petabytes to good use, we rounded up some of the best posts we could find on the subreddit.
However, since you will probably have a few megabytes to spare even after you finish scrolling through the list, fire up our older publications on Today I Learned here, here, and here.
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TIL that March 12th, 1990, over 60 disability rights activists abandoned their mobility aids and climbed, crawled, and edged up the 83 stone steps of the U.S Capitol, demanding the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which had been stalled in Congress. It was called the 'Capitol Crawl'.
Nas listed his then 7-year-old daughter, Destiny Jones, as an executive producer on his fifth studio album Stillmatic to ensure she would always receive royalty checks from the album.
TIL the medals in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are made from metals recovered from recycled cell phones collected since 2017.
TIL: In 400BC, the Persians invented a way to make ice in the desert using evaporation cooling
TIL the clearest lake in the world is the Blue Lake located in Nelson, New Zealand. Visibility in the lake is up to 80 metres meaning the water is considered almost as optically clear as distilled water.
TIL the US provided Laos with funds and concrete to expand an airport which could serve as a base for US fighter jets during the Vietnam War. But as the funds and concrete arrived before any contract was signed, Laos decided instead to build a memorial to soldiers who died in World War II.
TIL Octopuses are one of the most intelligent creatures on the planet, capable of solving complex puzzles, using tools, escaping captivity, and planning ahead in the future.
TIL of Eric Moussambani, who had never seen an olympic sized swimming pool before the 2000 olympics. He recorded the slowest time in 100m freestyle history at 1:52.72, however won his heat as all other competitors false started. He is now a national hero the head swimming coach of Equatorial Guinea
TIL of Charlie Walker, the first non-government individual to fly into space. After NASA deemed him unqualified and rejected his 1978 application for astronaut, he co-developed a space bound device which required him to accompany it. Walker flew into space three times with the device he co-patented.
TIL Drowning people almost never shout, thrash or wave for help. 10% of children who drown are supervised by adults who don't recognise the signs.
Head back and/or very low in the water. Eyes bulging or shut entirely. Hair in the face (if possible), especially if it's in front of their eyes. Body in almost vertical position without leg movement.
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My daughter was at the pool with my mom when she was little. She was playing with another little girl in the pool and the little girl pushed my daughter under and held her down. My daughter couldn’t get up and started to panic but the girl would not let her up. My daughter bit the little girl and she finally let her up. The girls were right in front of my mom when this happened and didn’t realize the girl was holding my daughter down. My whole body jerks when I think about it.
Oh my god, what a terrifying experience for both you and your daughter! Hope everyone is okay!
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Also drowning people will likely push you under when you try to save them. It has something to do with the paniced state they are in and an instinctive need to climb up whatever they can get a hold of. Which will be you. Be wary when jumping in to save someone and don't let them get a hold of you. Instead try to grab them from behind, like you've probably seen in movies
And if they manage to grab you, do what they fear the most: dive. They'll let go of you in an instant.
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My wife used to be a lifeguard. Her training is so engrained that it hasn't gone away. She has saved at least 4 kids while we were at various pools and lakes. We'll be talking when suddenly she will seem distracted but hyper focused. It's like a switch is flipped as she starts deliberately moving through the water. The kids are always described by others here: quiet, hair in their face, moving frantically but all underwater with just their heads bobbing above the surface and then dipping under. The worst time was at one of the big resorts in Orlando, FL. She almost had to perform mouth to mouth, meanwhile the kid's parents were only a foot or two away and looked at my wife like she was a monster as she was saving their son's life.
Exactly, if you can shout you can breath, if you can breath you are NOT drowning. As a lifeguard I pulled several near drowning kids out of the pool. Generally the parents got angry at me for grabing their kids who were "fine."
there's a series of wave pool rescues on youtube and they're all exactly as everyone describes: quiet, little movement, people nearby but completely unaware. i watch them bc i have small kids and want to recognize the signs but man, they make me cry even though they have good outcomes.
Also, being a good swimmer doesn't mean you have the skills to rescue someone who's drowining. Most of the time, the amateur rescuer also drowns
Sadly, too true. It happens here all the time, well meaning rescuers drown along with the original victim.
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My sister once nearly drowned near lakeside in a very populated lake. There were dozens if not hundreds of people looking at her falling face down in the water and flapping and kicking around wildly. My elder brother runned to our parents. My father jumped up, rushed through the crowd and grabbed her, holding her at the feets to let the water out her mouth (she was 2-3yrs old at the time) But all were looking, nobody did anything... Sad.
Little kids are so top heavy, they can't lift their heads back out. My 2 year old fell in the water two days ago, i was in arms reach and yanked her up right away
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Almost drowned in the American River, and just as I was about to give up, I managed to make a sound and was rescued. It was a horrifying experience. Took a long time to expel the water from my lungs and to feel "normal" again.
I was in a pool with classmates when I got pulled out by as lifeguard. I didn't understand why, because I hadn't been able to get myself high enough out of the water to call for help.
Fell into a fishing hole in the middle of winter, so lucky to be alive.
I almost drowned once, I was 6 or 7, I remember nothing except water closing over my head, I was disoriented, didn't know which way was up, I swum deeper and deeper till my dad grabbed me and pulled me to surface.
i only learned that year - at the tender age of 49. It is shocking just how wrong our idea of drowning just because of so much false represantation in pics and movies.
First grade, ymca. I was supervised ofc and there were a bunch of kids and I a hundred percent was not going to die. As soon as I touched the water I started thrashing about thinking I would die and crying and what not. Tried again same results. IMMEDIATELY RED
One time when I was in 1st grade, our whole family went to a deep waterfall. I didnt know how to swim then, and then i accidentally went to a deep part of the lake. I would had probably died if my dad didnt save me, but the thing is, i didnt got to scream or shout.
Drowned nearly twice as a kid. Once in a fish pond, second time in kindergarden, under supervision of two adults. Lost somehow the floor under my feet in torso high water. No one could understand why and tried to get me afterwards back into the water. I declined and since then don't like diving or too deep water very much.
Did you know dogs can drown after a day at the lake chasing and retrieving balls in the water? Check out dry drowning in dogs.
Drowning is silent. Upper body is vertical, above water. Arms are flailing similar to jumping jacks. Head is tilted back slightly. Mouth is moving as victim gasps for air. No screaming, thrashing, one-two-three count before going under as depicted in movies.
I read many of these posts and was so horrified. I felt terrible. I'm glad I told my youngest that if he got pushed to the deep end of the pool, he should suck in a lot of air, hold his breath and go to the bottom of the pool. He then had to walk on the bottom of the pool until he reached the small end and could stand up and breathe. I never let my kids swim in the ocean, ever, until they learned how to swim.
former lifeguard - drowning is a silent affair - no hands up and screaming - silent.
I went to a pool party once yet couldn't swim, despite a *lot* of lessons. Eventually managed it but doggy paddle still to this day! Anyway, the pool was full of large inflatables. One thing I could do was dip my head under and see how long I could hold my breath. So I did, but now above me was one of the huge inflatables. No one saw me go under, but I was lucky I could hold my breath as I somehow felt my way out. I was just so lucky I went the right way, instead of ending up further under the stupid thing as I really don't think anyone would have noticed until it was too late, it was early 90s and chaos.
I was in a kiddie pool with my then 2- 4 year old niece. She was face down and splashing. Instinctively I picked her up. Years later, I had my own children and my son had to be rescued 3 times. One, his pop was next to him and despite me yelling to pick him up, pop refused because the water was knee high. I was ropable but explained how little kids are not capable of getting their feet under them even in shallow water. So if they’re face down, good chance they’re drowning.
When people in the water make NO noise - no conversation, no splashing, total silence, they’re in trouble. Especially kids.
Wow, that's scary. My Niece if a lifeguard. I'll have to ask her about that.
TIL Crowing first at dawn is a privilege reserved for the highest ranking rooster.
Social status is based on the one who gets to shout first. More like a Presidential campaign
TIL Sony sold its waterproof Walkman in a bottle of water to prove it was really waterproof.
TIL Salvador Dali once conned Yoko Ono into paying $10,000 for a single blade of grass. Yoko had offered to pay that amount for one of his mustache hairs. He substituted the blade of grass because he thought that Yoko Ono was a witch and might use his hair in a spell.
TIL In the 1930's a selling point for TP started by Northern Tissue company was that their toilet paper was "splinter free"
TIL Bruce Lee was the winner of the 1958 Hong Kong Cha-Cha Dancing Championship. He kept a card with 108 different cha-cha dance steps in his wallet and developed new moves which he wrote down in a personal notebook labeled "Cha-Cha Fancy Steps."
Gotta wonder if that explains the fancy footwork he applied in his own movements. It kinda makes sense knowing this tidbit now.
TIL beavers build their dams as an instinct to stop the sounds of water leaks. If a speaker is playing just the sound of running water, a beaver will build a dam over it. This is even if it’s over concrete with no visible water, or if an actual nearby leaky water source is quieter than the speaker.
TIL astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who as a student discovered pulsars, credits her discovery to impostor syndrome and a fear of being kicked out of college; “I’m a bit of a fighter, so I decided until they threw me out I would work my very hardest". That discovery earned the 1974 Nobel Prize.
Well, Imposter Syndrome should be healed after receiving the Nobel Prize.
TIL that when his father died of a heart attack, Ronald Mallett resolved to discover time travel to see him again. He went on to earn a PhD in physics and become a professor, and has been working on plans for a time machine ever since.
Oh that's a sweet and sad and noble reason to pursue science. Thinking about time in any form other than linear is beyond me, and tangents are too complex! Butterfly effect and all that
TIL In 1908, the Russian shooting team arrived at the London Olympics twelve days late. The Russian team had made sure to arrive a few days before the event was scheduled, but Russia still used the Julian calendar. The UK had switched to the Gregorian calendar 150 years earlier
The Russian government has switched to the Gregorian calendar, but the Russian Orthodox Church still uses the Julian one! Russia switch in Feb 1918 when Lenin signed the Sovnarkom decree.
TIL dying coral reefs lack the sound attract new fish. Speakers playing healthy reef noises at dying coral reefs increases species diversity and doubles fish abundance.
TIL that hippo sweat contains a chemical that has an SPF factor to prevent them from getting sunburned.
TIL - Raccoons and skunks will literally sniff out a yellow jacket nest at night and dig it up to eat the yellow jackets.
TIL the X's often seen on moonshine bottles in old cartoons, etc. represent the amount of runnings, or how many times it was distilled.
Oh Cletus you old dog. Giving Homer a bottle with 12 or so X’s. ;) [Simpson’s Refernece]
TIL that female dogs can get pregnant by multiple male dogs within the same heat cycle, then give birth to X amount of puppies per father.
TIL comedy legend Mel Brooks was an uncredited producer of The Elephant Man, released in 1980. He was left off the credits for fear that fans would believe the movie was a comedy.
TIL of Research during 1950s all-male combat aircraft assignments revealed that a woman's voice was more likely to gain the attention of young men in distracting situations. Joan Elms voice was used for the automated voice warnings for Convair B-58 and was named "Sexy Sally" by the pilots.
TIL of Vasili Mitrokhin, a KGB archivist who kept a vast collection of handwritten notes on top secret files. When he defected to British Intelligence in 1992, he brought six trunks of notes with him that exposed most KGB activities in the West during the Cold War
I'm surprised the KGB wouldn't have known that he had 6 trunks worth of notes.
TIL that the reticular activating system is the part of the brain that sorts through all the billions of pieces of information our senses take in and then allows through the important stuff. It is why after you a buy a red sedan, you now see red sedans everywhere when you didn't notice them before.
TIL that the "Monopoly Man", the guy in jail and the policeman on the Monopoly Board all have names: Milburn Pennybags, Jake the Jailbird and Officer Mallory
Also, the game was originally created to show the negative aspects of monopolies. And there were two rule sets for the game, one where everyone was rewarded when wealth was created, and second where you were supposed to crush opponents.
TIL that the Red Bull energy drink was originally invented by a duck farmer from Thailand as a hangover cure (called Krathing Daeng in Thai) before being bought over by Austrian businessman Dietrich Mateschitz who discovered it on a business trip in 1987.
Note: this post originally had 48 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Would love to read but can't, font too small.. prob issue with apple
TIL BP is just a middle man, and I should just go straight to Reddit for all their stories.
BP is easier. It harvests whatever gets a lot of attention on Reddit. Reddit is more fun ;)
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Would love to read but can't, font too small.. prob issue with apple
TIL BP is just a middle man, and I should just go straight to Reddit for all their stories.
BP is easier. It harvests whatever gets a lot of attention on Reddit. Reddit is more fun ;)
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