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With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, our minds are always buzzing. Every time we hop online, we’re bombarded with endless amounts of news, data, and entertainment, and it’s bound to make heads spin! While the digital world makes sure our brains never really stop, thankfully, there’s a beloved corner of the internet that helps us feel less overwhelmed by featuring the tastiest bitesize nuggets of information we all appreciate.

We’re talking about the 'Today I Learned' online community, the perfect outlet to pique our curiosity and boost our intelligence. With over 28.8 million members, the group celebrates knowledge by sharing some of the most intriguing and lesser-known things, facts, and truths that can be quickly consumed and understood.

Below, we wrapped up the freshest batch of surprising and valuable tidbits from this powerhouse to add some much-needed value to our feeds. So grab your notebooks and your thinking caps and get ready for an informative ride as you scroll down this list. Be sure to upvote your favorite facts, and then spread some words of wisdom in the comments! Psst! For more goodness from the TIL world, check out Bored Panda's earlier pieces here, here, and right here.

#1

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL Hummingbirds have an exceptional memory due to an enlarged hippocampus. This allows them to remember the exact location of specific hummingbird feeders along their migration path from North America to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America.

Winger52 , Charles J. Sharp Report

#2

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL that at the ancient Olympics, cheating athletes would be fined and the fines used to build bronze statues at the entrance of the Olympic stadium, each inscribed with the name of the cheater and how they cheated

DAJ1 , ace-classicist Report

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UncleRussian
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We should start doing this again, let's see how many statues we can make for doping

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#3

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL of the 'Fry and Turnbull effect' on prostate cancer in the UK. In 2008 news presenter Bill Turnbull and broadcaster Stephen Fry both had a prostate cancer diagnosis and urged other men to come forward for help. It caused a 36% increase in patients receiving treatment the following year.

Status-Victory , independent Report

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Babsevs
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Unfortunately, Bill very recently passed away due to it. An excellent breakfast TV anchor, he was very much loved in the UK

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#4

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL that Jimmy Carter, at 97, is the oldest living President, the longest-lived President, and also has the longest retirement ( 41 years ) of any President

MetaJoel , Department of Defense Report

#5

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL Freddie Mercury’s introductory scatting vocal on "Under Pressure" was improvised during an experiment suggested by David Bowie, as Brian May recalls it: "David said, 'Okay, let’s each of us go in the vocal booth and sing how we think the melody should go and we’ll compile a vocal out of that.'"

Bubbly-Incident , happymag Report

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#6

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was founded by FDR's New Deal in 1933. In its 9 year existence the CCC employed nearly 3 million men, planted over 3.5 billion trees, and established more than 700 state parks. It was the most rapid peacetime mobilization in US history.

foxymoxy18 , BLM Oregon & Washington Report

#7

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL The Carmen Sandiego Show (1991-1995; 295 episodes) was created partially in response to the results of a National Geographic survey that indicated Americans had alarmingly little knowledge of geography, with one in four being unable to locate the Soviet Union or the Pacific Ocean.

https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/x7nowm/til_the_carmen_sandiego_show_19911995_295/ , 8,36 tūkst. prenumeratorių Report

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Bella10
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’m very bemused by the amount of Americans that think Alaska is an island near Hawaii 😳

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#8

TIL award-winning writer William Goldman would make up bedtime stories for his daughters (4yo & 7yo). One of them wanted tales of princesses, the other wanted brides, so he combined them. These stories became his next book: "The Princess Bride"

Pfeffer_Prinz Report

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#9

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL in 400 BCE Persian engineers created an ice machine in the desert.

Brainfreezdnb , Pastaitaken Report

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Mirabelle Skyrim
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The link might look odd, but it works, I tried it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l

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#10

TIL For weeks, Ganeshpur, a village in eastern Bihar, India, had to put up with frequent power outages that only seemed to occur a few hours after sunset. It was later revealed that an electrician was cutting the village's power whenever he wanted to see his girlfriend in secrecy in the dark.

delano1998 Report

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#11

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL that a drop of water spends an average of nine days in the atmosphere before falling back to Earth. If it should fall in the ocean it may take it over 3000 years before evaporating again.

John-Piece , Vlad Chețan Report

#12

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL that in 1956, the Comics Code Authority tried to prevent a story from being printed because it involved a black astronaut, even though this was never actually forbidden by the Code. Fortunately, the publisher managed to get the CCA to back down by threatening to take the matter to court.

ShabtaiBenOron , .lookie-lookie Report

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Vorknkx
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Comic Code as a whole was quite ludicrous - it was all based on the absurd notion that portraying villains in even a slightly positive/cool light might make children want to become criminals when they grow up. Today we have the same BS with the whole "video games make kids violent" hysteria, even though there's no evidence to support this.

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#13

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL that when a poisonous gas leak was found at 11:45pm immediately before the Bhopal disaster in 1984 that killed thousands, a decision was made to do something about it after the 12:15am tea break.

mankls3 , Bhopal Medical Appeal Report

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Olivia Lisbon
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

“Come on, Dave, it’s not those 30 minutes will make that much difference and I’ll die without my tea.”

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#14

TIL The final episode of M*A*S*H was two and a half hours long and was viewed by an audience of 121 million.

haddock420 Report

#15

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL Medieval myths surrounding salamanders being resistant to fire were due to salamanders habit of hibernating in logs… putting another log in the fire = salamander scurrying from the fire … leading people to believe they were “born of fire”.

Geek_Nan , Petar Milošević Report

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#16

TIL Tonic water was created as an early prophylactic treatment against Malaria (due to the added Quinine) by the British army. They added Gin to improve taste and now we have the G&T.

miniclaw Report

#17

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean are the Disappointment Islands. Named by John Byron in 1765, because he found the natives to be hostile towads him.

Mans_Fury , EwanSmith Report

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UncleRussian
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To be fair I would also be kinda pissed if some guy showed up and said "Your island is mine now"

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#18

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL The Golden Raspberry Awards has made retractions on two occasions. Bruce Willis had his Raspberry category retracted once it was discovered he was suffering from aphasia. Shelley Duvall's nomination was retracted because of Kubrick's mistreatment on The Shining.

jamescookenotthatone , giantfreakinrobot Report

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Izzy Curer
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Aphasia - loss of ability to understand or express speech, caused by brain damage." Why would they take it away for that? Edit - "The Golden Raspberry Awards is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements." Oh, I see.

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#19

TIL: John Michell in 1783, published a paper speculating the existence of black holes, and was forgotten until the 1970s

Philosophile42 Report

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David Paterson
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can confirm that. His idea was that if any star had a diameter more than 500 times that of the Sun, then Newtonian gravity would hide its light from us. It wasn't until very much later, circa 1930, that it was realised that a star could have an average density much higher than that of the metal osmium. The Chandrasekhar limit that was published 1930-1935 suddenly made the possibility of real black holes real.

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#20

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL that if two pieces of similar metals touch in a vacuum like outer space, and if both pieces are perfectly flat and polished, they will indeed fuse to effectively make one new piece. Atoms in the metals share electrons and bond permanently. This is called cold welding.

barzobius , Ms. weld Report

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UncleRussian
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ah, so I take it technically speaking it would be easier to make certain alloys in space?

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#21

TIL about rescue buoys used in the English channel in WWII. Designed to provide shelter for the pilots or crew of aircraft shot down or forced to make an emergency landing over water, they contained food, cigarettes, liquor, flares and even board games to pass the time.

Grothorious Report

#22

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca was so terrifying to Rome that they would use the phrase "Hannibal is at the gates" whenever disaster struck. When the romans finally defeated Hannibal, they built statues of him in the streets of Rome to advertise their defeat of such a worthy adversary.

firstpc13 , Mommsen Report

#23

TIL Lal Bihari Mritak is an Indian farmer and activist who was officially declared dead between 1975 and 1994. He fought with Indian bureaucracy for 19 years to prove that he is alive.

happy_bluebird Report

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Owen Jarvis
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This kind of sounds like a comedy. 'Sir, you are dead!' 'No I'm not!' 'We know you're dead, stop denying it!'

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#24

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL: In 1990 a courier was robbed on a street in London, England. The robber made off with bearer bonds to the value of £292 million. Today, this is equivalent to £758 million - or $1.086 billion USD. This is still the highest amount ever stolen in a street robbery.

JonnySparks , Basher Eyre Report

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#25

TIL Hans Christian Anderson was huge fanboy of Charles Dickens & annoyed the hell out of him by overstaying his welcome as a guest

Rossco1874 Report

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Agnes Jekyll
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Apparently HCA did this to many people---apparently, he was quite the annoying guest to just about everybody.

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#26

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL that in 2006, FBI agents attempted to arrest prison guards at the Federal Correctional Institution, Tallahassee, after having learnt the guards were trading drugs for sex with female inmates. One of the guards opened fire with a personal handgun, killing one agent and wounding another.

RexSueciae , bop.gov Report

#27

TIL that in his famous paper, Computing Machinery And Intelligence, Alan Turing recommended that the Turing Test be performed in a 'telepathy-proof room' so the human couldn't use psychic powers to identify the computer

DeadForDecember Report

#28

TIL When a horse and donkey mate they make a mule (or hinnie). Mules are stronger than horses and donkeys of the same size and are more resilient to disease.

MTG-NicolBolasfanboi Report

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Max
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I mean, if they weren't, you could breed two mules together, and then breed two of the mule-children together, and eventually you'd wind up with some terrifying super-mule that would rule the world with an iron hoof.

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MamaBear
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mule lover here!! In some rare cases they are actually fertile. Also, mules get a bad rap for being stubborn. Mules are just incredibly intelligent. They also possess a strong sense of self preservation. Where a horse will do just about anything you ask them without thinking twice, a mule will stop/assess the situation and go... hmmm... not to sure about that, I may get hurt. Once you form a trust with them they are WONDERFUL to deal with. This is also what makes them great for "packing" on trail. Horses will just keep bonking into stuff, but a mule will actually know by its own assessment whether or not they can fit somewhere with all of your junk. LOL Wonderfully intelligent creatures that just require commitment and patience. ✌

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Pieter LeGrande
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Male horse + female donkey = mule Female horse + male donkey = hunny Mules and hinnies have different physiognomy and temperaments

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marianne eliza
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The mama always needs to be the larger of the parents. You don't want a donkey trying to birth a mule. Too large a foal.

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Katie Cascone
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

oh wow interesting thought... like a male st Bernard and a female Shitzu 😅

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Fluffy mommy panda
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I knew all of this plus the downside. Because I love horses and mules. And I'm a nerd I love information. That why I read theses. Lol

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Joeshar
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mule=female horse+male donkey. Hinny=the other way around. Since you heard one a lot more than other, you are right: mules are larger, stronger, and far more common than hinnies

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Justin Rogers
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And have the best temperament/ disposition and situational awareness and the cutest ears and cutest bray and....

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Marilyn Russell
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And they live longer. I did know this one because one day, I’d like an equine amd I researched them.

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Justin Rogers
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't wait! Find your local auction house, find soon to be glue and grab that sucker and on the way home stop by Costco and grab a canopy then your local tractor supply for treats and some hog panels bring home the best decision with hooves

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WJ Williams
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Best animal I ever had was a mule. So smart, strong, loving and gentle. I was allowed to do anything until I gave him m&Ms first thing every day.

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Justin Rogers
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ferris Mueller is my mini mule and I have been blessed with his trust, he will follow me up a tree, and cross anything. I am working on sit but it's hard, he's wicked smart and knows all of his tricks and commands. I adopted him and his sister (mini horse) from the wild plains of Oregon when they were 4 months old and we have been besties since, mind you I live in Washington and put them in the back of my van and drove 4 hours home and they didn't kick or bite (it's how you treat them) best decision ever

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Becky Winstead
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A mule has the horse as the mother, a hinnie has the donkey as the mother. Mules are generally larger due to this and more preferred than the smaller hinnie. (Which is why hinnie is probably a new term for you)

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Reinaldo Fuentes
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And on the very rare occasion you get a fertile mule, if that mule mates with a full-blood horse, you get a full-blood horse, not some percentage of donkey. The mismatch in the number of genes that nearly always makes a mule sterile is the same thing that makes this happen. The rare fertile mule only passes on the horse side of its genome, not the donkey side.

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LSR
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Damn, you are a totally useless member of this imbecile young generation.

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bill marsano
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mules are also sure-footed and too smart to do anything dangerous. That's why they're used instead of horses on the narrow trails going down into the Grand Canyon. No mule could ever be induced to do the dangerous stunts performed by horses in early Western movies. Horses have the looks but mules have the brains.

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Bouche Clay
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Donkeys and horses are genetically very similar, but almost never produce offspring that can reproduce. Yet aliens from gazillion million light-years away supposedly have offspring with humans that can reproduce.

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Daryl McIntire
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I bet my left nut someone has to say something about their reproductive possibilities. Prepare for the vomit of obvious knowledge.

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Ruth Hempsey
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In my native dialect hinny or hinney is a term of affection. As is calling someone "pet". There's even an old comedy show titled Auf Weidersehen Pet about working class fellows from my region working in Germany. Waving at any Geordies reading this. 🙋‍♀️

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Telmo Belo
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He-horse and she-donkey, or the other way around? Does it make a difference?

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#29

"Today I Learned": 30 Interesting Facts You Might Not Know About The World (New Posts) TIL that the Allstate "Mayhem" actor Dean Winters, died for about 3 minutes, and was then revived. The infection that caused this also led to two toes and a thumb needing to be amputated.

Aerodim101 , denofgeek Report

#30

TIL that 95% of all thoroughbred racehorses today can trace their lineage back to a single horse, Darley Arabian, born over 300 years ago.

mckinneym Report

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Bryn
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This isn't quite correct. They trace their lineage back to THREE horses, The Darley Arabian, The Barley Turk, and the Godolphin Barb. The Godolphin Barb line is almost completely died out.

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