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As we move through life, we consistently gather new knowledge to grow and learn as human beings. Although there may be a few specific areas we aim to know very well, building a broader understanding of the world is just as important. It allows us to put forward exciting ideas, connect the dots, and see new patterns we would have missed otherwise. And it’s plenty of fun too!

Thankfully, with the digital world at our fingertips, exploring delicious and intriguing bits of information has never been easier. So it’s time for the newest batch of facts from the well-known corner on Reddit, the 'Today I Learned' online group. Time and again, curious 28 million members of this community exceed everyone’s expectations by passing along the cool trivia they recently found out themselves.

To celebrate infinite knowledge and the never-ending desire to learn something new, we’ve gathered some of the most captivating facts the group has shared on the page. Continue scrolling and upvote the ones you may not have known about! And if you’re in the mood to expand your mental horizons even further, check out Bored Panda’s previous pieces filled with TIL goodness here, here, and right here.

#1

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL of Mary Anning, who discovered, with her brother, the first ichthyosaur fossil at age 12. She would go on to discover many more fossils and revolutionize the science of paleontology. However, due to being a woman in the early 1800s, she rarely received full credit for her discoveries

sexpressed , jacqline Report

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Laura Henderson
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At last she has a statue in Lyme Regis, Dorset (unveiled May 21 2022, her 222nd birthday): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Mary_Anning

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#2

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL fairy dust was not mentioned in the original version of Peter Pan, but the author added it as a neccessity to enable the children to fly because "so many children tried [to fly] from their beds and needed surgical attention."

mike_pants , Lalelu2000 Report

#3

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL; In 1846, Joesph Leidy was the first person to solve a crime using a microscope. A famer claimed the blood on his clothes was chicken blood. Joseph Leidy showed that it was not chicken blood using a microscope

A_Bruised_Reed , Ed Uthman Report

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#4

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that listening to your favorite music for just 15 minutes a day lowers stress levels, anxiety, sadness and a depressed mood

Ok_Ask_733000 , visualbyfath Report

#5

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL Wells Fargo was forced by the feds to rehire a whistleblower employee that reported fraud, and pay him $5.4 million in damages

filondo , Mike Mozart Report

#6

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL in July of 2021 a British plane spotter noticed sparks coming off an F-15E Strike Eagle's engine after it took off from RAF Lakenheath. He called the base's switchboard to alert the base and the plane returned safely. The pilot publicly thanked him and gave him his insignia patch

Bigred2989- , Tomás Del Coro Report

#7

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL the design of a skyscraper in London was melting cars and setting buildings on fire. It’s curvilinear shape was causing the problem: The south-facing exterior wall was covered in reflective glass, and because it's concave, it focuses the sun's rays onto a small area

rigorousthinker , apviktor Report

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#8

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL of Jacklyn H. Lucas. 3 years after joining the Marines at age 14, he snuck onto a ship bound for Iwo Jima, stormed the beach without a rifle and threw himself on top of 2 grenades to protect his team. He survived and earned the Medal of Honor at age 17

calvins48 , VirtKitty Report

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#9

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL Robin Williams was offered, and accepted the role of The Joker in the 1989 film, "Batman." Warner Brothers had only made the offer to bait their first choice, Jack Nicholson, into signing on, which he eventually did. Williams was furious, and demanded an apology from the film studio

szekeres81 , Ryunosuke Kikuno Report

#10

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that an FBI informant secretly wore a wire to breakfast with a city official suspected of bribery, and met the suspect at the WTC Marriott. In the middle of getting a confession, the informant ends up making what is believed to be the only uninterrupted audio recording of the Sept. 11 attack

spiritelk25 , m01229 Report

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#11

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL the asteroid impact that caused the dinosaur extinction set 70% of the world's forests on fire, caused tsunamis that rose to a height of 300ft (100m), and ejected 25 trillion metric tons of debris into the atmosphere that reduced sunlight by up to 90% for a decade

vienna95 , Chris Henry Report

#12

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that the most requested funeral song in England is by Monty Python

Still-Finger1880 , BBC Report

#13

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that the British had a POW camp called Trent park during WWII. They would take axis prisoners of war and let them live in luxury, while secretly bugging the house. The program gave the allies lots of intel, such as the location of a V2 rocket facility

YEETAWAYLOL , Leonard J Matthews Report

#14

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL Darius McCollum, a New Yorker diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, has been arrested over 30 times for impersonating transit employees, stealing trains and buses, and driving their routes - complete with making safety announcements and passenger stops

Str33twise84 , mitchazj Report

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Katie Lutesinger
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wonder why he doesn't just apply for a job with them? Maybe he did and they didn't hire him so he figured he'd just go along with it anyway.

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#15

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL The "alarm chemical" released by bees to make the hive attack (Isopropyl Acetate) is the same favouring we use to make banana flavoured sweets, meaning bees can become hostile around those sweets

1FlawedHumanBeing , biancablah Report

#16

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that Batman's suit, arsenal of awesome gadgets, and secret identity were not created by Bob Kane. Gotham City was not even created by him. All these creations belong to Bill Finger, who died penniless while Kane did everything he could to suppress Finger’s involvement in creating the character

TheAnimatedBat , serge_k Report

#17

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL: A bonsaï tree is not a species of tree. It's just a regular tree. Bonsai is a method of growing trees which aims to create an image of a large mature tree but in miniature

Matelot_Pierrot , tegethoff Report

#18

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that Pythagoras of The Pythagoras Theorem was a cult leader who claimed he could speak with animals, time travel and had an extreme hatred for Fava Beans

chipsandsourcream1 , Unknown author Report

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#19

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL Tiger beetles run so fast they temporarily blind themselves. When moving at up to 120 body lengths per second, their environment becomes a blur as their eyes can't gather enough light to form an image

ergotpoisoning , erik_karits Report

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Peacemaker21
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh I'm burnin' through the sky 200 degrees that's why they call me Mr Farenhight I'm travelling at the speed of light I wanna make a supersonic insect out of you ~

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#20

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that the disappearance of D. B. Cooper remains the only unsolved air piracy case in commerical aviation history

DarkPhoenix94 , Leio McLaren Report

#21

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL the iconic Australian hat is bent up on one side to allow the armed forces maneuver rifles on and off their shoulders without hitting the brim

jdoreh , Donald Giannatti Report

#22

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL after basketball player Zion Williamson's foot ripped through his Nike shoe during a game, causing him to slip and sprain his knee, Nike's stock valuation dropped $1.1 Billion the next day

d1t0m6 , Danilo Capece Report

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SAF saf
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember watching this. I've never seen a shoe do that...ever. They're quality control must have really gone to s**t.

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#23

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL Arthur Wharton, born Ghana, 1865, became the 100 yard world record holder for 30 years, the world's first professional black soccer player, a cycling champion, a professional cricketer and then a professional rugby player. He died penniless in 1930 and was buried in an unmarked paupers grave

Single-Goose7015 , Kobby Mendez Report

#24

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL In 1948 Ford Motor Company was offered to take over Volkswagen for free. They turned down the offer. Volkswagen is now the second largest car manufacturer in the world

Jon_Huntsman , Mondo79 Report

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James016
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Porsche also tried to take over VW but botched it, VW bought Porsche as a result.

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#25

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that Bermuda has no natural water source. Each house collects rainwater using white, stepped roofs

deliriz , lhooq38 Report

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Pollywog
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't think you can get much more natural than rain as a water source..... 🤔

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#26

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL Commercially produced Mayonnaise has a high enough acidity that bacteria growth associated with food-borne illnesses is slowed and the product doesn’t need to be refrigerated

LegalizeBonJovi , Sara Cervera Report

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#27

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL Disney World is legally allowed to build a nuclear plant in Florida under a 1960s law

filondo , Amy Humphries Report

#29

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that Ford's Theatre refuses to perform the play which Abraham Lincoln was watching when he was [taken away]

GreekKnight3 , libraryofcongress Report

#30

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL 1941 after a meteor shower two Canadian Inuit announced they were Jesus and God and convinced people to kill their sled dogs since people will soon be able to fly. 9 people ended up losing their lives as a result of the community spread insanity

mskullcap , kreyatif Report

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#31

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that 83% of radiologists missed a gorilla that was inserted into images of the lungs during a nodule detection task

awkwarddoublehawk , mikearney Report

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#32

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that before the Hoover Dam was built, there was a town where Lake Mead now is called St. Thomas. The entire town was purchased by the federal government and abandoned. However, the water level of the lake has fallen so much that parts of the town can be seen and explored

Reach-for-the-sky_15 , tylilo Report

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Robert T
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are a number of reservoirs in the UK with similarly flooded villages which re-appear when the water level drops.

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#33

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that there are more Lebanese descendants in Brazil than people living in Lebanon

HerrFalkenhayn , charbelkaram Report

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Paulina
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When you count "descendants" it's pretty easy to do that with many nations. Great-great-great-great-grandson is still technically a "descendant" 🤦‍♀️

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#34

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL about Princess Susanna Caroline Matilda, a convicted thief who escaped to America in 1770 and lived like a queen after she convinced everyone she was royalty

CrimeCrisis , Markus Spiske Report

#35

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL Hudson Bay and its shores are populated by more Beluga whales than people

innergamedude , Tim Taylor Report

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CV Vir
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People don’t generally live in the water or on the shore, so this is no surprise. NEAR the shore, on the other hand….

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#36

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL for the censorship case against Ulysses (a notoriously hard novel to read), the US trial judge forced himself read the entire book so he could judge it properly

yup987 , poppet with a camera Report

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IcyPenguinToes
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's a bummer that someone just doing their job well makes this list. But yet I get it.

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#37

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL one of the most mad Roman emperors wasn't actually called 'Caligula'. It was a nickname given to him as a kid by his father's soldiers, while being on campaign with them in Germania. The name means 'little boots' in Latin and is a reference to the child-sized military gear he would wear

Pickle_flavored_Mail , Egisto Sani Report

#38

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL about Sisamnes who was a judge that took a bribe in court and passed an unfair sentence. He was skinned alive and his leather was used to make a chair that his son had to sit in as his son was appointed the next judge. There was a later painting made depicting him being skinned alive

sheepery , Jez Timms Report

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Jon S.
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A judge in the Persian empire about 500BC, according to Herodotus.

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#39

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL of Heinrich Schliemann, an amateur archeologist who located the ancient city of Troy in the 1870s among other feats. Modern archeologists disapprove of his methods - using dynamite to blow up the site and looking through the debris

1900grs , Erik Mclean Report

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Jon S.
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He literally blew up the late bronze age layers belonging to the siege, mistakenly thinking Homer's Troy was underneath.

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#40

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL about Srivijaya, a lost 14th century city that ruled Indonesia and much of Southeast Asia for over 600 years but which disappeared without a trace. Its location was recently uncovered when fisherman on the River Musi discovered golden artefacts from the city caught in their nets

1QCS , Gary Todd Report

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The Cute Cat
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The range of its existence not clearly known. But at least on of its king ever send letter to Omar, the 2nd caliph of islam in Mecca

#41

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL 'Jeopardy!' superchampion and eventual host Ken Jennings won so many games during his initial streak that he admitted to fabricating anecdotes for the show's interview portion just so that he would have something to chat about with Alex Trebek

ExtendJuanSoto , Phil Konstantin Report

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Mistiekim
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don’t know if anyone remembers the game show Press Your Luck, but there was a contestant that was able to memorize the board pattern and always land on the big bucks square. Since that also had free spins with it, he just kept on going. I think they had to finally just boot him because of how much he won.

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#42

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL only one Egyptian pharaonic tomb has been discovered completely intact, that of Psusennes I (1047-1001 BC). Despite its fame and the quality of its artifacts, the tomb of Tutankhamun was robbed twice in antiquity

superamericaman , daves_archive1 Report

#43

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL "Cityspeak", the pidgin street language incorporating Japanese/Spanish/German/etc.. used in Blade Runner & Blade Runner 2049 wasn't in Philip K. Dick's book, but was actually devised by "Gaff" actor Edward James Olmos while researching his character for the film

Uncle_Junk , gordon.milligan Report

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Nikki Sevven
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The book ("Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. D**k) is completely different from the movie. Reading the book explains a lot of unanswered questions about the movie. Also, I highly recommend author Keith Jeter's sequelae, "The Edge of Human," "Replicant Night," and "Eye and Talon." Jeter's style is wonderful, and his plots are amazing.

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#44

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL World War II Spitfires only had about 20 seconds of 'gun time' before running out of ammo, making most movie depictions wildly inaccurate

penkster , Airwolfhound Report

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Indosidius
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But this was increased with the design of the "E-wing" that had more ammo capacity, and you could also choose what weapons to place on the wing. The most common combo was a 20mm cannon and 2x .5 caliber machine guns per wing. However you could place 4x .5 caliber machine guns per wing if you chose to.

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#45

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL about Bob Lemmons, an expert "Mustanger." Freed by the Civil War, he learned to tame horses. Usually herds of wild mustangs were run down by groups, but Lemmons worked alone. Riding with the herd for several weeks, he'd gradually take over, mount the stallion and lead the horses into a corral

marmorset , cmnmendoza Report

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GoodWolf
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The herd doesn't follow the stallion. They follow the lead mare, hence the name.

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#46

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL In 1014, Byzantine Emperor Basil II captured several thousand Bulgarian soldiers, put them into groups of 100, and blinded 99 in every group. The last soldiers had only one eye gouged out and were ordered to lead their blind friends home. Upon seeing this, Tsar Samuel died of a heart attack

Grinch89 , commons.wikimedia.org Report

#47

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL: Back in 1910, Citibank took over the national bank of Haiti, which besides being the sole commercial bank also served as the Haitian treasury and then in 1915 after both withholding Haitian funds and paying rebels to destabilize the country, the bank pressured the US Government to occupy Haiti

app4that , frrn Report

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Wilf
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you're interested in the USA's 'secret' history of empire-building (while all the time claiming they were a republic that stood opposed to the Imperialist nations of Europe), then I'd really recommend "How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States" by Daniel Immerwahr. It's fascinating.

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#48

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that the [passed away people] of the Battle of Waterloo were scavenged for their teeth. Using teeth of the [passed away people] was pretty common at that time and those of young and healthy people were especially sought after. The enormous casulaties of the battle created a big supply which became known as "Waterloo Teeth"

Masek_Kiel , hubifarago Report

#49

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL there are "Harbinger households": neighborhoods that consistently choose failed products and therefore could predict market failures

oskarw85 , Nikola Knezevic Report

#50

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL Oldest known Homo Sapiens is over 233,000 years old, 30,000+ years more than we thought

sgfgross , Ryan Somma Report

#51

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL about Rei Dunois who, using body prosthetics and makeup successfully passed himself off as a female cosplayer. When he eventually admitted who he was in 2020, his following increased

Black_Magic_M-66 , thisisengineering Report

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Jon S.
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why am I looking at a picture of a bionic arm? Did some AI just alight on the word 'prosthetics'

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#52

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL that Duke Nukem Forever holds the Guinness World record for "Longest development period for a videogame"

DaveOJ12 , Carl Raw Report

#53

30 New ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Prove It’s Never Too Late To Learn Something New TIL testicles make several million sperm per day — about 1,500 per second

lilman21 , deonblack Report