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.
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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
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
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."
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
TIL that listening to your favorite music for just 15 minutes a day lowers stress levels, anxiety, sadness and a depressed mood
TIL Wells Fargo was forced by the feds to rehire a whistleblower employee that reported fraud, and pay him $5.4 million in damages
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
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
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
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
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
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
TIL that the most requested funeral song in England is by Monty Python
Apparently the song in question is "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life".
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
A picture of the stately home would be more appropriate. Fine, let me dig it up. Trent_Park...0d0af2.jpg 
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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 ~
TIL that the disappearance of D. B. Cooper remains the only unsolved air piracy case in commerical aviation history
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
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
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
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
TIL that Bermuda has no natural water source. Each house collects rainwater using white, stepped roofs
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
TIL Disney World is legally allowed to build a nuclear plant in Florida under a 1960s law
One could argue that "Florida" is sufficient context in of itself
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I think this is no longer true. Disney 's special status and self management was revoked.
Yes DeSantis just pulled it - I’m pretty sure it had something to do with his ridiculous “don’t say gay” legislation.
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Yup. That would have fallen under the Reddy Creek district
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That ends next June if the courts don't block the latest round of Dessntis Idiocracy. The Florida tax payers are paying off billions of Disney's debt to eliminate their special status and take control of the city they currently own. Legal experts think it won't hold up, but Disney might not fight it because it makes financial sense for them not to. That being said, Desantis should be forced to work on a chain gang for the rest of his life in the Florida sun as punishment for stealing from the Florida tax payers to fund his own ridiculous war against Disney! And beside that, Disney is literally getting the money the stole, so he shot himself in the foot!
The recent efforts by Deathsantis and his cult to alter their autonomy to punish them because they treated non-CIS workers and guests with respect suggests this is part of that original agreement. (The fact that it would have cost the surrounding area $22,000,000 a year just to pay off the area's debts didn't seem to matter to these so-called 'fiscal conservatives.') When Epcot/Disney World were being developed by Roy Disney (Walt's brother) it was intended to be a showcase for technological development and was meant to be self-sustaining and nuclear power was one of the few ways available at the time to achieve it.
Disney+ Power. Don't pay your electricity bill and Goofy comes round to collect!
TIL people downloaded computer games over the radio in the 80s
TIL that Ford's Theatre refuses to perform the play which Abraham Lincoln was watching when he was [taken away]
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
TIL that 83% of radiologists missed a gorilla that was inserted into images of the lungs during a nodule detection task
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
TIL that there are more Lebanese descendants in Brazil than people living in Lebanon
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
TIL Hudson Bay and its shores are populated by more Beluga whales than people
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
It's a bummer that someone just doing their job well makes this list. But yet I get it.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
TIL World War II Spitfires only had about 20 seconds of 'gun time' before running out of ammo, making most movie depictions wildly inaccurate
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.
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
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
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
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.
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"
TIL there are "Harbinger households": neighborhoods that consistently choose failed products and therefore could predict market failures
I am one such Harbinger. If I fall in love with a product, It. Is. Doomed.
TIL Oldest known Homo Sapiens is over 233,000 years old, 30,000+ years more than we thought
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
TIL that Duke Nukem Forever holds the Guinness World record for "Longest development period for a videogame"
TIL testicles make several million sperm per day — about 1,500 per second
That was an interesting read, but the censorship is getting more and more ridiculous. Why not just write "кill" for example? It would deter the bots while not looking completely silly.
I write "kiII", written with two capital "I" instead of "L". It looks exactly the same but the bots won't recognise it
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Long time reader, first time poster: it's not news that BP gets its content mainly from reddit-posts - which is fine with me and actually quite useful to get a Digest from the internet- and reddit-universe. But it really annoys me that BP apparently does not bother to get appropriate pictures, let alone to add sources to the TIL claims (though they are probably also lacking in the source "material" from reddit to begin with). I find this lack of references highly alarming - surely, taking 'knowledge' from a harmless TIL-post may make you just look like a wise-a*s in the worst case, but the underlying, tacit approval of unproven claims is a real problem possibly leading to misinformation and 'alternative facts'.
Unfortunately, most of their audience don't care. Some know the posts come from elsewhere, others not so much. You have to see this site for what it is, which you and a lot of others do, it's a great collation of time passing junk food like content. The site exists simply to gain ad revenue. Asking them to put more effort in would be unprofitable. Asking them to point out on every post that the post may be up to 10 years old and copied from another site would stop the site being as sticky and therefore unprofitable. Although I really do feel sorry for the people who reply to the Reddit posters here as if they will see them. It seems most people live their lives without paying any attention.
Load More Replies... That was an interesting read, but the censorship is getting more and more ridiculous. Why not just write "кill" for example? It would deter the bots while not looking completely silly.
I write "kiII", written with two capital "I" instead of "L". It looks exactly the same but the bots won't recognise it
Load More Replies... Long time reader, first time poster: it's not news that BP gets its content mainly from reddit-posts - which is fine with me and actually quite useful to get a Digest from the internet- and reddit-universe. But it really annoys me that BP apparently does not bother to get appropriate pictures, let alone to add sources to the TIL claims (though they are probably also lacking in the source "material" from reddit to begin with). I find this lack of references highly alarming - surely, taking 'knowledge' from a harmless TIL-post may make you just look like a wise-a*s in the worst case, but the underlying, tacit approval of unproven claims is a real problem possibly leading to misinformation and 'alternative facts'.
Unfortunately, most of their audience don't care. Some know the posts come from elsewhere, others not so much. You have to see this site for what it is, which you and a lot of others do, it's a great collation of time passing junk food like content. The site exists simply to gain ad revenue. Asking them to put more effort in would be unprofitable. Asking them to point out on every post that the post may be up to 10 years old and copied from another site would stop the site being as sticky and therefore unprofitable. Although I really do feel sorry for the people who reply to the Reddit posters here as if they will see them. It seems most people live their lives without paying any attention.
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