35 Fascinating Facts That People Only Learned Now And Just Had To Share With Others (New Pics)
The world is fascinating! For example, just today we found out that people all over the world drink 2.6 billion servings of Coca-Cola every day, which is like 11,000 sodas every second. In fact, we learned this from a cool Reddit group called 'Today I Learned'.
This group has a whopping 32.7 million members who share new fascinating facts they learn every day. From quirky trivia to mind-bending revelations, you might just find some interesting insights in these posts. So, step right in and start scrolling. And don't hesitate to upvote the facts that really caught your attention!
This post may include affiliate links.
TIL that MIT will award a Certificate in Piracy if you take archery, pistols, sailing and fencing as your required PE classes.
You might love chatting about things like your job or hobbies, but it's also important to keep adding new interesting facts to what you know. "We all know that it is important to exercise the body, but very little do we talk about the benefits of exercising the mind," says Frank Elaridi, a wellness coach, the co-founder of Modern Nirvana Conference, and co-author of the Modern Nirvana Oracle Deck.
TIL in 1993 a fan at a Chicago Bulls game won a shot to make a basket from half court for $1million and made it. The insurance company disqualified him because he played bball in college but the team paid him themselves and years later he met Michael Jordan who told him "we made them give it to you"
TIL Svalbard, Norway is the only visa-free zone in the world. Regardless of citizenship, anyone can live and work there indefinitely.
Continuous learning is when you keep on learning and gaining skills to grow and open up more chances for yourself. It's about your personal and professional growth to avoid standing still and reach your highest potential.
TIL that the bees of the British Royal Family were informed of the Queen’s death and their hives were adorned with black ribbons, following old traditions of informing bees about change of ownership
TIL the first telephone switchboard operators were boys, but their "rude and abusive" behavior led them to be replaced by young women.
TIL in ancient Egypt, under the decree of Ptolemy II, all ships visiting the city were obliged to surrender their books to the library of Alexandria and be copied. The original would be kept in the library and the copy given back to the owner.
Today, ongoing learning plays an essential role in developing crucial critical thinking abilities and exploring methods of engaging with people from diverse cultures. The idea of not engaging in perpetual learning is not understandable.
TIL Abraham Lincoln was kicked in the head by a horse at age 9, almost severed a thumb with an axe, got frostbite on his feet, clubbed on the head during a robbery, had malaria and smallpox, and experienced the death of his mother, sister, and 2 sons. He suffered from melancholy(clinical depression)
TIL that in 1999, Sergio Motsoeneng ran part of the Comrades Marathon, then went into a mobile toilet to switch places with his twin brother. They won 9th place and the equivalent of about $500, but got caught when a newspaper published photos of them wearing their watches on opposite wrists.
As Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously expressed, "The only thing that is constant is change." Whether it's changes in your profession, shifts in your personal life, or transformations within your community and institutions, one of the best strategies for effectively managing change is through lifelong learning.
TIL: The amount of abs you can attain is purely determined by genetics. While 6 packs are the most common, some bodybuilders such as Schwarzenegger can only attain a 4 pack. This is due to humans being born with different amounts of fascia bands. The most you can have is a 10 pack, which is rare.
TIL In 2003, two men stole & flew a Boeing 727-223 parked at the Luanda International Airport (in Angola) and neither of them was qualified to fly the plane. The plane & the men are missing to date.
TIL Samsung created a butt shaped robot that sits on their phones to test their durability. The robot exerts 220 pounds of pressure on their phones during testing. The robot even wears jeans.
Instead of overwhelming your mind with a load of information in one go, consider taking it easy and aiming to learn something new every day. Learning something new every day can help keep your brain sharp as you get older. It improves your memory, focus, and problem-solving, and might even lower the risk of dementia, says Elaridi. Keeping your brain active is crucial since a lazy brain can struggle to remember words and ideas.
TIL A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus. It rotates incredibly slowly on its axis, taking about 243 Earth days, while it completes an orbit around the Sun in around 225 Earth days.
TIL Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan had to ask fans to stop recreating a scene from the show where a pissed off Bryan Cranston throws a pizza on his roof, because the real life owner of the house was sick and tired of this happening.
The house owner should charge everyone $50 to throw a pizza up onto his roof. It’s a weird way to make a living, but times are tough!
TIL ancient Greeks would irrigate battle wounds with vinegar and honey and then use spiderwebs to keep the honey in the wound
Learning something new regularly keeps your brain sharp and alert. It also fulfills your natural craving for novelty and growth, says Alexis Haselberger, a productivity expert. This daily learning boosts confidence, helps you connect with others, and makes you feel better overall.
TIL: In 1562, Spanish bishop Diego de Landa burned 27 Mayan manuscripts in front of the Maya people of Maní, Yucatan. This was an attempt to erase their memories of their Gods and beliefs so that they were more easily coerced into converting to Catholicism. Today, only four Mayan manuscripts exist.
TIL the youngest person to ever be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease was only 19 years old, with initial symptoms beginning at 17.
TIL in 1642, the people of New Haven, Connecticut were horrified by the birth of a "monstrous" pig with one eye. They became convinced that George Spencer, a local man with one eye, had sex with a pig and was the biological father. He was found guilty of bestiality and executed by hanging.
How about pigs born with two eyes then? Is everyone there guilty of b********y?
Learning doesn't have to be a chore. Have fun with it by choosing topics you like. Wellness coach Elaridi says to go for something that excites you, not just what you think you should learn. If you're not into a topic, you'll probably get distracted or lose interest. So, pick what you're passionate about.
TIL that Irving Berlin is the only Academy Award winner in history who presented the award to themselves. He won for writing ‘White Christmas’, and declared that opening the envelope was extremely awkward. The rules were then changed to prevent this ever happening again.
TIL that at least 4 billion people across the globe wear glasses, and 75% of adults worldwide rely on some sight correction product.
I had laser eye surgery. That was a great decision - no more glasses!
TIL in 1956 Paris and Rome signed an agreement to become twin cities of each other exclusively with the statement "Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris".
I really hope that the olympics will have the same effect on Paris it had on Barcelona. Because Paris could be so much nicer than it currently is.
If you're bored, have free time, or want a change, learning something new can make you feel better in your mind and body. It provides motivation. Picking up a new language, trying out a musical instrument, or tending to a small herb garden can bring you energy, happiness, and a sense of purpose.
TIL that most airlines never use a flight number again if that flight has a fatal crash, except for American Airlines, which keeps using flight #1 despite three major crashes.
TIL that Anne Ramsey, best known for her role in Throw Mama From The Train (1987), her slurred speech was due to operations for her throat cancer and was in pain during the whole production. She was nominated for an Oscar. Sadly she died of her throat cancer 6 months after the ceremony.
TIL that Gal Gadot was five months pregnant while shooting for wonder woman. So, the costume department covered her belly with a bright green fabric that they could digitally alter in postproduction.
One of the learning benefits is that it fights boredom. Doing the same routine daily can become dull and drain your excitement for life. While learning something new requires more effort than simply watching TV, the rewards are plentiful.
TIL that an estimated of 22% of all gold ever accounted for on the earth's surface came from a single plateau in South Africa called Witwatersrand.
TIL Paracetamol overdose is one of the leading causes of acute liver failure
Further paracetamol trivia: Pharmacists/pharmacologists don’t actually know how paracetamol works so if they were trying to get it on the market today it would never be approved.
Aspirin wouldn't be approved today either. It's highly toxic to mice, so would never get as far as human trials.
Load More Replies...
TIL that Japan and the US call it acetaminophen and the rest of the world calls it paracetamol!
It's also extremely painful, trying to unalive yourself by Paracetamol overdose is not a quick process.
I tried on multiple occasions. Thought I deserved the pain and the unalive status. Thankfully I've not been in that head space for some time.
Load More Replies...
... everybody should know this. Also, it's pretty easy to OD on that stuff if you're a child - that medicine is OTC should NEVER lead you to think it's not dangerous, or less dangerous than other medicine just because that requires a prescription, or even a narcotics' prescription ("Betäubungsmittelrezept" in german - stuff that messes up your brain and/or is severely addictive, such as almost all opioides, require a special prescription around here that is stored for some years in every facility involved - doctors', pharmacy and a central drugs-and-stuff facility owned and run by the state). You can kill a small child with only one regular dosed Paracetamol pill meant to be used by adults. NEVER leave these lying around if you have pets, children or visitors who bring these along. And if the damage is done ... NEVER hesitate to call an emergency if you only suspect your children, your dogs, cour cats of having eaten pills not meant for them - off to the doctor, asap, then!
My wife was taken off her opiates pain killers and told by her doctors to take "megadoses of Tylenol (acetaminophen) and Advil". She ended up in the ICU with total organ failure due to acetaminophen toxicity. It was touch and go for a while. They take chronic pain patients off opiates purely out of bigotry and then give them something far less effective and far more toxic. And it's happening under our noses. Almost every week I read of some elderly pain patient unaliving themselves because the pain is too much to live with. Pain clinics are the worst. They openly lie to their patients and force them to use mindfulness/acupuncture even when it clearly don't work. One of these days a couple of doctors I know will have a close encounter with a piece of rebar to their knees and then I'll tell them to use mindfulness to get over the pain. Curious to see how it will work.
For the record, when my father was dying of bone cancer, his doctors withheld opiates from him, which resulted in him screaming for the two weeks he was alive. When I asked why, they told me, in all seriousness, "You wouldn't want your father to become addicted". They gave him two weeks to live and in fact he was dead in 15 days. They were butchers and in 2 weeks I could barely exchange 10 minutes of actual conversation with my dying father. I still feel robbed 20 years later.
Load More Replies... 
NAC or N-Acetyl Cysteine, is the gold standard in removing paracetamol (acetaminophen in the US) toxicity from the liver. It has been considered to be included in paracetamol to reduce overdose cases. The natural sulphurous (eggy) smell is a bit off-putting for some. But it does not taste eggy. It does need to be used within 4 hours of paracetamol intake to be most effective. Always go to A&E if an overdose has been taken. They will use an intravenous method rather than the oral NAC we can buy.
Didn't know about this, had terrible back pain during the weekend and just keep taking it. When I went to my GP and answered her question about how much I had taken, she sent me to the hospital immediately, didn't give a f**k about my back. Fortunately I just so avoided any issues, but damn, the next days were torture, counting the minutes until I could take the next pill (aside from the other pain killers)! Be careful, peeps!
Alternate paracetamol and ibuprofen every two hours (you can have both in your system at once and take both every 4 hours, so if you stagger them you'll always have something covering).
Load More Replies...
My old GP told me that the reason over the counter codeine (which you can’t get anymore) had paracetamol in it what to dissuade people from buying the products because of the paracetamol content and the liver damage. If people are addicted to codeine, they don’t care about their liver health!
Unrelated but listen to “Paracetamol” by Declan Mckenna. . . You’re welcome.
I was flying from NYC to Paris with a layover in Dublin. I had a terrible headache when I deplaned in Ireland, and headed to Boots for relief. Most of the pain relievers said "Contains Paracetamol." I had no idea what that meant. In the USA, paracetamol is called acetaminophen. Why does one chemical need two complicated names?
Thankfully, acetaminophen has absolutely no affect on me - what I mean is it doesn't work - so I never take it. A history of stones has made me paranoid in general about my kidneys so I have to be hurting pretty badly before I take any OTC pain killer.
It also boosts self-confidence, "When you acquire a new skill, your brain's prefrontal cortex becomes more active," explains Dennis Buttimer, a life and wellness coach at Cancer Wellness at Piedmont. "As you progress in mastering this skill, you'll gain confidence and courage, which can help you conquer fear and anxiety. You'll feel more empowered."
TIL about the 2010 book "Barbie: I Can Be A Computer Engineer" and that Mattell apologized for the book after extensive online criticism because Barbie had her male friends code the game she was designing and that her male friends fixed Skipper's computer that Barbie had infected with a virus
Barbie was an astronaut years before NASA employed a woman as an astronaut. And a president when almost no woman was head of state. How much have they regressed that she can't be a competent programmer.
TIL the Majority of Millennials and Gen Z use subtitles when streaming TV
TIL Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt was allergic to moon dust.
Learning new things every day might help with your health, "Learning is excellent for your brain no matter your age," Buttimer points out. "When you take on a new skill, your brain starts reshaping itself since it remains adaptable. In the past, it was believed that this adaptability lasted only until adolescence. However, current research indicates that the brain can keep changing throughout our lives, and in a positive way. This leads to fewer fear responses and a more positive outlook."
TIL Japan has a ratio of one vending machine for every 30 people.
According to google, in 2023, 123'294'513 people live in Japan. Divided by 30, that means approximately 4'109'817 vending machines. That's a looooooot of vending machined!
TIL the 1 billion smokers in the world contribute to the 880,000 second hand smoke deaths each year from those that do not smoke.
Doctor recently asked me if I smoke - asked if the first 20 years of my life with my heavy-smoking mother counted. He didn't have a response to that.
TIL there are 96 bags of human waste on the moon.
Litter seems to be the calling card of our species, more than leaving a flag behind.
Here's your daily dose of motivation to learn something new each day. To kick things off, you can begin by exploring the fascinating posts on the subreddit r/todayilearned. And if you're hungry for more intriguing facts, don't forget to check out our past posts here, here, here, and here.
TIL that honey bees are *not* endangered
But many other species of bees are. The UK has lost 13 species of wild bee in recent times.
TIL from WTC debris, the structural steel was bought by scrap metal industry and sold to Chinese and Indian second hand metal markets. Several buildings were built with Twin Tower steel across Indian cities, including a college and a trade centre.
Note: this post originally had 43 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.
A ‘wellness expert’ (I put quotes around the title simply because this is a very loose term) is quoted in the article, suggesting we study what we are passionate about. A neuroscientist put it differently . That advice is: don’t follow your passion, because passion changes and fails. Instead, study and learn about things that you find interesting.
A ‘wellness expert’ (I put quotes around the title simply because this is a very loose term) is quoted in the article, suggesting we study what we are passionate about. A neuroscientist put it differently . That advice is: don’t follow your passion, because passion changes and fails. Instead, study and learn about things that you find interesting.
