35 “Today I Learned” Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts)

The rise of the knowledge economy, the growing desire to learn, and the proliferation of educational platforms are opening up new opportunities for personal and professional growth.

In the US, for example, 73% of adults say the phrase "I think of myself as a lifelong learner" applies "very well" to them and another 20% say it applies "somewhat well."

So to keep your curiosity burning, we decided it's about time to throw in a few more recent posts from the subreddit 'Today I Learned.' This online community with 35 million members keeps sharing interesting facts and pictures that continually expand our horizons and challenge our perspectives.

This post may include affiliate links.

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) 3,200-year-old tablet shows that ancient Egyptians took attendance at work and recorded absences. One type of reason cited for missing work was "wife or daughter bleeding" referring to menstruation because men were needed at home during this time to help with the housework.

tyrion2024 , britishmuseum Report

Final score:

147points

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Nae who and where 7 months ago

Why we don't have this nowadays is just baffling....especially since some women have severe pain and can barely move for days to a week on end during their mensuration.

94points

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35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) In World War I, a homing pigeon named Cher Ami was shot by the Germans, but managed to keep flying and carry the message of help. Thanks to this, 194 American soldiers were saved.

TobyMainuld , Mauro Tandoi Report

Final score:

147points

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T'Mar of Vulcan 7 months ago

The bestest birb.

77points

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35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) Jumbo the elephant was not named such because of his size. Instead, Jumbo the word, meaning exceptionally large, was only introduced into the english language because of Jumbo the elephant. He was so big and so well known that his name became synonymous with size.

lemelisk42 , awesomestories Report

Final score:

112points

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Poppy 7 months ago

It's a travesty what happened to him in the end.

0points

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35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) “I Have a Dream” speech was a last-minute decision. Dr. King planned to give an entirely different speech, until a legendary gospel singer behind the podium yelled, “Tell them about the dream, Martin!”

o2lsports , nobelprize Report

Final score:

111points

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seana lammers 7 months ago

Mahalia Jackson usher name.

52points

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35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) Since the year 2000, 5 new elements have been added to the periodic table. The 7th row of the periodic table is finally filled.

SilentWalrus92 , RDNE Stock project Report

Final score:

110points

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Corvus 7 months ago

Mendeleev: (raises glass of vodka from the afterlife)

38points

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35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) In Japan there is a group of prominent female housewife stock traders known as Mrs. Watanabe who are so proficient at what they do that many traders look to them for reference on which stocks are doing well.

Livid_Resort_1374 , Anne Nygård Report

Final score:

109points

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Lunaofthenest (She/they) 7 months ago

Women are often underestimated, it's nice to see that isn't always the case.

42points

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35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) During the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty that founded NATO, the Portuguese delegate gave a speech in English with such a heavy accent that the translator just repeated it without the accent and nobody realised.

JDHoare , Andrea Piacquadio Report

Final score:

108points

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Andy Frobig 7 months ago

That's ok, a couple of nights ago I saw a show where an Australian speaker got English subtitles

1point

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35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) The Bajau, a group of people in South East Asia who evolved to have spleens 50 percent larger than normal. This allows them to spend eight hours a day underwater, catching octopus by hand.

TheOSU87 , Ibrahim Razzan Report

Final score:

103points

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Emily M 7 months ago

Because I needed to know how a spleen helped with fishing: "Competitive breath-hold divers have only two options to increase their time underwater – through training, they can try to boost their lung capacity or increase their red blood cell count.......The spleen holds oxygenated red blood cells, so presumably an enlarged spleen – those of the sea nomads, or Bajau people, are about 50 percent larger than the spleens of unrelated, non-diving neighboring groups – injects more blood cells into the circulation and makes more oxygen available for basic body functions during prolonged dives." - https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/news/enlarged-spleen-key-diving-endurance-sea-nomads

124points

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35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) Tim Curry was one of the top choices to play the Joker in the 1989 “Batman” film, but the role went to Jack Nicholson instead. Curry later voiced the Joker in the 1992 animated series, but was quickly replaced by Mark Hamill as his voice was deemed “too scary”.

waitingforthesun92 , Alan Light Report

Final score:

98points

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columbokateUK 7 months ago

I love Tim Curry! So sad about his health affecting his profession. I miss seeing him in new things. (He had a stroke years ago). He is both hilarious in comedy and terrifying in horror. A truely great actor.

66points

Deborah B 7 months ago

I've always found him scary in comedy as well as horror.

5points

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UpQuarkDownQuark (he/him) 7 months ago

He would have been a far superior Joker to Nicholson’s. Nicholson’s Joker was just…Jack Nicholson.

14points

Michael Largey 7 months ago

You can tell a lot about a person by the movie they know Tim Curry from.

10points

Chewie Baron 7 months ago

Rocky Horror

5points

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Upstaged75 7 months ago

The first time I saw him was as Rooster in Annie. :) But I went on to see him in many other things too. And as King Arthur in Spamalot! He's brilliant.

4points

Colonel Angus 7 months ago

Oscar

0points

RabidChild 7 months ago

That man's voice is POWERFUL!

7points

Max Fox 7 months ago

He was a sweet transvestite.

6points

Corvus 7 months ago

He has voiced an evil computer in "Captain Planet and the Planeteers", as well as Chancellor Palpatine in SW: The Clone Wars, after the original voice actor passed away.

6points

Ąåřţđęşịɠŋȿ 7 months ago

he can be scary, it's true... I loved him in 'Legend' as the Devil (either Devil or simply Evil. It was never quite clear). Magnificent makeup and prosthetics. Perfect.

5points

DRMAGDN 7 months ago

Clue is an underrated movie

4points

Kris 7 months ago

All i remember is Hexxus and I fully understand why he was too scary haha

4points

glowworm2 7 months ago

The sad thing is as a child, Hexxus also scared me but when I watched the video “Toxic Love” as an adult to see if he was still scary, I found him sexy instead. Blame Tim Curry for somehow making a sentient blob of pollution sound sexy.🤣

8points

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Milady Blue 7 months ago

Tim's entrance in The Rocky Horror Picture Show is STILL one of the best in all of cinema. He stole that entire scene.

3points

Christina Keenan 7 months ago

Love Tim Curry also. His voice has always been so cool! Great actor, great movies.

3points

Ryan Mercer 7 months ago

What do you mean, murder..?

2points

Just-4-2day 7 months ago

Hunt for Red October, IT - Pennywise,

1point

Captain Flapjack 7 months ago

This comment has been deleted.

0points

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#10

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) 30 scientists and staff of the Pavlovsk Experimental Station starved to death guarding the institute's edible seeds and plants during the siege of Leningrad.

mucubed , Global Crop Diversity Trust Report

Final score:

92points

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Nae who and where 7 months ago

It was a sacrifice they were willing to give in order to protect the seed genetics they had cultivated. This is a truly fascinating true story of rilvarly, multiple scientists hopes for ending starvation and the ultimate sacrifice to protect the plants genes.

68points

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#11

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) Danny DeVito's short stature is the result of Multiple Epiphyseal Dysplasia (Fairbank's disease), a rare genetic disorder that affects bone growth. He met Rhea Perlman when she went to see a friend in the play The Shrinking Bride, which featured DeVito, and they moved in together 2 weeks later.

CleaTorris , Gage Skidmore Report

Final score:

91points

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Virgil Blue 7 months ago

Legend

20points

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#12

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) The writer of 'Crime and Punishment', Dostoevsky, was sentenced to death by firing squad for political reasons. Moments before he was to be shot, a cart delivered a letter from the Tsar commuting the sentence to four years of exile in Siberia.

jacknunn , kgHBFHS7SpcayQ Report

Final score:

89points

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Nae who and where 7 months ago

Perfect timing

33points

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#13

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) The oldest known writing in the world, Sumerian Cuneiform, is over 5000 years old and only 5-10% of all recovered tablets have been translated.

BruteForceOpinion , Bjørn Christian Tørrissen Report

Final score:

88points

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Dragons Exist 7 months ago

Keep in mind humanity is 200k years old, meaning most of human history was lost before written language and we only have cave paintings

21points

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#14

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) Six Tongan castaways were able to keep a fire burning continuously for more than 12 of the 15 months they spent marooned on a deserted island in 1965 after one of the boys named Stephen (who would go on to become an engineer), had managed to use two sticks to start one.

tyrion2024 , Oussama Elhaidi Report

Final score:

87points

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Kristal 7 months ago

That's what they did before humans knew how to create fire. Lightning would strike a tree or bush, catch it on fire and the group/Tribe would keep it going for as long as possible

35points

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#15

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) Japanese man Yasuo Takamatsu lost his wife in the 2011 earthquake and has not stopped looking for her body for more than 10 years and has dived more than 800 times in the ocean to retrieve her.

generation_chaos , Julianna Report

Final score:

84points

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Kristal 7 months ago

I hope he does stop to live his life. It's quite tragic, for the loss of his wife and his life. Ten years at sea, the body is most likely unidentifiable, if there's any soft tissue left. It's quite probable her body is no longer in one piece if in the ocean after 10 years. I know losing the one you love most is one of the worst types of grief one goes through, but I highly doubt his wife would want him to waste his life looking for her.

81points

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#16

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) 1 out of 3 Americans live in just four states. California, Texas, Florida, and New York.

PaulOshanter , Pixabay Report

Final score:

77points

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DE Ray 7 months ago

Just under 1 of 8 people in the US live in California, or around 12%.

22points

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#17

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) Broccoli only became available in grocery stores in the UK and Ireland in the late 1970s.

The-Florentine , Annie Spratt Report

Final score:

67points

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Na Schi 7 months ago (edited)

Okay, as strange/surprising as this sounds the Reddit tidbit seems to be backed up by an Wikepedia article about the "Culture of England": [...]Courgettes became widely available in the late 1960s and broccoli first appeared in supermarkets in the late 1970s, initially as a seasonal item. [...] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_England ... But when doing a little bit more googling the vegetable seems frist to be introduced way earlier (maybe in the midst of the 18th century). ((Edited: spelling - changed "Cultre of England" to "Culture of England"))

19points

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#18

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) George Washington had to borrow money to travel to New York City for his presidential inauguration. Despite owning 60,000 acres and 300 slaves he had very little cash and part of the reason he took the job was the salary.

friendlystranger4u , clarkart Report

Final score:

64points

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General Anaesthesia 7 months ago (edited)

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - US Declaration of Independence. George Washington was not a signatory.

17points

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#19

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) Flamma, one of the most successful gladiators in his time under the Roman Empire, through great skill & bravery was awarded his freedom four times but refused each time & instead chose to remain a gladiator. He fought 34 times, won 21 of them, fought to a draw 9 times, & won reprieve 4 times.

tyrion2024 , TimeTravelRome Report

Final score:

63points

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Corvus 7 months ago

"What fun is freedom, if I can't gut someone every weekend?" - Flamma (in my imagination, at least)

48points

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#20

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) Original script to Rocky V, Rocky is so beaten from his fight with Tommy that he places his head on Adrian’s lap while on the way to the hospital and dies. Stallone apparently wept when he wrote that scene.

flippedpages Report

Final score:

57points

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Lotekguy 7 months ago

That would have kept a bunch of Roman numerals from finding employment.

53points

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#21

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) During WW1 in Britain the selling of fresh bread was banned and all bread had to be sold stale so people would eat less of it.

Jaggedmallard26 , Markus Spiske Report

Final score:

57points

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Norm Gilmore 7 months ago

Was ready to call bull on this one but there you go. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/first-world-war/home-front-stories/the-fresh-bread-ban/#:~:text=This%20regulation%20made%20it%20illegal,Bread%20Order%20during%20the%20war.

32points

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#22

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) In the 1920's, a man was given 1 year to live by doctors, if he moved to a warm climate. He built a house in Bartow, FL with a lot of unique features and designs, and would go on to live to the 1970's. It has become known as "The Wonderhouse" and become a local tourist attraction.

Any-Ball-1267 , Denis Kioko Report

Final score:

56points

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Corvus 7 months ago

Makes you wonder what his diagnosis was.

31points

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#23

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) Batman was created almost at the same time as the Black Bat, a pulp fiction hero so similar that the publishers considered suing each other. They eventually found an agreement: the Black Bat wouldn't appear in comics, and in exchange, Batman wouldn't appear in pulp magazines.

ShabtaiBenOron , warnerbros Report

Final score:

54points

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DRMAGDN 7 months ago

We need a gritty Black Bat reboot now in the Bat-multi-verse with all the Batmans ever

1point

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Woman Put A Water Fountain With A Camera In Her Yard, Here Are 24 Photos Of Regular Visitors (New Pics)

“Ma’am I Live Here”: Woman Refuses To Back Out Of Driveway, Learns A Lesson The Hard Way

#24

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) Harambe was 17 years old and had not reached breeding maturity when he was shot.

drawegg , Chris Carter Report

Final score:

51points

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Black Cat 7 months ago

They should never have shot this wonderful ape. Surely he could've been tranquilised.

52points

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#25

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) United States is Ranked 2nd by Total Number of Spanish Speakers, Beating Out Spain.

Physical-Ride Report

Final score:

51points

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Quint Bates 7 months ago

Considering the U.S has almost 7X the amount of people, and a lot of immigrants from other countries like Mexico who speak it as a first language.Throw in all the Americans learning Spanish as a second language, and I'm not surprised.

36points

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#26

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) When Chi Chi, a giant panda at the London Zoo, was taken to Moscow to breed with a male giant panda, she refused his attempts to mate with her and made a full sexual self-presentation to a zookeeper.

bnrshrnkr , Debbie Molle Report

Final score:

47points

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Debby Keir 7 months ago

But no pandas were harmed in the writing of this post - zookeepers however.....

26points

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#27

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) Prior to the announcement of the Mach3 razor blade in the late 90s, Gillette built plywood walls around the production lines in its factory in Boston, in order to keep it a secret from many of its own employees.

Kale_Brecht , chiproller Report

Final score:

45points

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Michael None 7 months ago

Then sent me one of the handles as a present for my 18th birthday, which I assumed was a marketing ploy to get me to buy more razors. I bought a safety razor instead and I've used it my whole life, I'm 40 now. Imagine how much money I saved.

21points

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#28

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) Frequent and constant use of earphones increases the bacterial growth in the ear.

DottieStanfieldfPdy , yuhaimedia Report

Final score:

45points

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Nae who and where 7 months ago

Thank goodness I don't use earphones very much

7points

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#29

The French monarchy fell five times and was restored four times in the span of a century, from 1771 to 1871.

VLenin2291 Report

Final score:

45points

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Russell Rieckenberg 7 months ago

Fall down seven times, get up eight.

11points

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#30

Aside from being an actor and an activist, Marlon Brando was also an inventor with 4 patents to his name. One of them were pool shoes that that would increase friction as you walk on the bottom of the pool to give you a better workout, and another invention being a single-tuning conga drum.

waitingforthesun92 Report

Final score:

43points

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Nae who and where 7 months ago

Who else is doing the conga in their mind?....I can't be the only one.....right? Lol

9points

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#31

Animals lacking teeth to grind their food (eg. birds, fish) have a specialized stomach containing rocks to replace that function.

Nobody6432 Report

Final score:

42points

POST

Ian Webling 7 months ago

For the sake of completeness: they have to eat the stones themselves - their stomachs do not naturally contain rocks.

94points

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#32

35 "Today I Learned" Facts To Keep Your Brain Curious (New Posts) 200 people had summited Mount Everest by 1987, whereas by 2013 it had been summited 6,871 times by 4,042 different people.

tyrion2024 , Nanda Ram Gharti Report

Final score:

41points

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Corvus 7 months ago

If only they didn't leave so much trash behind... and bodies too.

77points

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#33

France sent the first cat into space in 1963. Félicette was a stray cat from the streets of Paris and was one of 14 cats trained for spaceflight. She survived her trip but was euthanised 2 months later.

EssexGuyUpNorth Report

Final score:

34points