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The human brain has about one billion neurons. Each neuron forms about 1,000 connections to other neurons, making up more than a trillion connections. If each neuron could only help store a single memory, you might have only a few gigabytes of storage space. But neurons combine so that each one helps with many memories at a time, exponentially increasing the brain's memory storage capacity to something close to 2.5 petabytes (or a million gigabytes).

To put that into perspective, imagine your brain like a digital TV recorder. 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold three million hours of TV shows — you could leave the TV running continuously for more than 300 years.

That's a lot of storage. So why waste it? Today I Learned, often shortened as TIL, is one of the biggest communities on Reddit. It has 25.9 million members, constantly sharing interesting trivia like the location of the clearest lake in the world or the reason why Nas listed his then 7-year-old daughter as an executive producer on his fifth album. To put some of your 2.5 petabytes to good use, we rounded up some of the best posts we could find on the subreddit.

However, since you will probably have a few megabytes to spare even after you finish scrolling through the list, fire up our older publications on Today I Learned here, here, and here.

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL that March 12th, 1990, over 60 disability rights activists abandoned their mobility aids and climbed, crawled, and edged up the 83 stone steps of the U.S Capitol, demanding the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which had been stalled in Congress. It was called the 'Capitol Crawl'.

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Scagsy
Scagsy
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's disgusting that they should have to do that. I hope it.was passed swiftly.

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#2

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) Nas listed his then 7-year-old daughter, Destiny Jones, as an executive producer on his fifth studio album Stillmatic to ensure she would always receive royalty checks from the album.

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#3

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL the medals in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are made from metals recovered from recycled cell phones collected since 2017.

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#4

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL: In 400BC, the Persians invented a way to make ice in the desert using evaporation cooling

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Ece Cenker
Ece Cenker
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wow, so ancient people were not idiots? Who wouldda thought!

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#5

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL the clearest lake in the world is the Blue Lake located in Nelson, New Zealand. Visibility in the lake is up to 80 metres meaning the water is considered almost as optically clear as distilled water.

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#6

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL the US provided Laos with funds and concrete to expand an airport which could serve as a base for US fighter jets during the Vietnam War. But as the funds and concrete arrived before any contract was signed, Laos decided instead to build a memorial to soldiers who died in World War II.

trifletruffles Report

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Dave P
Dave P
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Technically the US gave them the money, then the US decided to keep it all the Thailand for fighter jets and told Laos they could do anything, as long as it was US approved.

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#7

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL Octopuses are one of the most intelligent creatures on the planet, capable of solving complex puzzles, using tools, escaping captivity, and planning ahead in the future.

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#8

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL of Eric Moussambani, who had never seen an olympic sized swimming pool before the 2000 olympics. He recorded the slowest time in 100m freestyle history at 1:52.72, however won his heat as all other competitors false started. He is now a national hero the head swimming coach of Equatorial Guinea

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#9

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL of Charlie Walker, the first non-government individual to fly into space. After NASA deemed him unqualified and rejected his 1978 application for astronaut, he co-developed a space bound device which required him to accompany it. Walker flew into space three times with the device he co-patented.

WhileFalseRepeat Report

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#10

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL Drowning people almost never shout, thrash or wave for help. 10% of children who drown are supervised by adults who don't recognise the signs.

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#11

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL Crowing first at dawn is a privilege reserved for the highest ranking rooster.

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JustAPanda
JustAPanda
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Social status is based on the one who gets to shout first. More like a Presidential campaign

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#12

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL Sony sold its waterproof Walkman in a bottle of water to prove it was really waterproof.

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N G
N G
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OMG , OMG, OMG ---- i didn't know there were real Walkman's. I've been buying these expensive water bottles, drinking the contents and throwing the Walkman's away.

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#13

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL Salvador Dali once conned Yoko Ono into paying $10,000 for a single blade of grass. Yoko had offered to pay that amount for one of his mustache hairs. He substituted the blade of grass because he thought that Yoko Ono was a witch and might use his hair in a spell.

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44f5 Dixit
44f5 Dixit
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How came She couldn't differentiate hair and blade of grass

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#14

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL In the 1930's a selling point for TP started by Northern Tissue company was that their toilet paper was "splinter free"

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#15

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL Bruce Lee was the winner of the 1958 Hong Kong Cha-Cha Dancing Championship. He kept a card with 108 different cha-cha dance steps in his wallet and developed new moves which he wrote down in a personal notebook labeled "Cha-Cha Fancy Steps."

trifletruffles Report

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Vermillion Ace #443
Vermillion Ace #443
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Gotta wonder if that explains the fancy footwork he applied in his own movements. It kinda makes sense knowing this tidbit now.

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#16

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL beavers build their dams as an instinct to stop the sounds of water leaks. If a speaker is playing just the sound of running water, a beaver will build a dam over it. This is even if it’s over concrete with no visible water, or if an actual nearby leaky water source is quieter than the speaker.

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#17

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who as a student discovered pulsars, credits her discovery to impostor syndrome and a fear of being kicked out of college; “I’m a bit of a fighter, so I decided until they threw me out I would work my very hardest". That discovery earned the 1974 Nobel Prize.

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Dina Simoné
Dina Simoné
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, Imposter Syndrome should be healed after receiving the Nobel Prize.

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#18

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL that when his father died of a heart attack, Ronald Mallett resolved to discover time travel to see him again. He went on to earn a PhD in physics and become a professor, and has been working on plans for a time machine ever since.

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Lauren Caswell
Lauren Caswell
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh that's a sweet and sad and noble reason to pursue science. Thinking about time in any form other than linear is beyond me, and tangents are too complex! Butterfly effect and all that

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#19

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL In 1908, the Russian shooting team arrived at the London Olympics twelve days late. The Russian team had made sure to arrive a few days before the event was scheduled, but Russia still used the Julian calendar. The UK had switched to the Gregorian calendar 150 years earlier

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Brandy Grote
Brandy Grote
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Russian government has switched to the Gregorian calendar, but the Russian Orthodox Church still uses the Julian one! Russia switch in Feb 1918 when Lenin signed the Sovnarkom decree.

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#20

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL dying coral reefs lack the sound attract new fish. Speakers playing healthy reef noises at dying coral reefs increases species diversity and doubles fish abundance.

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#21

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL that hippo sweat contains a chemical that has an SPF factor to prevent them from getting sunburned.

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Haru Brujis
Haru Brujis
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Dutch, hippo is nijlpaard, which literally means Nile horse.

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#22

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL - Raccoons and skunks will literally sniff out a yellow jacket nest at night and dig it up to eat the yellow jackets.

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#23

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL the X's often seen on moonshine bottles in old cartoons, etc. represent the amount of runnings, or how many times it was distilled.

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HoneyBun Arts
HoneyBun Arts
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh Cletus you old dog. Giving Homer a bottle with 12 or so X’s. ;) [Simpson’s Refernece]

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#24

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL that female dogs can get pregnant by multiple male dogs within the same heat cycle, then give birth to X amount of puppies per father.

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#25

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL comedy legend Mel Brooks was an uncredited producer of The Elephant Man, released in 1980. He was left off the credits for fear that fans would believe the movie was a comedy.

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Yoinks!
Yoinks!
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is also true of Frances (1982) and David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986). He also kept his name off the comedy My Favorite Year (1982), possibly because he didn't want people to think it was HIS sort of comedy.

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#26

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL of Research during 1950s all-male combat aircraft assignments revealed that a woman's voice was more likely to gain the attention of young men in distracting situations. Joan Elms voice was used for the automated voice warnings for Convair B-58 and was named "Sexy Sally" by the pilots.

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#27

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL of Vasili Mitrokhin, a KGB archivist who kept a vast collection of handwritten notes on top secret files. When he defected to British Intelligence in 1992, he brought six trunks of notes with him that exposed most KGB activities in the West during the Cold War

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M O'Connell
M O'Connell
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm surprised the KGB wouldn't have known that he had 6 trunks worth of notes.

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#28

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL that the reticular activating system is the part of the brain that sorts through all the billions of pieces of information our senses take in and then allows through the important stuff. It is why after you a buy a red sedan, you now see red sedans everywhere when you didn't notice them before.

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#29

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL that the "Monopoly Man", the guy in jail and the policeman on the Monopoly Board all have names: Milburn Pennybags, Jake the Jailbird and Officer Mallory

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Final score:
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Aleksandra
Aleksandra
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also, the game was originally created to show the negative aspects of monopolies. And there were two rule sets for the game, one where everyone was rewarded when wealth was created, and second where you were supposed to crush opponents.

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#30

30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics) TIL that the Red Bull energy drink was originally invented by a duck farmer from Thailand as a hangover cure (called Krathing Daeng in Thai) before being bought over by Austrian businessman Dietrich Mateschitz who discovered it on a business trip in 1987.

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Final score:
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Monday
Monday
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Now I have to ask...does it work as a hangover cure?

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Note: this post originally had 48 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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