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“Today I Learned”: 30 Interesting Things About The World That People Didn’t Know Until Recently (New Pics)
Today I Learned, also known as TIL, is the fifth-biggest subreddit. It unites a whopping 30.9 million members, who all go there with a single goal in mind — to enrich each other's understanding of the world.
Sharing interesting facts about human psychology, animal behavior, food history, and pretty much everything else you can imagine, this online community is full of fascinating trivia that has been successfully evading many of us.
Continue scrolling to check out its recent posts, and for more, fire up our older publications on TIL here, here, and here.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
TIL that dogs intentionally try to make humans laugh. They understand that laughter means play, and play is positive.
Cyber Returns 1 year ago
Like my pup Cleo. She likes to do silly things. Here she is trying to go to bed but not quite making it An-attempt...50a13b.jpg 
#2
TIL Jonathan Goldsmith, AKA The Most Interesting Man in the World from the Dos Equis commercials, has been an advocate for landmine victim support, has assisted the effort to prevent and cure cancer in dogs, save the Siberian Tiger, and end child sex trafficking in Cambodia.
#3
TIL Japan has a 'wind phone'. An unconnected phone booth where grieving relatives go to 'talk' to their lost loved ones. Opened after the 2011 Fukushima earthquake/tsunami, it has seen over 30,000 visitors.
#4
TIL The average life span of a pet cat has risen from seven years in the early 1980s to fifteen years as of 2021.
#5
TIL in 1915 a pharmacist saw his sister make her own mascara with coal and petroleum jelly and thought he could make a better product. His invention was easier to apply and won't burn a woman's eye. He named his new company Maybelline after his sister Maybel and the base material Vaseline.
#6
TIL Environmental activist Julia “Butterfly” Hill lived in a 1500-year-old California redwood tree (known as Luna) 180 feet (55 m) off the ground for 738 days in order to prevent it from being chopped down by Pacific Lumber Company. She successfully saved the tree.
#7
TIL about Third Man Syndrome. An unseen presence reported by mountain climbers and explorers during traumatic survival situations that talks to the victim, gives practical advise and encouragement.
Chloe Runyan 1 year ago
Idk if you downvote me for this, but there is a spirit in my religion called the holy ghost that works like this, it provides comfort in hard times and helps you make the right desision
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Shyla Bouche 1 year ago
Bones used this in a gravedigger episode. The gravedigger had kidnapped Booth, and put him on an old naval ship due to be destroyed. His third person was the ghost of a friend.
Powerful Katrinka 1 year ago
This happened to the famous explorer, Earnest Shackleton, while he was going to find help to rescue his crew. (Amazing story well worth researching.) TS Eliot then incorporated this story in his great poem, The Waste Land.
Salty Sasquatch 1 year ago
I read a book about a man sailing solo around the world. He ate something that made him very ill. When he woke up a little once, there was a sailor/captain dressed in old-style clothes at the wheel of his sheep. the man turned around and scolded him for eating that food. The boat was still sailing on as it should. The next time the man semi-woke up, the captain was gone but the boat was still sailing on.
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Ash 1 year ago
Gary Paulsen (author of Hatchet) describes a situation like this in his book Woodsong that he personally experienced. He was in a really bad dogsledding accident, and this kindly indigenous man got his injured leg stabilized, got him on the sled, untangled the dogs' traces, and got him home. He found out later that he had been alone the entire time.
Rapunzel With The Loced Hair 1 year ago
I hear someone speak to me at my lowest moments, usually when I get suicidal thoughts
Bex 1 year ago
Been there, sending you healing thoughts and best wishes. Horrible feeling so low. But you are here for a reason, you deserve to be happy. Keep your head up and stay strong xx
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David 1 year ago
It didn't talk to us but (really short version) Me and friend, river tubing, hypothermia, potential drowning. When we FINALLY got to the spot in the river where our friends were waiting on the bank I saw a third person with them. I had not said anything when my friend said, "Who is that with them?". The two people waiting on the bank (who I trust) swore up and down there was nobody with them at any point in time. It was a kind of isolated place on the river bank so there were no other people nearby. I don't know what to call it but we both independently saw something.
B.Nelson 1 year ago
For those wondering, it's third man because of third person viewpoint (like video games or books). Also, people with anxiety, depression, PTSD, or other mental health issues can have them to. I call it the "old me" voice.
Duck's Shredder 1 year ago
Reminds me of what happened to me when I fell off a water tube. I remember slipping off with so much force I was practically thrown off, hitting the water, and being disoriented for a bit. I panicked for a second because my life jacket wasn't pulling me back up. Then I started "hearing" this higher, more rational part of myself that somehow also felt like a separate person. I remember thoughts along the lines of "come on, it's okay, you can move. I know it's cold, I know that was sudden, but you have to move. You just need to start swimming up. You can't let the shock get to you, that's how people drown. You can't drown, start moving your arms." Not nearly as extreme as the circumstances these climbers likely went through, but this reminded me.
Zander Porbanda 1 year ago
The everyday version of this is Earl the Jacuzzi Salesman. He shows up everywhere for me and I know he does for everyone else too. You're the mail carrier? Yeah right, Earl!
Red PANda (She/They) 1 year ago
Wait this was even in the Bible in the Old Testament where they were cast in that oven or something. Jesus is that you? /jk
Mika N 1 year ago
I know you're just joking, but in that story, seeing the 4th man walking around in the fire is told from the perspective of the king who threw them in there and who wasn't in any danger. He looks inside and says "didn't we throw three men in the fire? I see another, and the fourth one looks like a son of the gods." (He was Babylonian, they were Jewish) or something along those lines. Although presumably the three also saw the fourth there with them :)
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Stephen Gross 1 year ago
This happens in the movie Gravity (near the end, when she's in the escape capsule but doesn't know how to pilot it). Granted, that's fiction, but it is based on the same principle.
Let’s All Just Try And Be Decent 1 year ago
This is fascinating - with the missing 411 cases in regards to people going missing in national parks in North America such as in Appalachia, a lot of very young children are found miles and miles from where they went missing, often having scaled terrain or distance that there's no way they should have been able to alone or on that amount of time. The children who are found alive (sometimes after many days) are typically in good spirits, happy, warm, have eaten and are not dirty or scraped up etc, and report that someone helped them, either picked them up or guided them and fed them and made sure they were warm and safe. They have never been able to prove this but the kids are adamant about it, and this has made me think that this is imbedded traumatic response that we have even as tiny children of 2 or 3 years ok. Amazing.
Who Panda 420 1 year ago (edited)
Where the yeti reports may have originated... They sound just like this. In another report it was described by mountain climbers as feeling like someone was just out of the corner of their eye watching and following them.
Ember Flame 1 year ago
I have sever mental health problems (Not schizo effective disorder, nor full blown schizophrenia) I have this "voice" that usually tries to calm, and help me. This backfires on me sometimes when I get insomnia, because it's telling me the things to do so I can get some sleep (grounding, meditation, music ect.) And that just keeps me more awake. I never knew this was a thing, I thought this was just me (I have dissociative identity disorder from sever repeated early childhood trauma.), and the people like me , I thought it was just one of my "others.
#8
TIL that elephant poaching has steadily decreased in certain African countries causing elephant populations to slowly begin rising.
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
We've also seen shortening of tusks which we believe has to do with short tusks being undesirable to poachers.
#9
TIL that Sea Urchins are called Sea Urchins because Hedgehogs used to be called Urchins until about the 15th century. Sea Urchins are Ocean Hedgehogs.
#10
TIL that domestic dogs have developed muscles in there brow to "mimic" humans.
Mickysixxx 1 year ago
Or we've selectively bred the ones that could move their eyebrows because we consider them cuter and as a result they now have the muscle rather than they developed it to mimic us
#11
TIL Crows are a highly intelligent species, which are self-aware just like humans. They are as smart as Gorillas and have a complex brain which has the ability to reason.
ISeeWendiGo 1 year ago
There's 3 in my neighborhood that I feed. If I'm gone before I feed them in the morning they will sit in a tree at the main road so they can spot my vehicle turning into our road. They will follow me home and patiently wait for about 30 minutes in the backyard for their food. If it's longer than that, one will sit on the deck and tap on my sliding door and caw until he sees me coming out. Visitors think it's hilarious, and they are cute! I named them Poe, Lenore, and Nevermore, what else?
#12
TIL that in The Shawshank Redemption, when Morgan Freeman’s character is asked “why do they call you Red?” and he responds with “maybe it’s because I’m Irish”. It’s because the character in the novel was a red haired Irish man. They cast Freeman for the part but added the line as a joke.
#13
TIL that in 1554 Elizabeth Crofts hid in a wall on Aldersgate Street, where she pretended to be a heavenly voice. Reputedly 17,000 people came to listen to her give out anti-Catholic propaganda.
#14
TIL mixed-breed dogs live an average of 14 years while purebreds live only an average of almost 10 years.
Jill Rhodry 1 year ago
It also depends on the size of the breed of dog - a great dane averages 8-10 years whereas a chihuahua 12-18 years.
#15
TIL that the world's largest rodent "Capybara" are so chill to the point that they can form an unlikely friendship with crocodiles.
#16
TIL Willie O'Ree, the first black man to play in the NHL, was blind in one eye. It was caused by a ricocheting puck that hit him in the face when he was 18 and he kept it a secret for his entire 21-year career.
#17
TIL that New York City is reintroducing millions of oysters into their harbor to help clean the water and create marine habitats. They've been collecting used shells from local restaurants to create new homes for juvenile oysters.
#18
TIL the Higgs-Boson Particle, aka "the God Particle", was actually called "the Goddamn Particle" by physicists because it was so difficult to detect. Publishers forced the rename, resulting in a confusing tie to religion for the particle which is nearly universally hated by physicists.
#19
TIL - The Middle Ages had retirement homes, where seniors could buy residence for the rest of their lives at a monastery with food, shelter and clothing included.
Rae Ramirez 1 year ago
This should always be a thing, but in about 10 years, it’s going to be bad in America
#20
TIL That in 1941, USS New York opened fire on an object, believing it to be a japanese aircraft. Fire commenced until a navigator realized they were shooting at Venus.
#21
TIL when an American film has more than one writer, an "&" indicates that the screenwriters collaborated on the script. An "and" means they worked independently on separate drafts.
Nicola Roberts 1 year ago
et al means 'and others' in text books. I wonder why they can't say what it means. That way you wouldn't need to learn what all the coded language meant.
#22
TIL a “ferocious rabbit” ran amok in Central Park in 1917. He terrorized the sheep in Sheep Meadow, maimed dogs, and fought an orangutan in the zoo.
#23
TIL Wolfgang Mozart had a sister, Maria Anna, who was also an extremely talented child prodigy in music. Sadly, she was prevented from performing as an adult. Many of her compositions have been lost, including one Wolfgang wrote that he was in ‘awe’ of, contributing to her obscurity.
Nicola Roberts 1 year ago
I wonder why Maria Anna was prevented to perform? Whatever the reason I'd be surprised if it was for her own good.
#24
TIL In 1941 The Germans allowed the British RAF to drop a prosthetic leg by parachute to a Luftwaffe base in France. The Germans were very respectful of Captain Douglas Bader, who was captured after bailing from his plane with only one of his two prosthetic legs. One got stuck in his damaged plane.
#25
TIL about the thymus, a small (1 oz.) organ behind the sternum that trains new white blood cells to NOT attack the body's own cells. Only 2% survive this rigorous training program; the rest commit suicide to prevent themselves from attacking friendly cells.
Stardust she/her 1 year ago (edited)
This kind of makes me want to write a fanfic about the immune system. It’s so interesting to me
#26
TIL about hysterical strength, a display of extreme physical strength by humans, beyond what is believed to be normal. Examples include a woman saved several children by fighting a polar bear and a woman lifting a car high enough to save a person.
TotallyNOTaFox 1 year ago (edited)
Our brain limits us from using our maximum strength to prevent bone and muscle damages, in a life or death situation that limit often gets lifted
#27
TIL Founding Father and author of the Bill of Rights James Madison stopped the Virginia Assembly from establishing Christianity as the state religion with the help of Thomas Jefferson.
#28
TIL that the writers on Futurama created and proved a new mathematical theorem as a plot point for a body-switching episode.
#29
TIL in the 1800’s bananas were seen as “immoral fruit” because of their shape. Fruit companies began issuing postcards of women eating bananas to advertise the fruit wasn’t taboo.
Lilla Ontherun 1 year ago
The only acceptable way to me to eat a banana in my male friends company is to break it half at first. Looking at their face during it is priceless.
#30
TIL On PC/console games, about 60% of the female avatars you meet are played by a male player.
What do you think ?
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
I like these posts. I'd prefer it if people gave references as well so we can factcheck.
CP 1 year ago
On the bottom left side of each post is gray lettering for a link.
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COCO puff 1 year ago
Some are just made up stories. Please fact check before you believe everything that you read online.
Ember Flame 1 year ago
Nah. They kept me in solitary for the rest of my time in (3 months). I was "too dangerous" for Gen pop, and everyone was always either scared of me, or just didn't get me when I was in it anyways. I didn't belong there, I was not like the rest, I know everyone says this but I TRULY DIDN'T do anything to be there. My "man" of 6 years woke up, and beat the s**t out of me, he didn't want to wake up, but I truly needed him at the time. After 6 years of taking every kind of abuse possible I got angry. (which I had never done because A. He had me under some "spell" after years of gaslighting, and isolation. So much so I catered to his every need, and walked on eggshells around him, because I didn't want him to stop talking to me. He was the ONLY person around, because we lived in the middle of nowhere. And B. I was stuck in that situation, because he had custody of our son, and I WAS NOT leaving him there without protection) I threw a cup of coffee at his feet, and it splashed up on him. After that I was tackled, and beaten bloody. I left to go to the one other place around... His parents house. The people who enabled him to do this, and always refused to help me, or let me call the police. They let me call my dad to come get me, and while I was waiting for him to come the police showed up. This little b***h of a man called them when I stood up for myself for the first time.I told the story covered in blood, and bruses, and -I- ended up in cuffs, and absolutely NOTHING happened to him. In a small south GA town like that everyone knows everyone... Including the police, and they had been friends with them for YEARS. I ended up with a simple battery charge and 10 months in jail. So when I say I didn't belong there, the little mouse of a beaten down woman I was meant it. I stuck out like a sore thumb, and people wanted to try me. Honestly I have to say that was the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life, that separation, time to think, and "find myself" was a true blessing. I found a book in jail about domestic violence, read it cover to cover, and was able to see what had happened to me. I was happy with that time (That I believed with all my heart that God, or the universe, or whatever higher 8s out thwre gifted me) I needed it to sort some s**t out with myself. I found gratitude, to look for the good in life, found my higher power and learned to live with acceptance (accept the things you cannot change, and change the things you can) because I came out stronger, confident, and 100X happier. Iwent back... For a week... He COULD NOT accept who I had, become. Someone he could no longer push around, and break. I did the most heartbreaking thing I had ever done, and left my son with him yo go make a better life for him. I DID THAT over the next year I fought to find the place I belonged, and made it happen for us. We are comfortable in a nice home, with a man who loves us with all his heart. We are stable and happy. I know you didn't want my life story, but thank you for reading it anyways... It felt good to get it out there... But believe me this is only a small portion of all the s**t I have been through in my life, I think I could make a 700 page biography, and sill not remember it all. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Kioh81 1 year ago
Aww This morning this said 100, now it's 30. I was still trying to get thru this. lol
2WheelTravlr 1 year ago
There is always a link below the last post that reads: "Note: this post originally had 110 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes."
Load More Replies...
christie lowe 1 year ago
Ember Flame, Iam sorry you had to experience everything you went trough. But, sometimes I think we go through awful experiences because there are other people out there who we can be an inspiration to , people who may not feel they are strong enough to leave a difficult situation, until they hear your story and how you made it. That is the best way i can justify why awful things happen to people. It is nice to hear a success story
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
I like these posts. I'd prefer it if people gave references as well so we can factcheck.
CP 1 year ago
On the bottom left side of each post is gray lettering for a link.
Load More Replies... COCO puff 1 year ago
Some are just made up stories. Please fact check before you believe everything that you read online.
Ember Flame 1 year ago
Nah. They kept me in solitary for the rest of my time in (3 months). I was "too dangerous" for Gen pop, and everyone was always either scared of me, or just didn't get me when I was in it anyways. I didn't belong there, I was not like the rest, I know everyone says this but I TRULY DIDN'T do anything to be there. My "man" of 6 years woke up, and beat the s**t out of me, he didn't want to wake up, but I truly needed him at the time. After 6 years of taking every kind of abuse possible I got angry. (which I had never done because A. He had me under some "spell" after years of gaslighting, and isolation. So much so I catered to his every need, and walked on eggshells around him, because I didn't want him to stop talking to me. He was the ONLY person around, because we lived in the middle of nowhere. And B. I was stuck in that situation, because he had custody of our son, and I WAS NOT leaving him there without protection) I threw a cup of coffee at his feet, and it splashed up on him. After that I was tackled, and beaten bloody. I left to go to the one other place around... His parents house. The people who enabled him to do this, and always refused to help me, or let me call the police. They let me call my dad to come get me, and while I was waiting for him to come the police showed up. This little b***h of a man called them when I stood up for myself for the first time.I told the story covered in blood, and bruses, and -I- ended up in cuffs, and absolutely NOTHING happened to him. In a small south GA town like that everyone knows everyone... Including the police, and they had been friends with them for YEARS. I ended up with a simple battery charge and 10 months in jail. So when I say I didn't belong there, the little mouse of a beaten down woman I was meant it. I stuck out like a sore thumb, and people wanted to try me. Honestly I have to say that was the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life, that separation, time to think, and "find myself" was a true blessing. I found a book in jail about domestic violence, read it cover to cover, and was able to see what had happened to me. I was happy with that time (That I believed with all my heart that God, or the universe, or whatever higher 8s out thwre gifted me) I needed it to sort some s**t out with myself. I found gratitude, to look for the good in life, found my higher power and learned to live with acceptance (accept the things you cannot change, and change the things you can) because I came out stronger, confident, and 100X happier. Iwent back... For a week... He COULD NOT accept who I had, become. Someone he could no longer push around, and break. I did the most heartbreaking thing I had ever done, and left my son with him yo go make a better life for him. I DID THAT over the next year I fought to find the place I belonged, and made it happen for us. We are comfortable in a nice home, with a man who loves us with all his heart. We are stable and happy. I know you didn't want my life story, but thank you for reading it anyways... It felt good to get it out there... But believe me this is only a small portion of all the s**t I have been through in my life, I think I could make a 700 page biography, and sill not remember it all. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Kioh81 1 year ago
Aww This morning this said 100, now it's 30. I was still trying to get thru this. lol
2WheelTravlr 1 year ago
There is always a link below the last post that reads: "Note: this post originally had 110 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes."
Load More Replies... christie lowe 1 year ago
Ember Flame, Iam sorry you had to experience everything you went trough. But, sometimes I think we go through awful experiences because there are other people out there who we can be an inspiration to , people who may not feel they are strong enough to leave a difficult situation, until they hear your story and how you made it. That is the best way i can justify why awful things happen to people. It is nice to hear a success story
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