Every single day is an opportunity to learn something new. But even if you’re not actively reading scientific studies or in-depth socio-economic analyses, you can still pick up a lot of new information just by spending time online.

And if you ever wanted to share all those interesting tidbits of knowledge with everyone else, well, the massively popular ‘Today I Learned’ online group might be the perfect place to do it. Its members post the most interesting and unusual facts about the world that they heard about just recently. We’ve collected some of the freshest ones to share with you, Pandas. Scroll down to check them out (and don’t forget to take notes so you can impress your friends later). 

Bored Panda wanted to get to grips with how we can all continue to stay curious about the world and how we can check the reliability of scientific claims. So, we reached out to N. Otre Le Vant, the author of ‘On Progress in Physics and Subjectivity Theory’ and the founder of Inisev. He kindly shared his insights with us. You'll find his thoughts below.

#1

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) In 2001, a 13-year-old Boy Scout named Cody Clawson went missing for over 18 hours near Yellowstone Park. Clawson resorted to using his belt buckle to signal to planes overhead. Eventually, he got a pilot’s attention - and that pilot was none other than Harrison Ford - who rescued Clawson.

waitingforthesun92 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#2

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) Despite not having played since 2018, MLB player Andrew Toles has remained under contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers so he can continue receiving mental health treatment for his schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

harlsey Report

Add photo comments
POST
#3

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) In 2015, a woman's parachute failed to deploy while skydiving, surviving with life-threatening injuries. Days before, she survived a mysterious gas leak at her house. Both were later found to be intentional murder plots by her husband.

sanandrios Report

Add photo comments
POST
#4

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) In the 1960s, Washington D.C.'s poor areas were plagued by severe rat problems until Julius Hobson began catching them by trapping enormous rats, and attaching the cage to his car’s roof and drove to affluent districts where he warned of setting the rodents free, spurring rat control measures.

Algrinder Report

Add photo comments
POST
#5

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) On April 18 1930, the BBC's evening news report simply said "there is no news" and then played piano music for the entire segment.

footballmaths49 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#6

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) In 2018, a K***er whale named Tahlequah, known to researchers as J35, grieved over her dead calf by carrying it across the ocean for 17 days and over 1,000 miles, refusing to let it sink.

Algrinder Report

Add photo comments
POST
#7

Muhammad Ali's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is on a wall instead of on the ground. This is because Ali, a devout Muslim, did not want people stepping on the name "Muhammad".

wimpykidfan37 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#8

Dr. Jessie Lazear, an American physician who studied yellow fever under the famous Dr. Walter Reed. He allowed himself to be bitten by an infected mosquito, and died of the disease himself 17 days later, confirming how the disease was spread. His sacrifice saved millions.

Chemical-Elk-1299 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#9

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) Weather forecasters tend to exaggerate the chance of rain because if it rains when they said it wouldn't, people get angry, but if it doesn't rain when they said it would, they are happy. This is known as "wet bias."

Lvexr Report

Add photo comments
POST
#10

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) There was a girls dance camp nearby when the atomic Trinity test occurred. The girls played in the falling white ash. 10 of the 12 girls died before 40.

edfitz83 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#11

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) Aldgate Pump, a historic water pump held as marking the start of London’s East End. Long famed for its “sparkling, agreeable” water, it was later found that this rich mineral taste came from the flesh and bones of nearby cemeteries leeching into the water. The tainted water killed hundreds.

Chemical-Elk-1299 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#12

Viggo Mortensen wore his Russian gangster make up tattoos to a Russian restaurant while filming Eastern Promises. The Russian diners fell silent out of fear until Viggo identified himself and said the tattoos were for a movie. After that he removed the tattoos after every workday.

shifty1032231 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#13

The Boots Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness: poor people buy cheap products that need to be replaced repeatedly, proving more expensive in the long run than more expensive items.

EtOHMartini Report

Add photo comments
POST
#14

Octopuses deliberately throw shells at each other. Researchers found that 66% of throws were made by females, often in response to mating attempts. For a creature with no thumbs or rotator cuffs, they had a 17% hit rate.

decafcovfefes Report

Add photo comments
POST
#15

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) Chief Baker of the Titanic, Charles Joughin, survived by getting smashed on Brandy and calmly paddling around until dawn when he was rescued by a lifeboat. He was also one of the last people off the ship, riding the stern rail into the sea like an elevator.

SappyGilmore Report

Add photo comments
POST
#16

That 'Rocky' (1976) was inspired by the true story of Chuck Wepner, a local boxer from New Jersey who was set up for a dream fight with Muhammad Ali. Wepner quit his job to train full time, and against all odds, lasted 15 rounds with the champ. Stallone was in the audience.

L8_2_PartE Report

Add photo comments
POST
#17

A man survived two separate bear attacks in one day, After the first attack, where he was bitten on the head and arms, he played dead to make the bear lose interest. Despite the ordeal, he walked three miles to his truck, only to be attacked again by the same bear and miraculously survived.

Algrinder Report

Add photo comments
POST
#18

The reason why animal shelters are full of huskies, is because of the TV show Game of Thrones. Everyone wanted their own real life dire Wolf, but then abandoned them after they realize how much work they are.

rtineo Report

Add photo comments
POST
#19

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) 287 years is the longest a library book was overdue. While writing a biography on Colonel Robert Walpole in 1956, Prof. John Plumb returned a history book to the Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge after Walpole had checked it out around the year 1667.

SeizeOpportunity Report

Add photo comments
POST
#20

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) Cold temperatures weaken nasal immunity, making us more vulnerable to viruses. A mere 5°C drop in nasal tissue temperature reduces immune response by nearly half.

textdot_net Report

Add photo comments
POST
#21

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) War pigs were used by the Romans because the squeals would scare war elephants into fleeing, and cause them to trample their own armies.

notwormtongue Report

Add photo comments
POST
#22

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) in 1915 tipping was so unpopular that 6 states made it illegal to do so.

zinky30 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#23

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) While dogs may not pass the traditional mirror test, they do pass a "smell mirror" test, suggesting they understand the concept of 'self'.

stan-k Report

Add photo comments
POST
#24

In 1992 Annette Herfkens was the sole survivor of a plane crash that included her fiancé & 28 others. Despite having 12 fractures in her hip, 2 in her leg, a broken jaw & a collapsed lung, she survived 8 days in a Vietnamese jungle on rainwater until a local officer came by & got help.

tyrion2024 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#25

Korean serial killer Kim Sun-ja laced her friend's tea with cyanide, causing her to vomit. She told her friend that she would feel better if she drank more of the beverage, but her friend became suspicious and refused, becoming the only known survivor of 6 poisoning victims from 1986 to 1988.

admiralturtleship Report

Add photo comments
POST
#26

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) The directors of Tangled held a “hot man meeting” and had all the women from the studio critique Hollywood men to create the character of Flynn Rider.

Brendawg324 Report

Add photo comments
POST
See Also on Bored Panda
#27

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) The largest unfinished church in the world, the Sagrada Família, began construction in 1886. It is expected to be completed in 2026, nearly 150 years after it began construction.

LivingRaccoon Report

Add photo comments
POST
#28

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) in 1969 Ted Conrad embezzled $215,000 from a bank in Ohio & proceeded to evade capture for the remaining 51 years of his life. He became 'Thomas Randele' & settled in Massachusetts. Described by authorities as a deathbed confession, in 2021 he told his wife & daughter who he was & what he did.

tyrion2024 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#29

Squirrels terminal velocity is so low they can fall from any height and survive.

Aleniaflux Report

Add photo comments
POST
#30

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) Child voice actors for Bluey are kept secret.

Defiant-Telephone-96 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#31

English scientist Henry Cavendish discovered physical laws like Ohm's, Dalton's, or Charles's law and few others as first but they were not named after him because he didn't publish his notes and didn't tell his fellow scientists, propably due to being asocial and shy.

amelix34 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#32

A mother named Kathleen Folbigg, who was imprisoned for 2 decades for murdering her 4 children. Later, she would be pardoned by the Governor after it was discovered that the deaths were instead due to an extremely rare genetic condition.

ICEBeats Report

Add photo comments
POST
#33

2020 study found evidence that arrows fired from medieval longbows could cause injuries similar to modern gunshot wounds. One example is the analysis of a skull that revealed an arrow had left devastating entry and exit wounds that are similar to injuries caused by modern bullets.

tyrion2024 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#34

Archaeologists working in a 2,500 y.o. Chinese cemetery unearthed charred incense burners and burnt stones that tested high for cannabinol, which is released when THC is burned. "Unlike many wild varieties, the cannabis smoked at the site [...] was pretty potent stuff."

admiralturtleship Report

Add photo comments
POST
#35

King Cobra is not a cobra. It is the sole species of its genus and happens to look a lot like a cobra.

bnrshrnkr Report

Add photo comments
POST
#36

LaMarcus Thompson, the father of the American roller coaster, invented the first coasters on Coney Island because he thought the world was too sinful and needed more moral entertainment.

Just_Want_To_Write Report

Add photo comments
POST
See Also on Bored Panda
#37

Infants under one year old should not be fed honey.

archroot Report

Add photo comments
POST
#38

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) creator of Wonder Woman was in a thruple that involved his first wife and his student. They were heavily into bondage which inspired early iterations of the super heroine. Thruple lasted 22 years all the way to his death

HauntingArtichoke830 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#39

Mocha Dick (the real life inspiration for Moby Dick) was ki***d in 1838 after appearing to come to the aid of a distrought cow whose calf was just slaughtered by whalers. He was known to be friendly until attacked, he survived 100 skirmishes before being slain.

Runswithtoast Report

Add photo comments
POST
#40

many English words and phrases are loaned from Chinese merchants interacting with British sailors like "chop chop," "long time no see," "no pain no gain," "no can do," and "look see"

chompotron Report

Add photo comments
POST
#41

in 1988 a U.S. Marine was abandoned and died in the Mojave Desert. Search only started when his weapon wasn't returned.

new22003 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#42

The final words of Terry Kath, founding guitarist for rock band Chicago, before dying from an accidental self inflicted gunshot wound were “What do you think I'm gonna do? Blow my brains out?"

EndlessTrashposter Report

Add photo comments
POST
#43

Babe Ruth constantly cheated on his wives during his baseball career. A detective that the New York Yankees hired to follow him one night in Chicago reported that Ruth had been with six women. Another player said that he was not Ruth's roommate while traveling; "I room with his suitcase".

TMWNN Report

Add photo comments
POST
#44

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) TIL the worst skydiving accident in US history took place over Lake Erie and resulted in 16 fatalities. Due to miscommunications, the skydivers jumped out over water rather than land, and subsequently drowned.

EveryDollarVotes Report

Add photo comments
POST
#45

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) The temperature on the moon at the Apollo 11 landing site was 200ºF (93ºC).

linear_majority Report

Add photo comments
POST
#46

Spelling Bees (competitions where competitors must correctly spell words until one is left standing) don't really exist outside of English, and within English, they're pretty much only an American thing.

skrt_skrt666 Report

Add photo comments
POST
See Also on Bored Panda
#47

In 1671 a man attempted to steal the Crown Jewels, and when he was caught he was brought before King Charles II, who found him so amusing that not only did her pardon the man, but he also ended up giving him massive lands in Ireland and a pension of £500 a year (£92,000 today).

volitaiee1233 Report

Add photo comments
POST
#48

Super Bowl XXXIV (34) is known as the "Dot-Com Super Bowl" because it featured 14 ads from 14 different dot-com companies, each paying an average of $2.2 million per spot. Of these companies, four are still active, five were bought by other companies, and the remaining five are defunct.

Majoodeh Report

Add photo comments
POST
#49

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) That Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Tom Hanks have colonoscopy parties together.

JackNotName Report

Add photo comments
POST
#50

‘Today I Learned’: 50 People Share Fascinating Things They Didn't Learn At School (New Pics) in 1944 the CIA created a manual on sabotaging organizations. Among other things, it suggests to "make speeches... at great length", "refer all matters to committees", "make committees as large as possible", "insist on perfect work in relatively unimportant products"

SpaceWorldly5853 Report

Add photo comments
POST
Add Your Answer! This post is a community curated
Not your original work? Add source
Publish