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“Today I Learned”: 50 Curious Things About The World People Didn’t Learn At School (New Posts)
With over 28.6 million members, this Reddit community is not your regular subreddit. Rather, it’s the internet’s beloved powerhouse that celebrates knowledge, curiosity, and intelligence.
By sharing something new to learn every single day, if not hour, Today I Learned has gained a following that keeps Reddit alive and gives our daily browsing the added value we crave.
So this time, we wrapped up a new batch of intriguing tidbits, surprising facts, and little-known bits of history to pour some brain stimuli into our feeds. Pull your seats closer, get your notebooks ready, and enjoy the TIL world right below!
Psst! More of TIL goodness awaits in our previous posts here, here, and here.
To find out more about the benefits of learning new things every day and ways to nurture our curiosity through life, Bored Panda reached out to Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, the CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts and best-selling author of seven books, including a global bestseller Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters. Scroll down to find out what he said!
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#1
TIL Rip was a stray dog adopted by an Air Raid Patrol in WW2. Although not trained for rescue work, he sniffed out over 100 victims trapped beneath buildings. He was awarded the Dickin medal for his work, which has been held partially responsible for prompting the training of search and rescue dogs.
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#2
TIL Ireland limits taxation on writers, artist, composers, painters, etc. for their contribution to culture
#3
TIL that scientists trying to study birds in Australia fitted them with tracking harnesses, and the birds helped each other take the harnesses off.
Dr. Tsipursky explained that one of the most important ways that people's personalities differ from each other is a category called "openness to experience." According to him, it describes people who are more open to learning and trying out new things in life.
“Openness to experience is one of the ‘big five’ personality traits that research shows fundamentally differentiate people from each other,” Dr. Tsipursky said. “The five personality traits are: openness to experience (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious); conscientiousness (efficient/organized vs. extravagant/careless); extraversion (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved); agreeableness (friendly/compassionate vs. critical/rational); neuroticism (sensitive/nervous vs. resilient/confident).”
#4
TIL during a preview of the Sistine Chapel paintings, one of the Pope's men criticized all the "disgraceful" nudity. So Michaelangelo painted the critic's likeness into the Last Judgement, wearing nothing but a snake that's biting his d**k.
#5
TIL Queen guitarist Brian May uses banjo strings on his electric guitars. Banjo strings are much lighter (thinner) and can bend much easier, making that signature Queen sound.
#6
TIL that in Laguna, Brazil, bottlenose dolphins actively herd fish towards local fishermen and then signal with tail slaps for the fishermen to throw their nets. This collaboration has been occurring since at least 1847.
kasa alex 2 years ago
Something similar happened in the old whaling town of Eden, South Coast NSW, Australia. Between 1840 and 1930, Orcas (Killer Whales) helped herd the much larger Baleen Whales into the bay where the humans would finish them off. The humans would then share some of the catch with the Orcas (lips and tongue)
The book author claims that openness to experience, just like the other big five personality traits, is a range, not a binary. “Some people are highly curious, some people are moderately curious, some people are not at all curious. You can see this in toddlers - some like to run around and explore their environment, and others sit in the corner and play with blocks.”
#7
TIL that 65% of cancer survivors surveyed by 'war on cancer' said that they had been ghosted by friends or family after their diagnosis.
#8
TIL that in 2013 a climber found a box full of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds on a remote glacier on Mont Blanc. Authorities determined they were likely from an Indian plane that crashed there in 1966 and gave the climber half the gems (worth $169,000) to reward his honesty in turning them in.
Adam Jeff 2 years ago
The story of the crash (or rather, crashes) is interesting too. The 'Malabar Princess' was an Indian chartered plane that went down on Mont Blanc in 1950. Due to bad weather and the inaccessible location, it was impossible to recover most of the wreckage, which was simply lost into the glacier. Now the spooky part: 16 years later, another Indian plane goes down in almost the exact same spot. Again, the wreckage is largely lost. Casualties of the second crash included a high-level scientist in the Indian nuclear program, spawning a number of conspiracy theories alleging CIA or Pakistani involvement in the crash.
#9
TIL the New Zealand army helped in making the LOTR films by filling as Soldiers and Orcs
When asked how we stay curious throughout life and what are the benefits of it, Dr. Tsipursky said that probably about half of our tendencies to be open to experience come from our genes, and half comes from our life experience and self-improvement efforts.
“That means we can learn to make better decisions when we shape our own personal openness to experience. In the modern world, it pays to be more open to experience than our intuitions suggest. Our intuitions are wired for the ancient savanna, when it was much more dangerous for our survival to be curious than it is right now,” he explained and added that “we should be more curious and stay more open to experience than our intuitions suggest.”
#10
TIL: Researchers in Botswana ran an experiment to reduce lion attacks in cows. They painted large eyes on the cow backsides. After several years, they showed fewer (zero) attacks on the eye-butt cows vs unpainted cows (15).
#11
TIL Quaternary Twins are when two babies are both cousins and genetically siblings. This happens when two identical sisters have children with two identical brothers.
#12
TIL that Albert Göring, Hermann Göring's Brother, was opposed to Nazism, and helped Jews and others who were persecuted escape Nazi Germany. He died in 1966 never having received recognition for his actions.
Izzy Curer 2 years ago (edited)
Yesterday, I learned that Hitler's half brother owned and operated a tea shop.
Many people feel a loss of motivation to explore new things as they age. “Research shows that teenagers are most comfortable with uncertainty, and become less comfortable as they become young adults,” Dr. Tsipursky said.
He continued: “And we become less and less comfortable with uncertainty as we age. We are evolved to be more exploration-oriented when young and when we are finding our place in the world, but our hormones change to cause us to be more oriented toward settling down and seeking comfort and certainty once we are older and find our place in life.”
#13
TIL the 1993 Chinese film, "An Old Man and his Dog" was banned in its native country for decades due to the discovery that the dog trainer and body double to the lead actor was a serial killer who fed his victims to dogs, including the ones onscreen.
#14
TIL that urine comes from your blood, not directly from your digestive system.
#15
TIL: Steve Jobs offered Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux a job at Apple under the condition he stopped developing for Linux. He declined the job offer.
Pirates of Zen Pants 2 years ago (edited)
My husband has been crazy about the Linux OS since the early 1990s. The three historical figures he respects most are Nikola Tesla, Alan Turing, and Linus Torvalds. (What can I say? I like nerds.)
#16
TIL Patricia Stallings was wrongfully convicted for the murder of her infant son under suspicion of antifreeze poisoning before being released due to a biochemist finding that her son had methylmalonic acidemia after hearing about her case on the television series, Unsolved Mysteries.
#17
TIL that during a battle with American troops led by Gen. Custer, Chief Sitting Bull moved within rifle range, methodically filled his pipe, encouraged others to join him, slowly smoked as bullets flew by, and returned unscathed as a display of contempt and courage.
#18
Today I learned that in Central Europe there are hunger stones (hungerstein), in river beds stones were marked with an inscription, visible only when the flow was low enough to warn of a drought that would cause famine.
#19
TIL of 'Denny', the only known individual whose parents were two different species of human. She lived ninety thousand years ago in central Asia, where a fragment of her bone was found in 2012. Her mother was a Neanderthal and her father was a Denisovan.
iseefractals 2 years ago
But....Neanderthals' and Homosapiens are different "species", and the remains of a child born of their intermingling was found in 2013....but we already knew that it happened since humans alive...right now...continue to carry on neanderthal DNA. Denisovan's, Neanderthals' and Homosapiens are all variants of human....hence why they can breed.
#20
TIL that in New Jersey, it is illegal for criminals to wear a bulletproof vest while committing a crime
#21
TIL that using recycled glass to make new glass requires 40% less energy than making it from all new materials. It saves energy because crushed glass melts at a lower temp than the raw materials. Glass is sometimes recycled into "glassphault" or is used as a landfill covering over waste materials.
kim morris 2 years ago
Glass and aluminum are the most cost and energy efficient recyclables. Just straight up melt, pour into new product. No modifying necessary.
#22
TIL Ronald Reagan started eating Jelly Belly's to quit smoking and kept it up so much that during his terms as President he would have more than 300 thousand jelly beans shipped to the White House each month
#23
TIL after tigers escaped from a zoo in Georgia and killed a man, advice was issued on what to do if you meet a tiger, including: don’t approach it, don’t run away, and don’t urinate
#24
TIL that Ben Franklin's invention of the lightning rod was blamed by church leaders for the 1755 Cape Ann earthquake off the coast of Colonial Massachusetts — as his "heretical rods" interfered with the "artillery of Heaven" & deprived God of using lightning as "tokens of His displeasure."
#25
TIL Tasmanian Devils bear up to 50 babies, but only have four nipples. The first four babies that successfully make it from the birth canal into the pouch stand a chance of surviving, while the rest die and are eaten by the mother.
#26
TIL a "Chernobyl necklace" is a horizontal scar at the base of the throat from surgery to remove thyroid cancer caused by fallout from a nuclear accident
#27
TIL in 2013 in Florida, a sink hole unexpectedly opened up beneath a sleeping man’s bedroom and swallowed him whole. He is presumed dead.
#28
TIL that maggot therapy is an FDA approved treatment option for ulcers and wounds to promote healing. Live maggots are placed at the site of injury and eat the necrotic tissue, while also secreting anti-microbial chemicals.
#29
TIL that due to ADA standards, elevators going up ding once and elevators going down ding twice to help those with disabilities
#30
TIL actor Matt Doherty, who played Les Averman in the Mighty Ducks films, didn't know how to skate or play hockey at all when he was cast in the first movie. By the time they shot the 3rd movie, he was captain of his high school hockey team and had been offered a scholarship to play in college.
#31
TIL animal “zoomies” have a technical name: Frenetic Random Activity Periods, or “FRAPs”
#32
TIL about the 1936 presidential election in which Roosevelt received 98.49% of the electoral vote total, which remains the highest percentage of the electoral vote won by any candidate since 1820.
Pirates of Zen Pants 2 years ago
He was elected four times, but died in office. He was also paralyzed from the waist down due to polio. He made an effort to hide this from the public, because he was concerned that people wouldn't vote for him if they knew about it.
#33
TIL in 2018, a 34-year-old man blew a hole in his throat by holding his nose and closing his mouth while sneezing. The expulsion of air from a sneeze can propel mucous droplets at a rate of 100 mph. He was given antibiotics and put on a feeding tube for 7 days and recovered with no permanent damage.
Pirates of Zen Pants 2 years ago
I'm pretty sure I sat next to this guy on a train five months into the Covid pandemic.
#34
TIL the first victim of the Chernobyl disaster was Valery Khodemchuk who died as the reactor exploded, his body was never found and is entombed in the wreckage of the Chernobyl power plant
#35
TIL that there's something called the "preparedness paradox." Preparation for a danger (an epidemic, natural disaster, etc.) can keep people from being harmed by that danger. Since people didn't see negative consequences from the danger, they wrongly conclude that the danger wasn't bad to start with
#36
Til wolverine was created because Marvel's then editor in chief Roy Thomas wanted a Canadian hero to boost north-of-the-border sales
Benita Valdez 2 years ago
TIL wolverine is Canadian. Perhaps I knew and forgot but you never think about where some characters come from sometimes
#37
TIL that the Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft has a replica of Nábrók (or necropants), a pair of pants made from the skin of a dead man or woman, which are believed in Icelandic witchcraft to be capable of producing an endless supply of money.
#38
TIL of the museum infested with the Chilean Recluse spider (Loxosceles laeta), widely considered to be the most venomous of its kind. The museum, Finnish Museum of Natural History, is located in Helsinki & no one is sure how the spider, native to South & Central America, came into the museum.
Pirates of Zen Pants 2 years ago
This sounds like a Scooby-Doo episode where the whole thing could have been a successful real estate scam if it weren't for you meddling kids.
#39
TIL in 1994, the family of 13-year-old Chris Kirkland made a bet that one day their son would play for Team England, with a bookie giving them 100-1 odds. The bet paid off in 2006, when the goalkeeper played for England in a match against Greece, with the family making £10,000
#40
TIL of Puppy Pregnancy Syndrome, a psychosomatic illness found only in parts of India, where individuals who have been bitten by a dog believe that a puppy is conceived in their abdomen. Sufferers often report seeing the puppy in their reflection, or hearing it growl in their belly.
Jing Yi Xu 2 years ago
Interesting. It has been proven again and again that society actuqlly influences the symptoms of certain mental illnesses and delusions. Schizophrenic sufferers in the 50s act very differently than schizophrenic sufferers today, and so on. One group is much quieter than the other, amongst other things, I forgot unfortunately but it's very interesting
#41
TIL that during World War One up to 12 million letters a week were delivered to soldiers, many on the front line
#42
TIL before Shazam was an app, it was a telephone service which you could call to identify a song. The caller would then get a text message with the song details.
Upsidedowndemoness 2 years ago
I just found out Shazam existed and am heading to the app store...my memory for songs gets worse every year.
#43
TIL in 1972, diver Bret Gilliam survived a 325+ ft ascent, with an empty oxygen tank, after trying to save a colleague from attacking sharks.
#44
TIL that the video for Weird Al's "Smells like Nirvana" was shot in the same sound stage as the clip for Smells like teen spirit and also used most of the extras from the original, including the janitor that's featured in various scenes.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
Weird Al always tries for authenticity. He used Jeopardy's original host and announcer for "I Lost on Jeopardy". The lead guitar player on his satire of "Money For Nothing" was the lead guitar player on "Money For Nothing".
#46
TIL House Termites did make it over to England, but a 27 year government funded programme eradicated them in 2021.
Leigh Baker 2 years ago
What a relief. Can’t imagine those beautiful old English houses taken down by termites. Talk about a wise use of money and effort!
#47
TIL that there are only 20 ancient lakes (defined as carrying water for more than a million years) in the world, with only 3 in North America (Tahoe, Tule, Pingualuk). Nearly all are tectonic (i.e. rift zones) in origin, however 2 are from meteorite craters (Pingualuk in Canada, Bosumtwi in Ghana)
#48
TIL It took 20,000 hours of underwater repairs but the United States managed to refloat a majority of the battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor. Recovered ships including the USS West Virginia, USS California, USS Tennessee, USS Maryland, and USS Pennsylvania all fought in the Philippines.
Leigh Baker 2 years ago
20,000 hours sounds like a bargain compared to the replacement of those ships.
#49
TIL about Project Possible, Nimsdai Purja climbed the 14 mountains that are above 8,000 meters in just Six months.They told Nims his project was simply impossible. So he called it Project Possible. While climbing Kanchenjunga he was partying the night before and was hungover during the climb.
Norah Reilly 2 years ago
When you know what you're capable of it doesn't matter what anyone else may say.
#50
TIL that in 1933, yo-yos were banned in Syria, because many locals superstitiously blamed the use of them for a severe drought.
What do you think ?
A Lad 2 years ago
this style crawled out of. Many people answering this question often say “Well, maybe they’re German.” Because Germans capitalize every noun. No no. These are English speakers. They, for some strange reason, just type in the most asinine way. I have the same issue with those who comment on my artwork. One egregious person particularly. Even after I told him not to. And this person is not German, is not an ESL. They are American. Which means they had an American education, went to an American school, and was taught American English. And in American English, we do not capitalize first letter of every single word. Not even in book titling is every word capitalized. But for some strange reason, these idiots want to go out of their way to capitalize every single word, which makes what they are typing difficult to read. And yes, typing this way is also very difficult as it requires you to hold down the shift key for the first letter of every word. This Is Not How You Type!” And
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A Lad 2 years ago
this style crawled out of. Many people answering this question often say “Well, maybe they’re German.” Because Germans capitalize every noun. No no. These are English speakers. They, for some strange reason, just type in the most asinine way. I have the same issue with those who comment on my artwork. One egregious person particularly. Even after I told him not to. And this person is not German, is not an ESL. They are American. Which means they had an American education, went to an American school, and was taught American English. And in American English, we do not capitalize first letter of every single word. Not even in book titling is every word capitalized. But for some strange reason, these idiots want to go out of their way to capitalize every single word, which makes what they are typing difficult to read. And yes, typing this way is also very difficult as it requires you to hold down the shift key for the first letter of every word. This Is Not How You Type!” And
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