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Learning new things is important if we want to live a long and fulfilling life. Acquiring new skills and performing activities such as puzzles and other brain games strengthens our neurological pathways and makes our brains age slower, helps prevent memory loss, and generally maintains our brain's health.
We here at Bored Panda are huge proponents of lifelong learning. That's why we've gathered another collection of the most interesting and weird fun facts from the TIL community on Reddit. So, sink your curious teeth into these little nuggets of information that over 39M people on the subreddit deemed worthy for you to see.
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#1
TIL Using machine learning, researchers have been able to decode what fruit bats are saying--surprisingly, they mostly argue with one another.
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#2
TIL that legal poppy farmers in Tasmania couldn't figure out why they kept getting crop circles until it was revealed wallabies were breaking in to eat the bulbs to get high then running around in circles trampling the flowers.
#3
TIL in 2012 an 11-yr-old boy disappeared while shopping with his mom & then made his way to an airport. After he passed 5 security checks without a passport or boarding pass by tagging along with a family, he was able to board a flight from Manchester to Rome alone. He was discovered after takeoff.
Sir Richard Fiddler The LXIXth 8 hours ago
Aww, who's my little terrorist and outlaw. They blow up so fast
The members of the TIL community dish out cool and interesting facts daily, so let's take a more comprehensive look at some of them, shall we?
An intriguing fact about the declining fertility in America, as shared by user u/Plupsnup, has a surprising upside. The most obvious reason people think birth rates have stagnated stems from the fact that people just don't want to have kids anymore or postpone it to later in life.
More and more women are choosing to establish themselves in their careers first and then having children. However, the fact is that America also has way fewer teen moms than it had in the 1990s. The Economist reports that this trend is visible elsewhere, too: in Britain and the EU, teen pregnancy rates have fallen by 69% and 58%, respectively.
#4
TIL that more than half the drop in America’s total fertility rate is explained by women under the age of 19 now having next to no children.
#5
TIL that after Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo won double gold at the Paris Olympics his gifts included a fully furnished three-bedroom home worth US$552,802, a lifetime supplies of free buffets, a lifetime supply of phone cases and free endoscopic procedures for when he turned 45.
#6
TIL of Masabumi Hosono, who was the only Japanese passenger on the Titanic. While he survived, he was severely condemned in the United States and Japan. His account of the sinking of Titanic remains the only document to be written on Titanic stationery.
The story of Masabumi Hosoto, the only Japanese Titanic survivor, is a fascinating one. Interestingly, Japan didn't celebrate his survival, as the local media condemned him for not complying with the "women and children first" rule. The Japanese praised those who perished heroically and criticized people like Hosoto, who, in their eyes, chose to live cowardly.
The poor man even lost his job and only found part-time work for the rest of his life. He lived as a recluse and in quiet shame and didn't want anyone to even mention the Titanic in his home. After his passing, evidence came out that he actually helped row the lifeboats and saved fellow passengers, restoring his good name.
#7
TIL in the 1990s a man gained an edge on a Spanish casino by recording roulette wheel results & analyzing them with a computer. He was able to predict certain numbers were more likely to hit next. After he won €600K, a legal case against him was unsuccessful; it ruled the casino should fix its wheel.
#8
TIL Greenland is portrayed about 14x larger than its actual size on most maps.
#9
TIL that in 2002, two planes crashed into each other above a German town due to erroneous air traffic instructions, killing all passengers and crew. Then in 2004, a man who'd lost his family in the accident went to the home of the responsible air traffic controller and stabbed him to death.
AtMostAFabulist 7 hours ago
I saw this on Air Disasters. I think he was the one to find his daughter (?) Very sad.
If you've ever looked at the Japanese flag and thought it looked a little bit off-center, you might've been right. As the user u/QuietGanache pointed out, the sun symbol wasn't at the exact center until 1999, when the country officially adopted its flag and anthem.
But what's more interesting is that many deem the other variant of the rising sun flag with a red disc and 16 rays coming from it controversial. They associate the flag with Japan's wartime atrocities and imperialist tendencies. Some countries, like South Korea, even asked the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers to ban it.
#10
TIL A restaurant in Long Beach, CA, was found to be serving Popeye's chicken and passing it off as their own. They would buy the chicken at Popeyes and upcharge for their own chicken and waffles dish. Once found out the owner refused to apologize.
Nils Skirnir 8 hours ago
I have heard of many places doing similar with Costco rotisserie chickens , but don’t have any links,
#11
TIL in N**i Germany, “whisper jokes” (Flüsterwitze) served as a means for citizens to express dissent & critique the regime. One joke involved Hitler visiting an asylum where patients greeted him “Heil Hitler!” except one man. When questioned, he said, “I’m not crazy; I am the head of the ward.”
#12
TIL in 1978, a researcher played a deceased elephant’s calls from a hidden speaker. Her family responded by frantically searching and calling out for her, with the daughter continuing for days. Moved by their grief, the researcher decided never to repeat the experiment.
Only the best of the best should attend the world's best universities. However, Stanford University apparently rejected 69% of applicants with a perfect SAT score from 2008 to 2013. Why? As the university explains, academic excellence isn't the only component in the admissions process. They have a complicated and rigorous admissions process and look for "intellectual vitality" and not just academic credentials. The then-dean of admissions Richard Shaw simply said: "There is no formula."
#13
TIL of shell cordovan, a rare "leather" that isn't made from animal skin, but connective tissue from a horse's buttocks. Shoes made from them are waterproof, don't crease, don't require polishing, and can last indefinitely. Only two major tanneries make them.
#14
TIL Lou Pai, one of Enron executives, resigned and sold his shares for $250 million to get divorced and marry a stripper. The company collapsed few months later.
#15
TIL that not only do the terms 'glass ceiling' and 'glass escalator' exist, but also 'glass cliff', describing the tendency for companies to appoint women to leadership positions during times of crisis, when the likelihood of failure is highest.
How many times have you tried to decode what your dog or cat is telling you? Well, researchers finally decoded what Egyptian fruit bats are talking about with each other. Neuroecologist Yossi Yovel and his team recorded their calls and grouped them into four categories. The bats argued about food and their positions in the sleeping cluster. It was noted that there were different sounds for males making unwanted mating advances, which were distinct from sounds "telling" one bat to another that they were sitting too close.
#16
TIL about ELIZA, a 1960s chatbot created by MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum that simulated a psychotherapist. It was so convincing that some users, including Weizenbaum's secretary, became emotionally attached to it. In 2023, ELIZA even outperformed GPT-3.5 in a Turing test study.
#17
TIL that in 2007 on a trip to Paris, Prince Harry had his driver go through the same tunnel his mother Princess Diana died in at the same speed her car was going at the time, in an attempt to find closure for her death. He described the attempt as ill-conceived, saying it only brought him more pain.
Colin Matthews 9 hours ago (edited)
Hmm I doubt this happened. Drivers are part of the security detail and not "under orders" . I cannot conceive of a driver willing to do this. That said most of the reason Diana died was her driver was drunk and she WASNT wearing a seat belt. Sad but true
#18
TIL that Woodrow Wilson is the only president of the United States to have earned a Ph.D.
Greenland has once again been in the press these past weeks because of someone's pretty questionable political rhetoric. However, as Reddit user u/ToodlesMcDoozle pointed out, it appears almost 14 times larger in maps than it actually is. That's due to Mercator projection, which tends to stretch out countries towards the poles. In reality, Greenland is roughly the size of The Democratic Republic of Kongo.
#19
TIL Stanford University rejected 69% of the applicants with a perfect SAT score between 2008-2013.
#20
TIL Judy Garland was very close with the dog who played Toto, even letting the pup stay at her house while healing from an on-set accident. She attempted to purchase Toto but the owner wouldn’t sell.
#21
TIL after a local article highlighted the lavish lifestyle of Alan Ralsky in 2003 (known as the "spam king" for sending millions of bulk email solicitations), critics found his physical address & signed him up for so much junk mail that, at the peak, hundreds of pounds of it were delivered each day.
User u/Blackraven2007 shared that Woodrow Wilson was the only U.S. president with a Ph.D. Interestingly, some U.S. presidents didn't attend college at all. They were mostly the early presidents, including George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, and Harry S. Truman.
#22
TIL about "Nobel Disease", a tendency for some Nobel Prize winners to adopt unfounded, pseudoscientific beliefs, often outside their areas of expertise.
#23
TIL that Pandora didn't open a box - she opened a jar. (Pithos - the word in Greek for the thing she opened - is a large ceramic jar the size of a person.)
#24
TIL several MTV Cribs episodes faked lavish celebrity lifestyles. Robbie Williams rented Jane Seymour’s house, 50 Cent borrowed Ferraris, and Kim Kardashian filmed at her mom’s place. Ja Rule’s episode led to a lawsuit after the real homeowner claimed unauthorized filming and property damage.
Many restaurant owners think of getting a Michelin star as a major achievement. But, apparently, it can be more of a curse, as 40% of Michelin-awarded restaurants closed by the end of 2019. Daniel B. Sands of University College London, who examined this phenomenon, said that it depends on how restaurants respond to such third-party rankings. "If there are positive effects—capture value from them. And if there are negative effects or potential negative consequences, [be sure] that you're able to mitigate them."
#25
TIL Presiden Lyndon B. Johnson called his big johnson “Jumbo” and would show it to journalists and members of congress to show he was bigger than them. He also peed on a Secret Service agent just to prove he could get away with it.
#26
TIL when Jimi Hendrix’s mom died (when Jimmy was 16) his dad did not allow him and his brother to go to the funeral, instead giving them shots of whiskey and telling them that was how men should deal with loss.
#27
TIL,world's oldest emergency call service was started after a neighbour who wanted to report a house fire in Wimpole street telephoned the fire brigade and was so outraged at being held in a queue by the telephone exchange that he wrote a letter to the editor of The Times,which prompted an enquiry.
Crop circles inspire many conspiracy theories, but who would've thought that they're the result of s****d wallabies running around? Interestingly, people have reported seeing sheep walk around in circles as well after they've accidentally eaten poppies. And here's another fun fact about these mini kangaroos: although they are super cute, they are considered invasive pests in New Zealand, and the Department of Conservation is working hard to eradicate them.
#28
TIL that 1 in 20 people who take commercial DNA tests like those offered by ancestry.com discover that one of the people they thought was their biological parent is actually not their biological parent.
#29
TIL: Sally Hemings was 16 years old when she gave birth to her first child with 51 year old Thomas Jefferson.
#30
TIL The Solar System is surrounded by colossal spherical shell of trillions of icy objects called the Oort Cloud.
ImaScratMan 8 hours ago
This isn't really an obscure fact. Depending on the age of OP that learned this for the first time, I'd assume they don't tend to read a lot of space related articles or watch scientifi/space TV shows. I've come across information about the Oort cloud many times just perusing random articles about the solar system and on YT channels. Point being...was this person living under a giant icy space rock?
Well, that's it for this iteration of interesting and fun facts, Pandas. Which ones intrigued you the most? Tell us in the comments! And if you have a fun fact of your own or know more interesting info about one from our list, share your knowledge with us below. And if you're looking for more weird and cool facts, head over here, here, or here!
#31
TIL that Stephen Hawking lived longer after diagnosis (55 years) than any other known individual with ALS.
#32
TIL The U.S. Navy estimates that heavy barnacle growth on ships increases weight and drag by as much as 60 percent, resulting in as much as a 40 percent increase in fuel consumption.
#33
TIL there is no evidence that Victorian doctors gave women orgasms to cure hysteria or that they invented the vibrator to help with this task.
#34
TIL After becoming deaf, Beethoven found that by connecting a metal rod to a piano and biting it, he could sense the instruments vibrations through his jawbone, enabling him to 'hear' his music.
Annik Perrot 29 minutes ago
"Beethoven was so deaf that all his life, he believed he was a painter." Pierre Dac, French humorist.
#35
TIL a man was sentenced to two years in jail after being caught cheating at poker by wearing infrared contact lenses that enabled him to see cards that were premarked with invisible ink. Security noticed his $95K winning streak because he twice folded hands that suggested he knew the d****r's cards.
#36
TIL that New York restaurants that opened between 2000 and 2014, and earned a Michelin star, were more likely to close than those that didn't earn one. By the end of 2019, 40% of the restaurants awarded Michelin stars had closed.
#37
TIL of Kyle Plush, a 16 year-old teen who died a slow death while being crushed by the third-row seat of a Honda Odyssey. While in that position, he managed to call 911 twice using SIRI, but emergency dispatchers couldn't locate him, and he was found dead by his dad 6 hours later.
Scribbles & Scares 9 hours ago
Is this the young lad who fell/got stuck upside down trying to retrieve something in the back of the car? So heartbreaking for his family, such a freak accident
#38
TIL your metabolism doesn’t really slow down until after age 60.
#39
TIL the Eiffel Tower was repainted for the Paris Olympics. It cost an estimated $60 million dollars. 25 painters a day for 18 months straight. It’s the 20th time it’s been repainted.
#40
TIL: The father of Thomas Jefferson's enslaved concubine, Sally, was also the father to Jefferson's wife, Martha.
Jeremy Klaxon 7 hours ago
In other words, his wife and concubine were sisters, or half-sisters
#41
TIL the reason many naval mines have spikes on them is because each spike contains a glass vial of battery acid. When shattered, the battery acid then energizes a lead-acid battery (which doesn't have acid inside), which then powers the detonator.
#42
TIL that after astronauts arrive in space they lose their sense of smell. As a result, they end up craving foods that have spicy, sweet and/or sour flavours.
#43
TIL that, until 1999, the disc on the Japanese flag was shifted 1% off-centre to the left.
#44
TIL Tania Head faked being a 9/11 survivor and led a survivors' group. She also faked her s**cide after getting caught.
#45
TIL James Madison wrote Washington’s 1st inaugural address, then he wrote Congress’s response to that address, and then he wrote Washington’s reply to the response.
Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het 2 hours ago
And now he plays for Tottenham. Incredible!
#46
TIL: Gary Dahl, who invented the pet rock in 1975 came up with the idea at a bar with friends as a joke. He later began selling rocks. Within 2 months he was selling 10k rocks a day within half a year he was a millionaire. His later ideas of "Sand Breeding Kits" and "Red China Dirt" failed.
#47
TIL: John Paul Scott is the only inmate from Alcatraz to escape the prison by swimming all the way to San Francisco. However, he was found unconscious by teenagers beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and recaptured. It was thought impossible due to sharks, cold water, sharp rocks, and distance.
#48
TIL During one battle, George Washington had two horses shot out from under him and four bullet holes shot through his coat. He walked away without a single injury.
#49
TIL in 2016, a man who had been stalking “iCarly” actress Miranda Cosgrove shot at a woman in a car near Cosgrove's home before lighting himself on fire and fatally shooting himself in Cosgrove's yard. Two years prior, she was granted a restraining order against a different stalker.
#50
TIL of room 641A- a secret room in an AT&T building that held secret equipment used to spy on citizens.
#51
TIL that serial killer Richard Ramirez was out of state when his identity was publicly revealed and published by the news. Not knowing that he was now wanted, he was beaten by an angry mob once he returned to LA.
#52
TIL that Edgar Allan Poe wrote his first detective stories after trying to debunk a famous chess-playing "robot" called The Mechanical Turk in 1836. Poe asserted that a mechanical chess player would play perfectly, but noticed that the Turk occasionally erred, and therefore suspected its creation.
Cindy Brick 7 hours ago
Missed the whole point here! The Mechanical Turk had a real person inside, calling the shots. https://www.chess.com/news/view/play-chess-against-the-mechanical-turk
#53
TIL Cockroach farming in China is a growing industry, with millions of insects raised for food, animal feed, and pharmaceuticals.
#54
TIL Henry V, while still prince, was hit by an arrow near his left nostril during the Battle of Shrewsbury. The arrow shaft broke leaving the arrow point buried six inches deep in his head. Court surgeon John Bradmore devised a special tool to extract the arrow point and saved the prince's life.
#55
TIL researchers have observed that every culture has a word for black and white. When a culture has a third word for a color, it is always red. If it has a fourth word, it is either yellow or green.
#56
TIL the conquest of the Aztec Empire by the Spanish was only possible because of support from the Tlaxcaltecs, Totonac, and other native peoples.
#57
TIL the average high-school graduate will earn about $1 million less over their lifetime than the average four-year-college graduate.
#58
TIL that in Roman legions, the legion's banker also had the dangerous responsibility of being the standard bearer on the battlefield.
#59
TIL 46 BC was 445 days long and is the longest year in human history.
Ty Stratton-Quirk 8 hours ago
I guarantee that this year and the following three will seem just as long.
#60
TIL: In March 2000, MicroStrategy announced that it had significantly overstated its revenue, causing a 62% stock drop in one day, in what is regarded as the bursting of the dot-com bubble.
ImaScratMan 7 hours ago
Now Microstrategy is back on top worth billions. I bought MSTR stock when it tanked during the pandemic and to date it's increased in value by over 1000%. I don't know a lot about stocks, will likely never yield such an opportunity like this again abs I wish that I had more funds to purchase more back then.
#61
TIL that until the late nineteenth century, approximately half of all humans born died from infections before the age of fifteen.
Spidercat 5 hours ago
Mmmm... essentially this is what nature intended. The population of Earth was a steady 1 Billion until the invention of antibiotics. Now we are facing overpopulation and a fight for resources. The idea that all human life should be preserved at all costs is derived from the Abrahamic religions. The Romans didn't even have a crime of murder. People got killed. Move on.
#62
TIL that the 1963 movie Charade starring Audrey Hepburn, immediately entered the public domain upon release because Universal failed to properly display the copyright notice. The film notice omitted the word 'Copyright', 'Copr.', and the symbol '©'.
#63
TIL Cathode-ray tubes, the technology behind old TVs and monitors, were in fact particle accelerators that beamed electrons into screens to generate light and then images.
Thom Randolph 7 hours ago
the tv-radiation link was thoroughly debunked in the late 60s. The intensity of the electromagnetic field isn't strong enough to generate x-rays, which was their primary concern. If anything, the worst part would be if the TV case/console were opened and you touched the anode wire, which was typically at about 20-24 thousand volts!
#64
TIL “most stars we see in the night sky have already died” is a popular myth. In fact, nearly all stars we see in the night sky are alive and well.
#65
TIL Rudy Kurniawan sold an estimated $150 million worth of fraudulent wine between 2002-2012, which he produced himself in his California home. His scheme started to unravel when wine producer Domaine Ponsot caught him selling Ponsot wines that were never made. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Fellfromthemoon 1 hour ago
Can you counterfeit a nonexistent product? /jk, I understand that Rudy abused the trust earned by Ponsot.
#67
TIL that Mussolini's regime used castor oil as a form of torture, forcing victims to drink large amounts, causing severe diarrhea, dehydration, and humiliation.
#68
TIL there were different variations of The Simpsons opening theme because starting with season 2 they made 3 versions: the full 1-minute-15-second-long version, a 45-second and a 25-second. This gave editors a little extra flexibility to pad shorter episodes or add as much footage as possible.
Deta Rossiter 8 hours ago
I thought this was obvious, you know if you have the long intro, you have a short episode, and if you have a short into, you have a long episode
#69
TIL about a 1986 arcade game called Chiller in which the player uses a light gun to activate torture devices to maim and kill restrained characters who are incapable of fighting back. It was a commercial failure in the United States because arcade owners refused to purchase it due to the content.
#70
TIL due to decreased air pressure on airplane cabins you are more prone to fart on an airplane.
#71
TIL that although The Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed over 80% of the city - only six deaths were officially recorded.
#72
TIL: Walking Corpse Syndrome is a mental disorder where the person thinks they are dead, do not exist, or exist without organs or blood. Denial of self existence is present in about half of cases, while the other half think they’re immortal.
#73
TIL: After Hurricane Katrina, the first strip reopened after only 3 weeks to entertain first responders and waved the cover charge. The manager said reopening was a public service. Drinks were $3 and a lap dance was $1.
#74
TIL that despite being a NATO member, Iceland has not had a standing army since 1869. They have had a defense agreement with the United States since 1951, though the US has not had soldiers stationed there since 2006, and they have defense agreements with other NATO countries.
#75
TIL With the outbreak of the French Revolution, many chefs working for the aristocracy found themselves out of work. Those who escaped the guillotine opened their own restaurants, popularizing them over traditional food establishments like taverns and inns.
#76
TIL Japan’s “proof of parking” rule is a regulation requiring car owners to provide proof of a designated parking space before registering or purchasing a car.
#77
TIL Thomas Jefferson included a passage attacking slavery in the Declaration of Independence, but South Carolina, Georgia, and Northern delegates who represented merchants who were actively involved in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade blocked it.
#78
TIL: There was a former warlord and cannibal, now preacher known as General Butt Naked. He led the Naked Base Commandos, comprised of child soldiers, to commit child sacrifices and cannibalism in war. He admitted to killing at least 20k, but was not prosecuted. He now assists former child soldiers.
#79
TIL about Sweating Sickness, a virus in 1500s Europe that’s since vanished. Death could occur within hours of the first symptoms.
Scribbles & Scares 9 hours ago
Not technically true - nobody knows what the cause of it was 100%. It may have even been a collection of different illnesses and effects of poison all blamed on the same thing. Most believe it was a type of hantavirus possibly spread by rat droppings though. Here's a great article that gives a bit of an introduction: https://theconversation.com/what-was-sweating-sickness-the-mysterious-tudor-plague-of-wolf-hall-37194
#80
TIL The 1964 Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer TV special is in a grey area of copyright due to the fact that the studio mistakenly spelled out the copyright date as 1164 in roman numerals and haven't corrected it since.
#81
TIL Paul Bettany was in blue makeup for many scenes in WandaVision because red makeup appeared too dark in black and white.
#82
TIL that Yemenis spend an estimated 14.6 million man-hours per day chewing khat.
#83
TIL: Fourteen children have suffocated to death inside cedar chests between 1977 and 2015. In 1996, The Lane Company recalled 12 million cedar chests with latches that automatically locked the lid when it was closed.
#84
TIL In 2020, the wine market was expected to be worth $418 billion with experts estimating that around 20% of all the wines sold around the world are counterfeit.
#85
TIL that Ancient Greeks and Romans purchased the sweat and body grime of famous athletes and champions in the hope of absorbing the strength and health associated with their idols.
#86
TIL By law, each person in Switzerland is entitled to a place of shelter underground.
#87
TIL that Robert E Lee’s prewar family home, the Custis-Lee Mansion, was seized by Union forces during the Civil War and turned into Arlington National Cemetery. His family was not compensated until more than a decade after his death.
#88
Today I learned that Goku from the anime Dragon Ball has been voiced by the same voice actress, Masako Nozawa, since the first show started in 1986. She has voiced him in all the tv shows, video games and movies and also voices his sons. She is currently 88.
#89
TIL that the PNG format was developed because the GIF compression algorithm (LZW) was patented by Unisys, which required a usage fee. The patent expired in 2003 in the USA and in 2004 in Europe.
#91
TIL The Boston Globe was bought by the New York Times in 1993 for $1.1 billion, one of the most expensive print purchases in history, then was sold for $70 million in 2013 to the Red Sox/Liverpool owner. It lost 90% of its value in 20 years.
#92
TIL Jaleel White only auditioned for the role of Steve Urkel so he could buy a Sega Genesis.
#93
TIL that since 1967, every temporary transfer of power from a US president to the vice president under the 25th Amendment was due to the president's colon treatment.
#94
TIL about Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a woman misidentified as ‘Tokyo Rose’ and the only American citizen to be convicted of and pardoned for the crime of treason against the United States of America.
#95
TIL: in 2014, physicists were hired to calculate what a black hole would actually look like to the human eye for the movie Interstellar.
#97
TIL Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin invented the beverage cart after refusing to play without cocktails.
Cindy Brick 6 hours ago
Uh huh... sure. We're supposed to believe that carts like this weren't used before??
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