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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.
RELATED:
#2
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.
#3
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.
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.
Nils Skirnir 2 days ago
Yeah but the Republicans hate it. Fewer servants.
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Kirsten Kerkhof 2 days ago
So in the past the US depended on teen mothers for population growth. Major ick.
ॐBoyGanesh 1 day ago (edited)
No, because the population growth is so high it depended on teen mothers for that quantity. Without teen pregnancy, there is still growth. Until 2030, when the amount of people dying from lack of healthcare access will level out with the growth in population.
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SlothyK8 1 day ago
The rules for when women should have children, as furnished by men, are stupid. An acquaintance of mine has been harping for MONTHS about how his adult children need to start having children now that they a) own a home, b) have worked in their field for a while, etc. The kids don't WANT children, but their old yt man father insists on telling them when to do it anyway.
Fat Harry (Oi / You) 1 day ago
Change from when? The 1950s or the 2010s? Or last year? Context is important.
Socks Thecate 1 day ago
Likely more easily done when the father having a factory job without college degree would get them a home. That scenario can't happen anymore.
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Regina Holt 17 hours ago
And here in 'murica, we have the governor of the state of Missouri complaining there are not enough teen pregnancies. https://missouriindependent.com/2024/10/22/missouri-mifepristone-lawsuit-andrew-bailey-teen-pregnancy/
Janelle Collard 1 day ago
They've seen the new America + it doesn't look good to them. *cough!* birth control, women's health, etc.
#5
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.
#6
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.
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 that Stephen Hawking lived longer after diagnosis (55 years) than any other known individual with ALS.
#8
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 2 days ago
Aww, who's my little terrorist and outlaw. They blow up so fast
#9
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.
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 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.
#11
TIL that Woodrow Wilson is the only president of the United States to have earned a Ph.D.
#12
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 2 days ago
I saw this on Air Disasters. I think he was the one to find his daughter (?) Very sad.
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 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.
#14
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.
#15
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.)
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 Greenland is portrayed about 14x larger than its actual size on most maps.
#17
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.
#18
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.
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 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.”
#20
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 1 day ago
And now he plays for Tottenham. Incredible!
#21
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.
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 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 2 days ago
I have heard of many places doing similar with Costco rotisserie chickens , but don’t have any links,
#23
TIL: Sally Hemings was 16 years old when she gave birth to her first child with 51 year old Thomas Jefferson.
Dusty's mom 1 day ago
She was a half sister to Jefferson's wife, and his slave. It was so dreadfully wrong. People can do great things and still be despicable people.
#24
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.
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 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.
#26
TIL Stanford University rejected 69% of the applicants with a perfect SAT score between 2008-2013.
#27
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 2 days 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
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 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.
#30
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 2 days 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
Note: this post originally had 97 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
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!
What do you think ?
UncleJohn3000 1 day ago (edited)
There have been so many bad lists lately that it's hard to trust them anymore. Since you're already copy and pasting these 'facts,' it shouldn't be too much trouble to paste them into Google to check them while building a list.
UncleJohn3000 1 day ago (edited)
There have been so many bad lists lately that it's hard to trust them anymore. Since you're already copy and pasting these 'facts,' it shouldn't be too much trouble to paste them into Google to check them while building a list.
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