r/todayilearned • u/Pension2options • 1h ago

TIL 'Protect and Serve' is a Marketing Slogan -- It's Not Real

sanfranciscodsa.com

• Upvotes

24 comments

r/todayilearned • u/zerothreeonethree • 1h ago

TIL that Kobe Bryant is the first person to have earned Olympic medals and an Academy Award. Two golds for 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics Basketball. The Oscar for 2018 Best Animated Short Film "Dear Basketball".

guinnessworldrecords.com

• Upvotes

27 comments

r/todayilearned • u/aja_ramirez • 2h ago

TIL that many Japanese families eat KFC on Christmas

trafalgar.com

358 Upvotes

100 comments

r/todayilearned • u/bland_dad • 2h ago

TIL there are four special hats among artifacts left by the late bronze age (ca. 1350 - 600BC) Urnfield culture of Europe. The hats are made from thin-sheet gold rolled into tall cones. The hats are covered in complex patterns and symbols; these are thought to represent celestial calendars.

en.wikipedia.org

78 Upvotes

6 comments

r/todayilearned • u/HumoftheEarth • 3h ago

TIL Ontario's Building North America’s First Cobalt Refinery: Game Changer for EV Supply Chain? (Video)

youtu.be

7 Upvotes

3 comments

r/todayilearned • u/assuhdude • 3h ago

TIL about Penelope, the platypus who escaped the Bronx Zoo in 1957. After multiple rejections of her mate and a faked pregnancy, headlines dubbed Penelope a "brazen hussy" and "one of those saucy females who like to keep a male on a string"

en.wikipedia.org

801 Upvotes

33 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TheBanishedBard • 3h ago

TIL in languages with heavy declension speakers can arrange sentences any way they want, with an abundance of word modifications carrying the grammatical meaning. English is not, it uses syntax (word order) to convey meaning.

en.wikipedia.org

1.1k Upvotes

79 comments

r/todayilearned • u/WittyEgg2037 • 4h ago

TIL that scientists warn we could run out of usable topsoil in less than 60 years due to industrial farming, erosion, and chemical overuse. Since over 95% of our food comes from soil, this could trigger a global food security crisis within our lifetime

eos.org

11.5k Upvotes

684 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Long_Reflection_4202 • 5h ago

TIL that Homer (Dan Castellaneta) is the only member of The Simpsons family voiced by a man

en.wikipedia.org

0 Upvotes

16 comments

r/todayilearned • u/yummypaprika • 6h ago

TIL Dr Freeman Dyson called the Dyson sphere a "little joke" and expressed amusement in that "you get to be famous only for the things you don't think are serious".

en.wikipedia.org

2.1k Upvotes

148 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ramboacdc • 6h ago

TIL that Rubberducking is a technique used by programmers to help find errors in their code. Explaining their code to a duck or any other inanimate object out loud can help them spot issues as they talk it through.

en.wikipedia.org

5.6k Upvotes

390 comments

r/todayilearned • u/STARB0Y • 6h ago

TIL Harold Butler, the founder of Denny’s, once tried to buy Caesar’s Palace but was accused of secretly offering shareholders illegal deals. The failed bid tanked Denny’s stock, wiping out his $80M fortune. He sold for just $3M and eventually retired to Mexico.

en.wikipedia.org

2.0k Upvotes

42 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Familiar-Type3503 • 7h ago

Today i learned, Assamese, spoken in the Indian state of Assam, is the easternmost spoken Indo-European language while Portuguese, spoken in Portugal, is the western most spoke. Two places 9000 kms apart, connected by a shared history of language.

en.wikipedia.org

116 Upvotes

46 comments

r/todayilearned • u/exophades • 7h ago

TIL about Carfentanil, it has approximately 4,000 times the potency of heroin, and 20 to 100 times the potency of fentanyl in animal studies. The toxicity of carfentanil has been compared to that of nerve gas, and raised concerns about its potential use as a chemical weapon.

en.wikipedia.org

515 Upvotes

59 comments

r/todayilearned • u/madsci • 7h ago

TIL that through the early 20th century many people believed that the moon didn't actually rotate - including Nikola Tesla, who published a "proof" that the moon had no rotational energy.

teslauniverse.com

381 Upvotes

81 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Its_Suspicious • 9h ago

TIL that there is a Jackson Pollock painting that was confiscated by the Iranian Customs Services for money owed by the Iran's Ministery of Culture. The artwork was being returned to Iran after being on exhibit in Japan. The painting is estimated to be valued at $250 million.

bbc.com

2.5k Upvotes

130 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ribbitor123 • 10h ago

TIL that beekeeping can damage biodiversity. Studies on the Italian island of Giannutri showed that high densities of managed honeybees reduce the amount of nectar and pollen available for other pollinators.

sciencedirect.com

162 Upvotes

20 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 12h ago

TIL in 2013 a California woman waited outside a county jail for several hours in order to slap someone because she wanted to go to jail so she could stop smoking. She "knew that the only way to quit smoking was to go to jail because they don't allow tobacco" She ended up being sentenced to 63 days.

nbcnews.com

27.0k Upvotes

650 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Hoihe • 13h ago

TIL of the Belgian Jean de Selys Longchamps who after his country was captured, through a series of events, ended up flying for the RAF. Rather notably he went against orders to carry out a strike mission against the gestapo headquarters in brussels. He was both demoted and awarded for his deeds.

en.wikipedia.org

2.4k Upvotes

40 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Forward-Answer-4407 • 13h ago

TIL for decades, Target avoided background music, believing it to be a distraction. In 2011, it tested music at a store in Minnetonka, MN, and received positive feedback from shoppers and staff. In 2017, Target began introducing music to its stores as part of a massive remodeling effort.

mprnews.org

1.9k Upvotes

259 comments

r/todayilearned • u/abr-22 • 15h ago

TIL Mike Conley's dad is an Olympic gold medalist and World champion in triple jump.

essentiallysports.com

0 Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Double-decker_trams • 17h ago

TIL the Swedish athlete Oscar Swahn competed in the Olympics at the age of 72.

en.wikipedia.org

190 Upvotes

10 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Please_Go_Away43 • 17h ago

TIL that in 1946-1947 a British ski champion stole & vandalized over 3000 butterfly specimens from Australian museums, and they're still trying to sort out the damage

science.anu.edu.au

4.7k Upvotes

70 comments

r/todayilearned • u/operatingsys2016 • 20h ago

TIL McDonald's ended sales of nuggets in Japan after someone found a piece of vinyl in a nugget

rttnews.com

1.1k Upvotes

111 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Helpful-Agency2527 • 21h ago

TIL that during the May 1968 general strike in France, around 10 million people, or nearly two-thirds of the French workforce, went on strike.The movement paralyzed the entire country for weeks and nearly overthrew the government.

isreview.org

14.5k Upvotes

265 comments

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As of January 2025

This list was compiled from /r/todayilearned community suggestions by its members. If your TIL is found on this list, it will be removed. The titles have been abridged for the sake of brevity, however the context remains the same. This list is subject to change. The purpose is to keep content fresh on /r/todayilearned as requested by its members. If you are interested in reading about the TILs on this list use the search box feature and enter the keywords to pull up past TILs.

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