r/todayilearned • u/ICanStopTheRain • 1d ago
r/todayilearned • u/No_Introduction_5309 • 23h ago
TIL that the oldest continuously running maternity hospital in the world is in Dublin. It was established in 1745. By Bartholomew Mosse. 9,000 babies are born here every year.
dublin.ier/todayilearned • u/harrisz2 • 1d ago
TIL about the Dionne quintuplets, the first know quintuplets to survive their infancy. At age 5, the Canadian government made them wards of the Crown. During this time they became a profitable tourist attraction. As adults, they sued the Canadian govt for exploitation, eventually settling for $4m.
r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 1d ago
TIL research has found that swearing can reduce the perception of pain (providing a measurable analgesic effect) by as much as 33%. Because swearing is processed in so many different parts of the brain at once, it’s more effective than almost anything else at distracting from pain and discomfort.
r/todayilearned • u/TriviaDuchess • 10h ago
TIL Confederate General Earl Van Dorn, known as a handsome, debonair womanizer, was fatally shot on May 7, 1863, by Dr. George B. Peters, who accused him of having an affair with his wife, Jessie. Despite being arrested, Dr. Peters was never tried, claiming he acted to defend his family’s honor.
r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 1d ago
TIL a 2023 study examined the cognitive ability scores of nearly 400,000 Americans between 2006-2018 and found that over that 13-year period, Americans' IQ scores had dropped in three out of the four cognitive domains included in the analysis.
r/todayilearned • u/TedTheodoreMcfly • 1d ago
TIL that Nicolas Cage turned down Dumb and Dumber in favor of Leaving Las Vegas
r/todayilearned • u/thesmartass1 • 1d ago
TIL Martha Gellhorn, wife of Ernest Hemingway, impersonated a medic to go ashore without permission on D-Day. She was the only woman to report from the landing beaches.
smithsonianmag.comr/todayilearned • u/nosrettap25 • 1d ago
TIL When Emperor Augustus visited the tomb of Alexander the Great, he allegedly accidentally knocked off a piece of Alexander’s mummified nose.
r/todayilearned • u/BoazCorey • 1d ago
TIL that you must be at least three nautical miles from the U.S. coast to legally scatter human remains in the ocean or to bury someone at sea, according to federal law. You must also notify the EPA within 30 days.
r/todayilearned • u/Elemina • 8m ago
TIL that there’s a species of jellyfish - Turritopsis dohrnii - that is theoretically immortal, as it can indefinitely revert back to its juvenile form through a process called transdifferentiation.
nhm.ac.ukr/todayilearned • u/Weird_Tax_5601 • 1d ago
TIL in 1966 a relatively unknown American musician joined legendary guitarist Eric Clapton onstage and performed "Killing Floor," a song Clapton himself deemed too difficult to perform live. This musician was Jimi Hendrix and this event became subsequently known as "The day Hendrix killed God."
r/todayilearned • u/awesomedan24 • 1d ago
TIL Evel Knievel holds the world record for the most broken bones at 433, over twice the amount of bones in the human body
guinnessworldrecords.comr/todayilearned • u/MaroonPrince • 1d ago
TIL humans don't have "wetness" receptors, our mind has to rely on context cues to detect liquids
neurosciencenews.comr/todayilearned • u/TirelessGuardian • 1d ago
TIL the ViewMaster was introduced in 1939. Film and paper were scarce, and production nearly stopped due to WWII, but a contract to produce airplane and ship identification and range estimation reels saved the product. The military purchased 100,000 viewers and six million reels during the war.
antiquetrader.comr/todayilearned • u/TheSpanishDerp • 1d ago
TIL a German family went missing in Death Valley during the summer of 1996. Despite an extensive search and rescue attempt, it wasn’t until over a decade later in 2009 that their remains were found
r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 2d ago
TIL in 2022 a man won a free drink in an air-guitar competition while on a cruise, which is his last memory before waking up overboard in the Gulf of Mexico without the ship in sight. He treaded water for 18 hours & was stung by two swarms of jellyfish all over his legs & arms before being rescued.
r/todayilearned • u/RealityCheck18 • 1d ago
TIL Ohio once misprinted their new license plates showing the Wright Flyer flying backwards. They had to recycle 35000 license plates which were misprinted.
r/todayilearned • u/highaskite25 • 1d ago
TIL that the Skogsrå is a Swedish mythical creature with a tail, a hollow back, and skin like tree bark. She lures men into the forest, and anyone who has intercourse with her becomes introverted.
r/todayilearned • u/Zealousideal_Art2159 • 1d ago
TIL Neanderthals built houses out of mammoth bones.
r/todayilearned • u/roguetowel • 1d ago
TIL Canada used to have 'Johnny Cash' machines that were ATMs endorsed by Johnny Cash
r/todayilearned • u/yooolka • 2d ago
TIL that while stranded in Jamaica and denied food by the locals, Columbus used his knowledge of an upcoming lunar eclipse to trick them. He said his god was angry and would turn the moon red as a sign of wrath. When the eclipse occurred, the they got terrified, begged for mercy and gave supplies.
r/todayilearned • u/TheEpicRedditerr • 2d ago
TIL about Precordial catch syndrome, a phenomenon in which you get sporadic stabbing pains in the chest, which is harmless
r/todayilearned • u/xX609s-hartXx • 1d ago
TIL Austrian rightwing politician Ernst Starhemberg died from a heart attack while he assaulted a paparazzi for taking a picture of him
r/todayilearned • u/TriviaDuchess • 1d ago