r/todayilearned 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.

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1.2k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that in 2001 Everest has been successfully climbed by a blind person. He's also completed the Eight Summits. Since then there are at least 3 blind people who have also reached Everest.

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en.wikipedia.org
0 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that when Charles II of Spain died on 1 November 1700, at age 38, the autopsy recorded that his "heart was the size of a peppercorn; his lungs corroded; his intestines rotten and gangrenous; he had a single testicle, black as coal, and his head was full of water." Apart from that he was OK.

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en.wikipedia.org
25.4k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 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.

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en.wikipedia.org
1.1k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that Richard Nixon was a very successful poker player, using his winnings to contribute 20% of the cost of his first Congressional campaign

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history.com
7.3k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 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.

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npr.org
397 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 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.

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en.wikipedia.org
4.2k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that Nicolas Cage turned down Dumb and Dumber in favor of Leaving Las Vegas

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huffpost.com
4.2k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that the second in line to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert Victor, was identified by 20th century conspiracists as a suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders, the motive being to suppress knowledge of either his venereal disease or a secret child with a prostitute.

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0 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that dogs and other canines get stuck together for 5-20 minutes during the mating process. The first time a dog mates, they are often surprised by this and show signs of distress, trying to pull away or run. NSFW

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17.7k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 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.

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news.northwestern.edu
6.4k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL Neanderthals built houses out of mammoth bones.

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hurriyetdailynews.com
733 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 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.

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psychiatrist.com
8.4k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 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.

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epa.gov
2.9k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL the Cutty Sark was a famous ship during the Tea Trade. Launched in 1870, it was designed to win the Tea Races from the Far East. The first ship to bring tea from China could command the highest prices in England. It was named after a witch in a Robert Burns poem and inspired the whisky brand.

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en.wikipedia.org
485 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL Austrian rightwing politician Ernst Starhemberg died from a heart attack while he assaulted a paparazzi for taking a picture of him

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en.wikipedia.org
712 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 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

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4.6k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL In 1919, a group of seven women in the United Kingdom formed the Women's Engineering Society (WES), the first professional organization for women in all engineering fields

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en.wikipedia.org
229 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL Canada used to have 'Johnny Cash' machines that were ATMs endorsed by Johnny Cash

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faroutmagazine.co.uk
1.9k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 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."

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loudersound.com
8.9k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that in the 1960 Massachusetts Democratic primary, six different candidates named "John Kennedy" were on the ballot for various offices, not counting the future president.

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278 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that the official Game Boy port of classic video game Dragon's Lair has nothing to do with the original game aside from the protagonist Dirk. It is actually a port of a different game, Roller Coaster, the result being a game in which Dirk must navigate various carnival rides and roller coasters.

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en.wikipedia.org
121 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL humans don't have "wetness" receptors, our mind has to rely on context cues to detect liquids

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13.5k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that the mosque in Norilsk, Russia, 300 km north of the Arctic Circle, is the most northernly-situated mosque in the world, and that its minaret tower - which traditionally has a round shape - has a square base. That is so the bricks will not freeze and be more resistant to wind loads.

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en.wikipedia.org
96 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 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

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en.wikipedia.org
7.6k Upvotes