One thing about knowledge is that it shouldn’t be gatekept. And on Reddit’s Today I Learned community, it isn’t.
Here, millions of people come together to share the most surprising, obscure, and fascinating facts they’ve just discovered. Some change how we see the world, while others are simply entertaining—but all of them prove there’s always more to learn.
So here’s your daily dose of curiosity. Keep the cycle going and pass your favorites along!
#1
TIL about Andrew Carnegie, the original billionaire who spent 90% of his fortune creating over 3000 libraries worldwide because a free library was how he gained the education to become wealthy.
Image credits: Headpuncher
#2
TIL Danny Trejo has a clause in his movie contracts that requires his villainous characters to die by the end of the film. He wants children to learn that crime doesn't pay.
Image credits: Level_Cash2225
#3
TIL April 8th 1945 a prisoner at Buchenwald rigged up a radio transmitter and sent a message in a desperate attempt to contact the allies for rescue. 3 minutes after his message the US Army answered "KZ Bu. Hold out. Rushing to your aid. Staff of Third Army". The camp would be liberated 3 days later.
Image credits: nyg1
#4
TIL ecologist Suzanne Simard wanted to know why the forest got sick every time the foresters killed the birch trees, thought to harm fir trees. She discovered that birch trees actually pass nutrients to fir trees underground via a complex fungal network and were maintaining balance in the ecosystem.
Image credits: admiralturtleship
#5
TIL After Joan of Arc was executed on charges of heresy, her mother spent 25 years clearing her name. She convinced the pope to reopen Joan's case and attended the retrial despite being in her 70s and in poor health. The retrial ended with Joan's complete acquittal.
Image credits: Ill_Definition8074
#6
TIL In Japan, the Johatsu, meaning "evaporated people", choose to abandon their current lives - due to family strain, work pressure or any other reason. So-called 'night moving' companies help them disappear without a trace and start a new life somewhere else.
Image credits: RebelGrin
#7
TIL that 11-year old Ted Danson and his friends chopped down a bunch of billboards around Flagstaff, AZ, because they obstructed views of nature. He was caught when his father, a museum curator, learned that billboards for the Museum of Northern Arizona were spared.
Image credits: DoctorKynes
#8
TIL in 2010 a doctor and his son just happened to be walking by an apartment building in Paris when a 15-month-old boy fell 80ft (24m) from a seventh floor balcony before bouncing off a cafe awning into the doctor's arms. His catch helped the boy escape "miraculously without a single scratch."
The toddler had been left alone with his four-year-old sister while their parents reportedly "popped out" for some shopping. They were charged with causing injury through neglect.
Bensignor, 58, a GP, said it was pure luck he was passing while out walking with his seven-year-old son Raphaël, last week.
...
Bensignor said it was thanks to Raphaël that he saved the falling child.
"We were walking and Raphaël was talking to me ... then he looked up and said: 'Papa, have you seen the children on the balcony up there?' There was no panic in his voice, just astonishment."
He said he looked up just as the baby fell.
Image credits: tyrion2024
#9
TIL in 2017 a couple survived a wildfire in California by jumping into a neighbors pool and staying submerged for 6 hours. They came up for air only when they needed to, using wet t-shirts to shield their faces from falling embers.
Image credits: GoinThruTheBigD
#10
TIL George Washington decided to step down after two terms because he feared he might die in office and Americans would then view the presidency as a lifetime appointment.
Image credits: multi_io
#11
TIL that Weird Al's Phantom Menace parody 'The Saga Begins' was recorded a month before the film released in May 1999. Yankovic was denied an early screening by Lucasfilm, but managed to almost exactly piece together the plot by researching rumours posted on Star Wars fan forums.
#12
TIL about skeuomorphism, when modern objects, real or digital, retain features of previous designs even when they aren't functional. Examples include the very tiny handle on maple syrup bottles, faux buckles on shoes, the floppy disk 'save' icon, or the sound of a shutter on a cell phone camera.
Image credits: Festina_lente123
#13
TIL that in 1997 Mattel released Share a Smile Becky, a disabled Barbie doll, only to discontinue it when the wheelchair couldn't fit through the front door of the Barbie Dreamhouse.
Image credits: cryptonemonamiter
#14
TIL George Washington is the only U.S. president elected as an independent to date. Washington opposed the development of political parties.
#15
TIL: Phossy Jaw used to be a common affliction among workers in the matchstick industry for decades which destroys the bones of the jaw. While the cause was linked to the use of white phosphorus within 5 years, it took almost a century of strikes, bans, and taxes to stop its use in the industry.
Image credits: Flares117
#16
TIL Chef Boyardee's canned Ravioli kept WWII soldiers fed and he became the largest supplier of rations during the war. When American soldiers started heading to Europe to fight, Hector Boiardi and brothers Paul and Mario decided to keep the factory open 24/7 in order to produce enough meals.
#17
TIL a Jets player who won in Super Bowl 3 lost his super bowl ring shortly after while surfing. It was found in the ocean by a lifeguard who was snorkeling 40 years later and returned to him.
#18
TIL that a US developer who outsourced his job to China for a fifth of his salary was repeatedly named as star employee before getting caught.
Image credits: Forgotthebloodypassw
#19
TIL in 2000 a Mexican woman performed an hour-long C-section on herself with a kitchen knife after 12 hours of constant pain. After 3 attempts to cut open her abdomen, she made a 17cm vertical incision (a typical one is 10cm & horizontal). But despite no medical training, both mom & child survived.
Image credits: tyrion2024
#20
TIL that when scientists transferred the gut microbiome of a schizophrenic human into mice, the mice started exhibiting schizophrenic-like behaviours.
#21
TIL that ancient Rome had fast food restaurants called 'thermopolia,' where people bought hot meals on the go, much like modern takeout.
Image credits: AprumMol
#22
TIL that a Swedish man survived in his car for 60 days, only drinking melted snow, after being snowed in with temperatures dropping as low as -30°C. However, due to the "igloo effect," the insulation from the snow helped keep him alive.
Image credits: dtdowntime
#23
TIL After his lung cancer diagnosis, actor Yul Brynner wished to warn people against smoking. After his death, the american cancer society aired an ad with the actor saying: "Now that I'm gone, I tell you: just don't smoke. If I could take back that smoking, we wouldn't be talking about any cancer."
#24
TIL Q Lazzarus, singer of Goodbye Horses, was unknown when the song appeared in Silence of the Lambs. Labels had rejected her due to her dreads, so she drove a cab. Once, she picked up "Lambs" director Jonathan Demme, and played him her demo. He responded "Oh my God, what is this and who are you?"
#25
TIL the 2022 Ignobel prize in economics went to a bunch of Mathematicians who proved, mathematically, that luck matters more than talent to achieve success.
#26
TIL One of the early Spanish explorers of the American Southwest met a man who they called "the Turk", who told them stories of rich lands to the east. He would later reveal that he made it up to draw them away from Pueblo civilizations so they would die of starvation in the plains.
#27
TIL - Blind people who regain sight after years struggle to recognize objects because vision is learned, not automatic. They need to train their brain to actually see.
#28
TIL that Great White Sharks across the Pacific Ocean consistently congregate at one specific spot in the Pacific Ocean. Scientists call this the White Shark Cafe.
#29
TIL Linda Chase left her roommate's dead body in the recliner chair where he died for 18 months. She talked to him and watched NASCAR on TV with him. After police performed a welfare check and found the body, Linda's only explanation was that she didn't want to be alone.
Image credits: Ill_Definition8074
#30
TIL in 2013 a woman went to pick up a friend in Brussels (less than 90 miles from her home), however because of a GPS error, she ended up in Croatia after driving 900 miles across five international borders. She realized she took a wrong turn two days after leaving. Her son had reported her missing.
Image credits: tyrion2024
#31
TIL the British Library must store one copy of every single book published in the UK and Ireland. It houses over 200,000,000 publications, adds 6 miles (9.65 km) of new shelf space a year, and receives over 8000 new publications daily.
#32
TIL in 1940, when Paramount asked Fleischer Studios to created a Superman cartoon, Fleischer thought it would be too hard to make. In an attempt to avoid making the cartoon, they quoted four times the cost of an average cartoon for the budget ($100k). To their shock, Paramount agreed to the budget.
Image credits: TirelessGuardian
#33
TIL that the first laws outlawing food coloring were in regards to bread. White bread was expensive and some bakers added chalk to lighten dark bread. King Edward I (1272-1307) created a law saying anyone caught using whiteners in bread would be put in the public pillory for one hour.
#34
TIL South Park aired an episode titled “Band in China”… which resulted in them being banned in China.
#35
TIL huge rogue waves were dismissed as a scientifically implausible sailors' myth by scientists until one 84ft wave hit an oil platform. The phenomenon has since been proven mathematically and simulated in a lab, also proving the existence of rogue holes in the ocean.
#36
TIL that some people are genetically gifted in that they can sleep for as little as 4 hours without suffering from daytime sleepiness or other consequences of sleep deprivation.
#37
TIL there were just 5 surviving longbows from medieval England known to exist before 137 whole longbows (and 3,500 arrows) were recovered from the wreck of the Mary Rose in 1980 (a ship of Henry VIII's navy that capsized in 1545). The bows were in excellent finished condition & have been preserved.
#38
TIL the modern Oval Office was only created in 1934, and designed so that President Franklin D Roosevelt, who used a wheelchair, could move easily between the Office and the Residence.
#39
TIL the reason that purple has traditionally been associated with royalty was because, in Ancient Rome, the only source of purple was milking and fermenting the liquid from a snail. It took 12,000 snails to produce 1 gram of dye! This made the Caesars declare it their exclusive color.
#40
TIL in 2020 a woman took an online DNA test which showed a 22% match with a man who she'd eventually discover to be her still alive uncle, who was kidnapped in 1951 at the age of six & had been missing for 70 years. After he was abducted in Oakland, he was flown to the east coast & raised there.
#41
TIL F1 driver Kimi Raikkonen nearly bankrupted the Lotus team by being too good. His contract said that he would be awarded €50,000 for every championship point scored. Lotus thought their car would be so uncompetitive that year that it would not be a problem. Kimi went on to score 207 points.
#42
TIL a student wore the same pair of jeans 330 times over 15 months without washing them, then after washing them, wore them another 13 days. A textile scientist had tested the jeans for bacteria both after the 15 months (pre-wash) & after the 13 days. Little difference in bacterial count was found.
Image credits: tyrion2024
#43
TIL that a KGB agent and a CIA agent became friends while trying to recruit each other; they knew the other was a spy and just didn’t talk about it.
#44
TIL Marcus Licinius Crassus, often called "the richest man in Rome," formed the first fire brigade, saving burning buildings only if owners sold at a low price. Otherwise, he let them burn. The buildings would then be leased back to the former owners.
Image credits: RandomUwUFace
#45
TIL Tasmanian Devil's give birth to between 30 and 40 offsprings but the mother only has four teats. The first four to attach to teats survive, the others perish.
Image credits: Potatoe_expert
#46
TIL in 2010 Sam Ballard was drinking with several friends when he was dared to eat a slug that had begun to crawl across his friend's concrete patio. After he ate it, he'd find out the infected slug had given him rat lungworm disease, which put him into a year-long coma & ultimately took his life.
#47
TIL Brian Acton was rejected by Facebook for a job in 2009. And that same year, he & Jan Koum "took a chance" and co-founded WhatsApp together. Then in 2014 after amassing 450 million global users, they sold WhatsApp to Facebook in a deal that reportedly made both of them a multi-billionaire.
#48
TIL the "Elephant's Foot" mass of radioactive material beneath the Chernobyl disaster was so dense that they needed to use armor-piercing rounds fired from an AK-47 rifle to break off samples.
#49
TIL There was a Portuguese woman in early 18th century who disguised herself as a man and joined the army, fought in India and became captain of a fortress. She was found out when she asked the king for permission to marry a colleague.
#50
TIL Jefferson Davis attempted to patent a steam-operated propeller invented by his slave, Ben Montgomery. Davis was denied because he was not the "true inventor." As President of the Confederacy, Davis signed a law that permitted the owner to apply to patent the invention of a slave.
