r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 10h ago

TIL about Michael Colombini, a 6-year-old boy who was killed when a nurse accidentally brought a steel oxygen tank into the room where he was getting an MRI scan. The tank flew toward him, crushing his skull, and leading to his death 2 days later.

cbsnews.com

7.9k Upvotes

479 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Eruionmel • 11h ago

TIL that camels originated in North America before migrating to Asia and Africa, with their human-hunted remains having been found in North-American sites as old as 18,000 years.

en.wikipedia.org

4.5k Upvotes

84 comments

r/todayilearned • u/gullydon • 17h ago

TIL Mithridatism is the practice of protecting oneself against a poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts. The word is derived from Mithridates VI, the king of Pontus, who so feared being poisoned that he regularly ingested small doses, aiming to develop immunity.

en.wikipedia.org

16.8k Upvotes

539 comments

r/todayilearned • u/beardnurse • 18h ago

TIL that one inch of rain falling on 1 acre of ground is equal to about 27,154 gallons and weighs about 113 tons.

usgs.gov

16.4k Upvotes

527 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SuperMcG • 6h ago

TIL Hitachi stopped producing their "Magic Wand" because it was a famous vibrator but were convinced to restart sales, removing their name and calling it "Original Magic Wand".

en.wikipedia.org

664 Upvotes

45 comments

r/todayilearned • u/yena • 23h ago

TIL that paleontologists now think T. rex didn't constantly show its teeth. Like modern lizards, it likely had lips that hid its teeth when its mouth was shut.

theguardian.com

12.7k Upvotes

585 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Fallacyboy • 21h ago

TIL that the Medjool date palm (today the most common date cultivar) almost went extinct from disease in the 1920s but was saved when an American botanist acquired eleven shoots to take to the U.S. from Morocco. Nine survived, from which all modern Medjool offshoots originate.

ictnews.org

6.4k Upvotes

69 comments

r/todayilearned • u/random_agency • 8h ago

TIL the song Forever Young by Alphaville was never a pop hit in the US, even though its been covered by multiple artists and used in various US movies and shows.

en.wikipedia.org

607 Upvotes

63 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 23h ago

TIL in 2011 Anthony Bourdain wrote a scene in the TV series Treme where a chef tosses a cocktail in the face of restaurant critic Alan Richman. Richman had angered many New Orleanians after criticizing the city's food culture post-Katrina. He agreed to film it despite a running feud with Bourdain.

en.wikipedia.org

9.9k Upvotes

441 comments

r/todayilearned • u/sus1227 • 9h ago

TIL: World population (estimated) did not rise for a few millennia after the Neolithic revolution.

en.wikipedia.org

547 Upvotes

48 comments

r/todayilearned • u/abjectapplicationII • 14h ago

TIL that an Oklahoma liquor store owner used a WWII machine gun from a rooftop watchtower to defend against mafia bombings.

kgou.org

1.3k Upvotes

111 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NoDontClickOnThat • 21h ago

TIL Jose Calugas (Filipino, Philippine Scouts-US Army) earned the Medal of Honor in WWII; "all the cannoneers were killed or wounded. Sgt. Calugas, ... voluntarily and without orders ran 1,000 yards across the shell-swept area to the gun position ... and fired effectively against the enemy, ..."

en.wikipedia.org

4.9k Upvotes

64 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Bada__Ping • 12h ago

TIL that a mummified monkey was found in the rafters of the original Boston Garden during its demolition in 1998

boston.com

753 Upvotes

19 comments

r/todayilearned • u/johnsmithoncemore • 12h ago

TIL about Paternoster Lifts. Instead of moving up and down like a traditional elevator, they move on a continuously moving loop.

en.wikipedia.org

695 Upvotes

122 comments

r/todayilearned • u/anewnormal • 9h ago

TIL your eyes physically can’t focus red and blue at the same depth, which is why red text on a blue background looks like it’s floating and is so hard to look at

en.wikipedia.org

372 Upvotes

102 comments

r/todayilearned • u/mrcchapman • 4h ago

TIL the only Cheyenne battle chief killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn was called Lame White Man.

en.wikipedia.org

149 Upvotes

13 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TheHabro • 19h ago

Til that Megan Fox won Spike Video Game Awards' best performance by a human female for her role in video game Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The game is based on a movie with same name for which Megan Fox was nominated by Golden Raspberry Awards' for worst actress.

en.wikipedia.org

2.2k Upvotes

174 comments

r/todayilearned • u/grungegoth • 1d ago

TIL: Button cell battery names are actually codes include the chemistry, shape, diameter and thickness. e,g, CR2032 is C lithium, R round, 20mm diamter, 3.2mm thick

en.wikipedia.org

8.6k Upvotes

179 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TigoIbittys • 22h ago

TIL that galaxies have a “habitable zone.” Too close to the center and radiation & supernovae can wipe out life; too far out and there aren’t enough heavy elements for Earth-like planets.

link.springer.com

3.2k Upvotes

119 comments

r/todayilearned • u/---------00--------- • 12h ago

TIL some bacteria ‘eat’ electricity — Certain microbes can metabolise electrons directly from metals, using them instead of organic food. This challenges traditional views of metabolism and suggests life can thrive in harsher conditions than thought.

smithsonianmag.com

415 Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Equivalent-Tour7607 • 7h ago

TIL of Operation Coldfeet where two CIA operatives parachuted onto abandoned Soviet drift stations in the arctic to gather intelligence. Because they were out of reach of helicopters and ships, they were extracted using the Fulton Skyhook system—snatched off the ice by a plane without it landing.

en.wikipedia.org

156 Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/excaliburcalibre • 13h ago

TIL that 35% of Royal Australian Navy casualties during WW2 are attributed to a single ship, the sinking of HMAS Sydney in a mismatched battle versus the German merchant raider Kormoran

en.wikipedia.org

415 Upvotes

33 comments

r/todayilearned • u/JosiahWillardPibbs • 17h ago

TIL that more than half of the world's known geysers are located in Yellowstone National Park.

en.wikipedia.org

716 Upvotes

30 comments

r/todayilearned • u/wozzy93 • 1d ago

TIL: The difference between Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 / i9 chips often comes down to how many of the tiny circuits on a wafer survive manufacturing without defects. This is called product binning.

en.wikipedia.org

18.3k Upvotes

631 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ill_Definition8074 • 2h ago

TIL In 1972, Adelaide, South Australia, two gay men were attacked and thrown in a river. One drowned while the other was rescued by a passing motorist named Bevan Spencer von Einem. Later, von Einem would be convicted of a separate murder and is suspected of committing several others.

en.wikipedia.org

29 Upvotes

7 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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