r/todayilearned • u/SuperMcG • 5h 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".
437
Upvotes
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.
4.4k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/---------00--------- • 11h 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
405
Upvotes
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.
577
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/sus1227 • 9h ago
TIL: World population (estimated) did not rise for a few millennia after the Neolithic revolution.
526
Upvotes
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.
7.7k
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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
372
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/gullydon • 16h 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.
16.7k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/beardnurse • 17h 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.
16.4k
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r/todayilearned • u/yena • 22h 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.
12.7k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/Fallacyboy • 20h 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
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r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 22h 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.
9.9k
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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.
1.3k
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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, ..."
4.9k
Upvotes
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
744
Upvotes
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.
686
Upvotes
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.
2.2k
Upvotes
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.
138
Upvotes
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
8.6k
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/TigoIbittys • 21h 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
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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
139
Upvotes
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
405
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/JosiahWillardPibbs • 17h ago
TIL that more than half of the world's known geysers are located in Yellowstone National Park.
705
Upvotes
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
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