r/todayilearned • u/adirtysociaIist- • 15m ago

TIL that enigmas is an anagram for Gamines. In the letter to Epstien that read "Enigmas never age" It really means "Gamines never age, have you noticed that?" A Gamine is a young, playful and teasing girl.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

34 comments

r/todayilearned • u/villanoXI • 57m ago

TIL That Loreena McKennitt is Canadian.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

26 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Skaterose6 • 23h ago

TIL Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has a well-known game-day superstition where he wears the same pair of red underwear for every game of his NFL career.

espn.com

2.4k Upvotes

274 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TheVentiLebowski • 5h ago

Flavoring, not flavor TIL Ambergris Was an Ice Cream Flavor in the 17th Century

tastingtable.com

2.5k Upvotes

154 comments

r/todayilearned • u/DrakeSavory • 20h ago

TIL that the Battle of Big Dry Wash was the last major battle of the Apache War and 4 soldiers earned the Medal of Honor as a result of their actions during the battle.

en.wikipedia.org

258 Upvotes

30 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 20h ago

TIL that in 2020, Justin Montney lost his fiancée, Alexis-Athena Wyatt, in a car crash. When he attempted to get a refund from the photography company he had hired for their wedding, they not only refused but released a statement mocking him.

people.com

25.1k Upvotes

925 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RainyWanderlust • 21h ago

TIL about the “blob” slime mould. It has almost 720 sexes, can heal itself, and has no brain, but is able to transmit knowledge if merged with another blob.

abc.net.au

13.9k Upvotes

706 comments

r/todayilearned • u/LakeM0bius_hunter • 10h ago

TIL that the Moon moves about 3.8 centimetres farther away from Earth every year.

science.nasa.gov

140 Upvotes

55 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Neebez • 8h ago

TIL a finance worker at a multinational firm was tricked into transferring $25 million to scammers after joining a video conference call where every single other participant—including the company's CFO and several of his recognized coworkers—was an AI-generated deepfake.

cnn.com

18.9k Upvotes

565 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RedditIsAGranfaloon • 6h ago

TIL in 1948, when Satchel Paige was finally signed to pitch in the Major Leagues, The Sporting News named him Rookie of the Year—at (at least) 42 years old.

mlb.com

630 Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/beasterne7 • 5h ago

TIL in crowd wisdom, the 'surprisingly popular' answer can overcome ignorance of the masses

princeton.edu

2.4k Upvotes

111 comments

r/todayilearned • u/thebigchil73 • 21h ago

TIL that the ‘high’ from gambling isn’t connected to winning - the dopamine rush peaks at exactly 50:50 probability. Gamblers get a rush when the roulette wheel is spinning but their pleasure is largely unaffected whether they win or lose.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

8.2k Upvotes

396 comments

r/todayilearned • u/OccludedFug • 3h ago

TIL that the pink plastic flamingo is the official bird of Madison Wisconsin.

en.wikipedia.org

444 Upvotes

18 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TapFar687 • 21h ago

TIL of The Law School of Berytus (also known as the law school of Beirut), a center for the study of Roman law in classical antiquity. It flourished under the patronage of the Roman emperors and functioned as the Roman Empire's center of jurisprudence until its destruction in AD 551.

en.wikipedia.org

283 Upvotes

13 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Double-decker_trams • 9h ago

TIL in Medieval England, a form of football (also called mob football) was played between neighbouring villages/towns. Team sizes were unlimited. The teams had to move an item (for example an animal's bladder) to a particular geographical point, such as their opponents' church.

en.wikipedia.org

1.4k Upvotes

82 comments

r/todayilearned • u/sundvl13 • 30m ago

TIL the oldest known physical flag in the world is the Derafsh-e-Shahdad (or Standard of Shahdad), it is a bronze flag with a simurgh (mythical bird) dating back to 2,400 B.C.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

0 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 19h ago

TIL that before the Black Death in Europe, there was the Plague of Justinian. The plague weakened the Byzantine Empire's economy and caused the empire's decline.

en.wikipedia.org

1.5k Upvotes

87 comments

r/todayilearned • u/A_W_Z_2 • 1h ago

TIL failed Operation Kiebitz, during WW2 Nazis planned to rescue 4 skilled U-Boat commanders held in Canada POWs camp with a U-Boat, canadians became aware of the plan and laid trap to capture the U-Boat.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

24 comments

r/todayilearned • u/QueenOfNZ • 11h ago

TIL that in 2022, a 7-year-old boy, his brother, and their cousin discovered a rare juvenile T. rex fossil in North Dakota. Dubbed "Teen Rex," it is one of only four juvenile T. rex fossils ever found.

cbsnews.com

5.0k Upvotes

34 comments

r/todayilearned • u/gelatomancer • 11h ago

TIL Sea Otter Skeletons Can Turn Purple If They Eat Enough Purple Sea Urchins

popsci.com

1.1k Upvotes

26 comments

r/todayilearned • u/UltimateOreo • 40m ago

TIL that in 2003, MIT scientists unveiled a biological weapons detector funded by the U.S. military that hijacked living white blood cells, genetically engineering them to glow when they encountered deadly pathogens like anthrax.

news.mit.edu

• Upvotes

13 comments

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As of May 2026

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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