r/todayilearned • u/Gr8fulFox • 23m ago
TIL The reason the word "nine" is said as "niner" over a radio is so that it won't be mistaken as a German "nein"/no.
en.wikipedia.org
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r/todayilearned • u/UltimateOreo • 1h 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.
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r/todayilearned • u/A_W_Z_2 • 2h 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.
510
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r/todayilearned • u/OccludedFug • 4h ago
TIL that the pink plastic flamingo is the official bird of Madison Wisconsin.
486
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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.
670
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r/todayilearned • u/beasterne7 • 5h ago
TIL in crowd wisdom, the 'surprisingly popular' answer can overcome ignorance of the masses
princeton.edu
2.6k
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r/todayilearned • u/TheVentiLebowski • 5h ago
Flavoring, not flavor TIL Ambergris Was an Ice Cream Flavor in the 17th Century
2.6k
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r/todayilearned • u/gelatomancer • 11h ago
TIL Sea Otter Skeletons Can Turn Purple If They Eat Enough Purple Sea Urchins
1.2k
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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.
1.5k
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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.
5.2k
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r/todayilearned • u/Neebez • 9h 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.
19.6k
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r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 21h 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.
25.3k
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r/todayilearned • u/RainyWanderlust • 22h 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.
14.0k
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r/todayilearned • u/thebigchil73 • 22h 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
8.3k
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r/todayilearned • u/sundvl13 • 1h 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.
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r/todayilearned • u/kevlarbuns • 1d ago
TIL member of the Donner Party, Lewis Keseberg, was accused of killing and consuming multiple, including children, by the rescue party. He was found with the corpse of Tamsen Donner, and had hidden her remaining money. He later sued for defamation, insisting he only ate those who died of exposure.
8.3k
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r/todayilearned • u/PeasantLich • 1d ago
TIL that Checkers has been a solved game for almost 20 years. Optimal play is unbeatable, and two opponents playing optimally always reach a stalemate.
researchgate.net
31.6k
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r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 20h 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.
1.5k
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r/todayilearned • u/Skaterose6 • 1d 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.
2.5k
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r/todayilearned • u/LakeM0bius_hunter • 10h ago
TIL that the Moon moves about 3.8 centimetres farther away from Earth every year.
144
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r/todayilearned • u/an_aficionado • 1d ago
TIL that ancient Greek and Latin texts were often written without spaces between words. This style of writing, known as scriptio continua, meant that a sentence could look likeone long stringofletters, and readers had to figure out where each word began and ended.
3.4k
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r/todayilearned • u/leafpool2014 • 1d ago
TIL that in WW2, Poland declared war on Japan. Japan rejected there declaration of war. Quote: “We do not accept Poland’s challenge. The Poles, fighting for their freedom, only declared war on us under pressure from the United Kingdom.”A curious case: Poland only declared war on one country in WWII;
outono.net
6.4k
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r/todayilearned • u/finza_prey • 1d ago
TIL After the "Fight Of The Century" Muhammad Ali refused to admit defeat and sought to define the outcome in the publics mind as a "White Man's Decision". Ali later on defeated Frazier in their third and final bout at the Thrilla in Manilia in 1975
5.1k
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r/todayilearned • u/Keobooks • 1d ago
TIL: Roosevelt is on the dime because he founded the March of Dimes foundation for polio research
10.6k
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r/todayilearned • u/Obversa • 1d ago
TIL that King George III originally planned to abdicate the throne in favor of his eldest son - the future King George IV - and exile himself to Hanover in March 1783 after Great Britain lost the American colonies in the Revolutionary War. However, he remained on the throne until his death in 1820.
2.9k
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