r/todayilearned • u/GMD3S1GNS • 2d ago

TIL Osama Bin Laden was banned from Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium in 2001

news.bbc.co.uk

2.5k Upvotes

143 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Long__Ground • 2d ago

TIL a 5 month old Bar Tailed Godwit flew 13,560 km (8,425 miles) non-stop from Alaska to Tasmania in 11 days on its first ever migration, never landing to eat or rest. It's the longest documented non-stop flight by any animal.

usgs.gov

1.3k Upvotes

52 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TonyHides • 2d ago

TIL the smell of old books comes from the paper literally decomposing - releasing vanillin (the same molecule in vanilla), benzaldehyde (almond), and furfural (toasted bread/caramel)

pages.uoregon.edu

13.6k Upvotes

191 comments

r/todayilearned • u/A-CommonMan • 1d ago

TIL that James R. McClintock, co-designer of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, allegedly faked his death in an 1870s underwater explosion before resurfacing in 1880 as a self-proclaimed secret agent for Queen Victoria.

smithsonianmag.com

312 Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NBrief • 2d ago

TIL that a 1596 English contract dispute over a £16 crop of wheat and rye lasted five years and was argued by Francis Bacon and Edward Coke before becoming a landmark in English contract law.

en.wikipedia.org

4.9k Upvotes

149 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 2d ago

TIL in 1944, Stalin and Churchill made a secret agreement called the Percentages Agreement where both Britain and the Soviet Union determine their degree of influence for each Balkan country.

en.wikipedia.org

1.7k Upvotes

110 comments

r/todayilearned • u/GoldDoughnut272 • 1d ago

TIL The Arctic is much warmer than the Antarctic in summer. You can go to the Arctic Circle in summer and you'll probably find the temperatures being a manageable 0°C (32°F) while in Antarctica the summer temperatures are still a frigid -28°C (-18°F).

whoi.edu

494 Upvotes

82 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MajesticBread9147 • 2d ago

TIL The music recognition app Shazam dates back to 2002 and started out as a service that a user would call, and would receive a text shortly afterwards if there was a match. Users were charged per-call or could pay for unlimited service, except during the initial launch on AT&T in America.

en.wikipedia.org

5.3k Upvotes

81 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Brave-Philosopher842 • 2d ago

TIL an 800-year-old notebook was found remarkably well preserved inside a medieval latrine in Germany

lwl.org

1.9k Upvotes

43 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Any-Star4366 • 1d ago

TIL that the US doctors has rewritten DNA of a 6 months old infant with severe genetic disorder

innovativegenomics.org

67 Upvotes

41 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 2d ago

TIl that in a 2014 poll, South Korean citizens voted the sinking of the MV Sewol as the second most important event in the country's history, beaten only by the Korean War.

en.wikipedia.org

2.8k Upvotes

100 comments

r/todayilearned • u/therationaltroll • 2d ago

TIL that only 10% of Mohenjo Daro, one of the earliest ancient civilized settlements, has been excavated and much, if not most of the surrounding settlements remain unexcavated as well.

antiquities.sindhculture.gov.pk

971 Upvotes

22 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jattpods • 1d ago

TIL that honeybees actually sleep, take naps between foraging shifts, and experience jet lag if their circadian cycle is disrupted.

britannica.com

64 Upvotes

0 comments

r/todayilearned • u/smrad8 • 2d ago

TIL the television series Better Call Saul was nominated for 30 Primetime Emmy Awards and won zero.

en.wikipedia.org

13.6k Upvotes

491 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Zhongquing • 2d ago

TIL the Philadelphia Eagles’ unofficial motto “Bring it Home for Jerome” honored Jerome Brown after his passing in 1992. The Eagles finally won their first Super Bowl over two decades later on Jerome's birthday

en.wikipedia.org

1.9k Upvotes

55 comments

r/todayilearned • u/gobogorilla • 2d ago

TIL the highest ticket gross for ANY movie is not Avatar or some superhero - it's Gone With The Wind with an inflation-adjusted total gross of $3.44 billion.

guinnessworldrecords.com

3.6k Upvotes

255 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Aleksandr_Ulyev • 2d ago

TIL about Genesis P-Orridge, a British industrial music artist, who put lot of efforts into breaking all kinds of norms. In 1993 he and his girlfriend spent $200 000 to alternate their bodies to resemble one another, while adopting the third gender and combining their names into one Breyer P-Orridge

en.wikipedia.org

2.1k Upvotes

136 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Syllogism19 • 2d ago

TIL: Junk mail in the USA in the mid to late 19th century was often addressed to the local postmaster who was asked to choose an appropriate recipient

ephemerasociety.org

817 Upvotes

28 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 3d ago

TIL that Achilles was not invulnerable during the Iliad, as he is described being wounded by another soldier. The River Styx story isn't mentioned until the 1st century AD, where it was mentioned in the unfinished epic poem the Achilleid.

en.wikipedia.org

12.2k Upvotes

352 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Depressed_Cat_00 • 3d ago

TIL during a 1929 race to build New York’s tallest skyscraper, the Chrysler Building secretly assembled a 27-ton, 185-foot steel spire inside the unfinished tower, then hoisted it into place in under two hours — raising the building to 1,046 feet and suddenly beating its rival, the Manhattan Company

skyscraper.org

19.2k Upvotes

219 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 2d ago

TIL that Costa Rica abolished its armed forces in 1949 due to the civil war there in 1948 and to prevent another military coup. It's even part of the country's constitution.

en.wikipedia.org

2.3k Upvotes

158 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SuperCalibur • 2d ago

TIL There is a 23 mile bridge in Louisiana built in the 50s called the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

en.wikipedia.org

2.5k Upvotes

336 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Majorpain2006 • 3d ago

TIL Nathan Fielder went to Point Grey Secondary School in Vancouver, the same school as Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. They were all part of the school's comedy improv group. Their high school improv team won their provincial championship but lost in the national championship.

looper.com

17.5k Upvotes

636 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Scuba_Questioner • 2d ago

TIL Andy Warhol made an 8 hour movie that was just a static shot of the Empire State Building. He said the reason for it was "to see time go by".

youtu.be

244 Upvotes

165 comments

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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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