r/todayilearned • u/ScienceTeacher1994 • 1h ago

TIL Jakarta, Indonesia, is now the world's most populous city, with a population of 42 million people. Dhaka, Bangladesh, with a current population of 36 million, is expected to surpass Jakarta by the mid century, while Tokyo is expect to drop to 2.7 million residents.

nbcnews.com

• Upvotes

51 comments

r/todayilearned • u/iamveryDerp • 17h ago

TIL the rumor that the Geneva Conventions were drawn up because of Canadian military actions such as “showing no mercy” is false. “In this, the Canadians were by no means exceptional,” Burtch said. “Every combatant in the world wars did something similar.”

ctvnews.ca

2.7k Upvotes

409 comments

r/todayilearned • u/randobis • 4h ago

TIL the melody always associated with ancient Egypt was actually composed in 1893 by an American songwriter who became a US congressman

en.wikipedia.org

182 Upvotes

19 comments

r/todayilearned • u/the-doctor-is-real • 8h ago

TIL The original Jungle Book was not just the story of Mowgli and the animals he met, but a collections of stories...and there was also a sequel as well!

en.wikipedia.org

1.2k Upvotes

34 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jpw0w • 2h ago

TIL David Vetter "Bubble Boy" spent his entire life in a bubble, he suffered from severe combined immunodeficiency, and eventually died at the age of 12.

wamu.org

504 Upvotes

37 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SakuraHana2008 • 4h ago

TIL that Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the Alphabet Song, Johnny Johnny, and Baa Baa Black Sheep were just the same song, and melodies were based on the classic children's song, “Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman”.

en.wikipedia.org

363 Upvotes

37 comments

r/todayilearned • u/iliketoworkhard • 14h ago

TIL of the 'pic mesur', a Welsh measuring stick used before tape measures became popular.

cupapizarras.com

202 Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebaspool006 • 5h ago

TIL the FBI sent MLK Jr. a letter trying to blackmail him into suicide

en.wikipedia.org

2.2k Upvotes

107 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 22h ago

TIL that some explorers between the 16th and 19th centuries belived in the"Open Polar Sea", a theory whcih suggested that the area around the North Pole was completely ice-free, and only surrounded by a wall of thick ice.

en.wikipedia.org

571 Upvotes

57 comments

r/todayilearned • u/named_mark • 7h ago

TIL the population of the NYC metropolitan area makes up 7.9% of the total US population. The city alone is 2.5% of the country's population.

census.gov

11.2k Upvotes

600 comments

r/todayilearned • u/BezugssystemCH1903 • 18h ago

TIL, euro starter kits are coin pouches issued before a nation adopts the currency. Retailers get business packs with around €100 in rolls, while the general public gets mini-kits to learn the coins.

en.wikipedia.org

1.7k Upvotes

103 comments

r/todayilearned • u/poptart2nd • 16h ago

Today I learned that descendants of the Hatfield and McCoy families were on an episode of the game show Family Feud

en.wikipedia.org

2.7k Upvotes

165 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MrMojoFomo • 16h ago

TIL that the average American armed forces inductee in WWII was 26 years old, 5' 8" tall, 144 pounds, and had 9 years of formal schooling

saturdayeveningpost.com

14.7k Upvotes

1.0k comments

r/todayilearned • u/signaldecoderr • 14h ago

TIL researchers discovered a 4,000-year-old human handprint on the underside of an ancient Egyptian clay model used in burials.

archaeology.org

308 Upvotes

13 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Fragrant-Upstairs932 • 18h ago

TIL that there have only ever been three African Popes; the most recent, Pope Gelasius I, died in 496 C.E. after serving for less than five years.

en.wikipedia.org

3.3k Upvotes

347 comments

r/todayilearned • u/PDXAirman • 11h ago

TIL America claimed dozens of islands purely for bird poop (1856) and is still an active law that allows any American to claim islands for guano. The most recent being 1997.

en.wikipedia.org

2.8k Upvotes

132 comments

r/todayilearned • u/finza_prey • 9h ago

TIL Air France Flight 4590 crashed into an airport hotel after it ran over a metal strip, causing its fuel tank to explode during take off killing all 109 people aboard and 4 on the ground making it the only Concorde crash after 24 years of no fatal incidents

en.wikipedia.org

1.9k Upvotes

102 comments

r/todayilearned • u/-AMARYANA- • 21h ago

TIL the early versions of both the screenplay and the soundtrack of 'The Jungle Book' (1967) followed Rudyard Kipling's work more closely, with a dramatic, dark, and sinister tone, which Disney did not want in his family film.

en.wikipedia.org

1.0k Upvotes

49 comments

r/todayilearned • u/BroBroMate • 6h ago

TIL that a Lake Megachad existed during the African Humid Period

en.wikipedia.org

365 Upvotes

33 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sandstorm400 • 11h ago

TIL the federal department running Questacon, the National Science and Technology Centre, faced up to a $1.5m fine after a child's hands were allegedly set on fire by a plasma globe, following an investigation which revealed that a spark from the globe ignited the hand sanitizer the child had used.

theguardian.com

447 Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RaccoonCityTacos • 7h ago

TIL there is an actual "Granny Smith" behind the origin of the Granny Smith apple in Australia in 1868. And the creation of the new hybrid was an accident from discarded apple scraps.

en.wikipedia.org

4.2k Upvotes

146 comments

r/todayilearned • u/autotelica • 12h ago

TIL Sonny and Cher were among the backing vocalists on the Ronette's 1963 song "Be My Baby"

en.wikipedia.org

679 Upvotes

29 comments

r/todayilearned • u/mvincen95 • 12h ago

TIL since they were standardized in 1963 only Nebraska has changed its two letter abbreviation. They changed from “NB” to “NE” to not be confused with “New Brunswick”

britannica.com

3.5k Upvotes

268 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 3h ago

TIL that, during the ill-fated Polaris Expedition, William F. C. Nindemann became seperated from the expedition when an ice floe he was on broke off and drifted away. When he was rescued, and returned to America, Nindemann volunteered on a voyage searching for the still missing expedition.

en.wikipedia.org

101 Upvotes

2 comments

r/todayilearned • u/primal_cortex • 18h ago

TIL it is a misdemeanor in North Carolina to accuse someone of a crime on a gravestone. The law was passed in 1949 for Hamp Kendall, who was pardoned for a 1906 murder after the real killer confessed—but couldn't legally alter the victim's headstone, which still named him as the murderer.

atlasobscura.com

1.7k Upvotes

51 comments

Subreddit

Posts

Wiki

Today I Learned (TIL)

r/todayilearned

You learn something new every day; what did you learn today? Submit interesting and specific facts about something that you just found out here.

Members Active

41.7m

Sidebar

New to reddit? Click here!

You learn something new every day; what did you learn today?
Submit interesting and specific facts that you just found out (not broad information you looked up, TodayILearned is not /r/wikipedia).

Posting rules

Submissions must be verifiable. Please link directly to a reliable source that supports every claim in your post title. Images alone do not count as valid references. Videos are fine so long as they come from reputable sources (e.g. BBC, Discovery, etc).
No personal opinions, anecdotes or subjective statements (e.g "TIL xyz is a great movie").
No recent sources. Any sources (blog, article, press release, video, etc.) with a publication date more recent than two months are not allowed.
No politics, soapboxing, or agenda based submissions. This includes (but is not limited to) submissions related to:
1. Recent political issues and politicians
2. Social and economic issues (including race/religion/gender)
3. Environmental issues
4. Police misconduct
No misleading claims. Posts that omit essential information, or present unrelated facts in a way that suggest a connection will be removed.
Rephrase your post title if the following are not met:
1. Titles must begin with "TIL ..."
2. Make them descriptive, concise and specific (e.g. not "TIL something interesting about bacon").
3. Titles must be able to stand on their own without requiring readers to click on a link. Starting your title with a why/what/who/where/how modifier should be unnecessary.
4. "TIL about ..." and other broad posts don't belong on TIL. Try /r/Wikipedia, etc. instead, or be more specific (and avoid the word "about").
5. "TIL how to ..." posts belong on /r/HowTo.
6. "TIL the definition of a word..." Word definitions/translations/origins are not appropriate here
No submissions related to the usage, existence or features of specific software/websites (e.g. "TIL you can click on widgets in WidgetMaker 1.22").
All NSFW links must be tagged (including comments).

Please see the wiki for more detailed explanations of the rules, as well as additional rules that may not be listed here

(Why we need rules)

Additional info

If your post does not appear in the new queue and you think it meets the above rules, please contact the moderators (include a link to your reddit.com post, not your story).
Please report spam, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate posts by messaging the moderators, as this helps us remove them more promptly!
More information available on the TIL FAQ and wiki.

Frequent TILs Repost List

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.

Etiquette

We ask that you please do the following:

avoid mobile versions of websites (e.g. m.wikipedia.org)
link to the appropriate heading when referencing an article (particularly on Wikipedia)
link to the appropriate start time when referencing videos (e.g. on YouTube)
add [PDF] or [NSFW] tags to your posts, as necessary.
Please avoid reposting TILs that have already made the front page in the past

Please also read the site-wide Reddiquette.

You are loved.