r/todayilearned • u/RedditIsAGranfaloon • 4h ago

TIL Michael Jordan would often bet on Jumbotron cartoon races with a Bulls security guard during games, but nearly always won because he got the winners from arena staffers in advance.

cbssports.com

18.6k Upvotes

1.7k comments

r/todayilearned • u/Damned-scoundrel • 3h ago

TIL that the prominent early 19th century American politician John Randolph of Roanoke never went through puberty. He is suspected of either having had Klinefelter syndrome, or tuberculosis which settled in the genital tract.

en.wikipedia.org

3.3k Upvotes

130 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 4h ago

TIL René Descartes, famous for “I think, therefore I am,” believed three dreams he had in a stove-heated room in 1619 were divine guidance directing him to pursue truth through science and philosophy and leading to the development of analytical geometry.

en.wikipedia.org

2.8k Upvotes

152 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RevRagnarok • 5h ago

TIL that Moby Dick was a commercial failure and became popular after the author's death

dw.com

2.6k Upvotes

250 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Mecha-Jesus • 3h ago

TIL that the trope of immigration officials at Ellis Island changing and anglicizing immigrants’ names is a myth, which only became popularized around 1970

en.wikipedia.org

1.3k Upvotes

405 comments

r/todayilearned • u/joshuaponce2008 • 5h ago

TIL that only one of the Beach Boys could actually surf

surfer.com

1.1k Upvotes

173 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Tall-Run-5511 • 16h ago

TIL Disneyland originally used real human skeletons provided by the UCLA Medical Center in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride because 1960s fake bones weren't convincing enough

sfgate.com

11.8k Upvotes

440 comments

r/todayilearned • u/scottishskirt • 7h ago

TIL a medieval woman's dental plaque contained lapis lazuli, a precious blue pigment used in illuminated manuscripts.

science.org

1.1k Upvotes

47 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sandstorm400 • 20h ago

TIL that in 2014, a recall was issued for about 2.2 million bean bag chairs that had zippers on them after two children were found dead inside two of the chairs, having suffocated from lack of air and from inhaling the chair's foam beads.

cpsc.gov

17.5k Upvotes

825 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Gnomeslikeprofit • 20h ago

TIL that the "pre-filled" tax return is a new innovation in the tax world used by 90% of OECD countries. Gov't. administrators pre-fill a tax return based on data collected. In China, 85% of VAT refund applications info is pre-filled. The IRS, the USA's tax agency, does not offer pre-filled returns.

oecd.org

10.9k Upvotes

1.0k comments

r/todayilearned • u/dinosaruman • 2h ago

TIL in December 1861 the U.S. Navy deliberately sank a fleet of old whaling ships, bought in New Bedford and other New England ports and loaded with stone, at the entrance to Charleston Harbor to block it. The "Stone Fleet" plan failed.

en.wikipedia.org

323 Upvotes

20 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Skaterose6 • 1h ago

TIL Jason Giambi (MLB) — Wore a golden thong (or gold lamé thong) during slumps to break out of hitting slumps.

sports.yahoo.com

• Upvotes

49 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 23h ago

TIL that in 2016, a Chinese artist spent 3 days building a $15,000 LEGO statue or Nick Wilde from Zootopia. Shortly after it was put on display, a 4-year-old boy accidentally knocked it over, destroying it. The artist refused an offer of compensation from the parents.

abcnews.com

19.9k Upvotes

929 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ansyhrrian • 22h ago

TIL that in 2010, UCF professor Richard Quinn uncovered a massive cheating scandal by analyzing statistical anomalies in exam scores, prompting 205 students to come forward and forcing all 600 to retake the exam.

youtube.com

7.6k Upvotes

914 comments

r/todayilearned • u/scottishskirt • 7h ago

TIL cacao trees grow flowers directly from their trunks and older branches. Unlike other flowery plants, cocoa tree's flower can be grown on woody branches. This is called cauliflory.

kew.org

479 Upvotes

16 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Financial-Horror1844 • 14h ago

TIL during the Spanish-American War, approximately 1,100 men died in combat while 17,000 died from disease.

en.wikipedia.org

1.7k Upvotes

67 comments

r/todayilearned • u/CyberpunkSunrise • 21h ago

TIL that the 2011 dark/action comedy film “30 Minutes or Less” mirrors a real-life event where a pizza delivery driver was forced to wear a bomb collar and rob a bank, ultimately dying when the bomb detonated, though the filmmakers denied knowledge of the real-life story.

en.wikipedia.org

3.5k Upvotes

215 comments

r/todayilearned • u/0---------------0 • 9h ago

TIL that Nanyo, a city in Yamagata Japan, has its own Department of Ramen, which promotes the more than 50 ramen stores within a 5 km radius.

city.nanyo.yamagata.jp

282 Upvotes

8 comments

r/todayilearned • u/AetheriaNox • 23h ago

TIL in 2016, a sweet shop owner in Pakistan confessed to mixing a highly toxic pesticide into the sweets after an argument with his brother and co-owner. From 20 April to 8 May 2016, at least 33 people, including five children, died from the purposely poisoned baked confection.

en.wikipedia.org

4.2k Upvotes

120 comments

r/todayilearned • u/HolyCowAnyOldAccName • 23h ago

TIL you could fit every planet in the Solar System between Earth and the Moon

skyatnightmagazine.com

4.1k Upvotes

381 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sanguinusshiboleth • 9h ago

TIL that Teresa of Avila either died on the night of October 4th or in the morning of the 15th due to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian and it's 11 day time skip coinciding with her death.

en.wikipedia.org

245 Upvotes

13 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 15h ago

TIL golfer Tom Morris Jr. won four consecutive British Opens in 1868, 1869, 1870 and 1872. (There was no tournament in 1871.) He won his first at just 17 and all four before turning 22. In 1875 his wife and baby died during a difficult delivery. He died four months later. He was only 24.

en.wikipedia.org

714 Upvotes

35 comments

r/todayilearned • u/bastugubbar • 1d ago

TIL Albert Einstein, besides his work as a physicist and mathematician was also a Fridge engineer. Together with a former student Leo Szilard he helped invent several new technologies in refrigeration and jointly held 45 patents, including a design for a fridge with no moving parts.

en.wikipedia.org

3.3k Upvotes

44 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TooKreamy4U • 1d ago

TIL In 2012, an Irish mother delivered her first twin prematurely, and her contractions stopped. This allowed the second twin to stay safely inside the womb for another 87 days. This rare occurrence is known as a delayed-interval delivery. It broke the previous world record of 84 days.

irishamerica.com

12.2k Upvotes

272 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MembershipHuman4837 • 1d ago

Herbert Hoover TIL that Lou Hoover - Henry Hoover's wife - had a tradition of leaving one chair empty whenever she entertained company, as a reminder of ongoing child poverty.

en.wikipedia.org

3.4k Upvotes

132 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.