r/todayilearned 4h ago

TIL sharks existed before trees

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smithsonianmag.com
62 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL the actress who played Regina George's sister in Mean Girls (the girl who flashes the TV when Amy Poehler's character is introduced) is a physician specializing in otolaryngology—head and neck surgery. She also is a very talented artist who paints realistic pieces.

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palettemagazine.ca
4.7k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that during the Cephalonia massacre in WWII, after executing most of the Italian officers that had surrendered to them, the Germans forced 20 Italian sailors to take the bodies out to sea in rafts. They then blew up the rafts with the sailors still on them.

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en.wikipedia.org
10.2k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 7h ago

TIL about the Oneida Nation, the US's first ally in the Revolutionary War, who were granted land protection after the war for a brief period.

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en.wikipedia.org
98 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

PDF TIL that during the peak of their powers about 10% of the entire Japanese population were samurais. Due to their large numbers nearly all Japanese alive today are descended from samurai

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14.3k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 2h ago

TIL that nicotine, as well as being present in tobacco, is also present in tomatoes, potatoes and eggplants. it provides natural protection against insects, and has been used as a pesticide since at least the 17th century.

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en.wikipedia.org
28 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 9h ago

TIL that in 1977 NASA launched Voyager 1/2 into space with the Golden Record onboard. It contains music, greetings, and images which NASA cannot display online due to copyright law. NASA sent these images to space to represent humanity but cannot show these images to most humans.

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science.nasa.gov
89 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that when Elton John married his wife Renate Blauel in 1984, Rod Stewart sent a wedding telegram that read "You may still be standing but we're all on the f**king floor"

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theguardian.com
22.3k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 21h ago

TIL; The Beatles never learned how to read music.

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globalnews.ca
853 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 19h ago

TIL that stonefish is the most venomous known fish in the world and stings can cause death if not treated. Some Indigenous Australians have corroborees which involve re-enacting the death of someone who trod on the fish.

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en.wikipedia.org
441 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that California is the only state to have an image of an extinct animal on its state flag and seal

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capitolmuseum.ca.gov
6.7k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 8h ago

TIL A group of conspirators intending to assassinate Easter Roman Emperor Nikephoros Phokas entered his bedchamber at night disguised in women's clothing. Initially the got scared because he wasn't in his bed as expected: an ascetic army veteran, Nikephoros liked sleeping on the floor

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medievalists.net
59 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 5h ago

TIL Pixar's "UP" Was Originally About Two Princes, a Floating City, and a strange large bird

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bybrittonperelman.com
30 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 6h ago

TIL that, in the years it was an active sporting arena, about half a million people (gladiators) and a million animals died fighting for spectacle at the Roman Colosseum.

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britannica.com
33 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 3h ago

TIL Potassium chloride, a salt substitute for food often mixed with ordinary table salt to form low sodium salt, is used as the final drug in the sequence of execution by lethal injection

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en.wikipedia.org
19 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1h ago

TIL there was an Australian bushranger in the 1800s named “Captain Thunderbolt”

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en.wikipedia.org
Upvotes

r/todayilearned 20h ago

TIL that dogs see in shades of blue and yellow. The colors we see depend on two types of photoreceptors: rods and cones. Humans have three types of cones, but dogs only have two. Dogs have fewer cones, but have more rods, which help them identify moving objects and see better in low-light conditions

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snopes.com
353 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

United States TIL many coroners aren't doctors and they can be appointed or elected to their positions

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npr.org
2.1k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 13h ago

TIL The biggest chicken nugget ever made weighed 51 pounds and was 3.25 feet long x 2 feet wide

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en.wikipedia.org
83 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that Blue Raspberry is largely Banana and Pineapple flavors. A bright blue dye was used because because the red food dye of the time had been banned.

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bonappetit.com
11.6k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 4h ago

TIL when a Oecobius civitas spider enters the home/territory of another spider of the same species, the residing spider leaves to find another home, allowing the squatter to take over.

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knowledgebase.lookseek.com
19 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL before the breakup, AT&T didn't allow customers to use phones made by other companies, claiming using them would degrade the network.

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investopedia.com
28.4k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL In 1609 the Kingdom Of Spain expelled hundreds of thousands of Moriscos, people of muslim ancestry who had converted to christianity, partialy because of a racial doctrine called "purity of blood". In some regions over 30% of the total population were expelled, devastating the local economy

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en.wikipedia.org
5.8k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL whale oil was used in transmissions until its ban in 1972, when less than 1 million transmissions failed each year; without whale oil, yearly transmission failures became more than 8 million by 1975. This led to thousands of transmission shops opening across the USA in the late 1970s and ’80s

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magazine.washington.edu
14.0k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL that the cloth placed over the backs of chairs in buses and planes is called "antimacassar" and it has its name from Macassar oil used for greasing hair back in 19th century. The cloth was there to protect the furniture from it.

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en.wikipedia.org
458 Upvotes