r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 4h ago

TIL during a 2015 study two students nearly died after they were accidentally given 30g of caffeine instead of 0.3g because the dosage had been calculated with a misplaced decimal point. Death has previously been reported after the consumption of just 18g. The university apologized & was fined £400K

theguardian.com

20.8k Upvotes

769 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 4h ago

TIL a study found that 23 cases of 'Sudden Gamer Death' (a non-violent death linked to playing video games) occurred between 2002-2021. In 18 of the cases, the gaming session before death was extremely long (ranging from a day to several days) with minimal rest.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

3.6k Upvotes

138 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Intrepid-Tank-3414 • 4h ago

TIL Grant Imahara from ILM/Mythbusters built the R2-D2 astromech droid for the Star Wars sequels and the Energizer Bunny robot for the 2000s TV commercials

makezine.com

1.9k Upvotes

28 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Not_so_ghetto • 6h ago

TIL there was a mass die off >90% scallops in NY due to a new parasite in 2019

nature.com

1.4k Upvotes

23 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 20h ago

TIL in 2024 Bear 32, also known as Chunk, was observed eating 45 sockeye salmon in 10.5 hours from Brooks River in Katmai National Park & Preserve. At an estimated average of 3,000 calories per fish, Chunk consumed around 135,000 calories in that one sitting.

mashable.com

40.2k Upvotes

957 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 15h ago

TIL that there is a volcanic eruption which is theorised to have occurred in 1808 due to a pile of sulphate in the atmosphere, yet is unmentioned in any historical records.

en.wikipedia.org

5.3k Upvotes

144 comments

r/todayilearned • u/yena • 11h ago

TIL that a very old human skull from China, long classified as Homo erectus, has been reanalyzed and placed by researchers into a distinct early East Asian Homo lineage, with its age and Denisovan relationship still under debate.

arstechnica.com

1.4k Upvotes

14 comments

r/todayilearned • u/rianbrob • 6h ago

TIL the native people of Somalia believe that a man becomes infertile after being bitten by a honey badger

en.wikipedia.org

603 Upvotes

83 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tenzin_Qing • 6h ago

TIL that J. Robert Oppenheimer’s only visit to Japan was for a lecture tour that began on September 5, 1960. Sponsoring the tour was the Japan Committee for Intellectual Interchange (JCII). He visited cities including Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, lecturing at institutions like Kyoto University.

lanl.gov

433 Upvotes

51 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ralphbernardo • 1d ago

TIL that the "hushed" feeling after a snowfall is due to snow being a great sound absorber. Fresh, fluffy snow absorbs roughly 60% of sound on average, making it comparable to the commercial foams and fibers used inside cars and buildings.

lpm.org

12.2k Upvotes

89 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Physical_Hamster_118 • 1d ago

TIL that the ingredient used to make the original root beer, sassafras was banned by the FDA in 1960 since it contained safrole.

en.wikipedia.org

13.0k Upvotes

616 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Forsaken-Peak8496 • 2h ago

TIL Jyoti Amge is the shortest woman in the world, a title she has held since 2011, standing at a height of 62.8 cm (2 ft 3⁄4 in)

en.wikipedia.org

135 Upvotes

10 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Silly_Qube • 10h ago

TIL that a French High-wire walker named Phillipe Petit walked across the Twin Towers 8 TIMES for his 45 minute performance in August 7, 1974

theguardian.com

487 Upvotes

52 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Away_Flounder3813 • 1d ago

TIL the filmmakers for "Shrek" (2001) had originally used Smash Mouth's "All Star" as a placeholder for the opening credits and intended to replace it with an original composition that would mimic the feel of "All Star". DreamWorks executive Jeffrey Katzenberg suggested for them to keep it in.

theringer.com

9.0k Upvotes

210 comments

r/todayilearned • u/luigdibar • 1d ago

TIL that Eminem, in addition to his biological daughter Hailie Jade, has legally adopted and had custody of Alaina (his ex-sister-in-law's daughter) and Stevie (his ex-wife's child with another father) and he also raised his younger half-brother Nathan

en.wikipedia.org

50.4k Upvotes

902 comments

r/todayilearned • u/res30stupid • 18h ago

TIL the most-nominated (35) and most-honored (8) woman at the Oscars was Edith Head, a costume designer who also holds the Guinness World Record for most-credited costume designer in film (432).

en.wikipedia.org

1.9k Upvotes

57 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Forsaken-Peak8496 • 11h ago

TIL about phage therapy, a treatment for bacterial infections prior to the advent of antibiotics that relied on bacteriophages to infect and kill bacteria

en.wikipedia.org

425 Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/EssexGuyUpNorth • 1d ago

TIL that Rod Stewart's band The Faces, were once given a 40 year ban from the Holiday Inn hotel chain for trashing their rooms. The band subsequently stayed at Holiday Inns under the name Fleetwood Mac, so that they would get the blame when the hotel rooms were trashed.

bbc.co.uk

6.2k Upvotes

148 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RedditIsAGranfaloon • 20h ago

TIL Jimi Hendrix enlisted in the Army after he was caught twice riding in stolen cars before he reached 19 years old and was given the choice of prison time or joining the Army.

roadiemusic.com

1.9k Upvotes

48 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 20h ago

TIL at 27 years old, Josh Trank became the youngest director ever to lead a number one movie at the US box office when Chronicle opened in the top spot with a $22 million haul in 2012. Trank's achievement toppled a record that had stood since 1975, when Steven Spielberg directed Jaws at age 28.

faroutmagazine.co.uk

1.4k Upvotes

40 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Hazmat-Asscastle • 1d ago

TIL A shipment containing 55 Oscar statuettes was stolen in the weeks leading up to the 2000 awards. 52 were found a week later in a supermarket dumpster, 1 was found in a drug dealers mansion in 2003, and 2 are still missing.

en.wikipedia.org

3.4k Upvotes

78 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Objective-Painter-73 • 1d ago

TIL that in 1944 US pilot Martin James Monti defected to Nazi Germany and joined the Waffen-SS. After the war, he was only charged with desertion and granted clemency, until investigators discovered his work as a Nazi propagandist, leading to a 25-year sentence for treason

en.wikipedia.org

7.2k Upvotes

116 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Johannes_P • 13h ago

TIL in August 1939, some German generals planned to ask high-ranking military officials to give troops to Hjalmar Schacht to prevent a war with Poland, as the Reich Cabinet had the power to debate on declarations of war, which Hitler had not done

en.wikipedia.org

175 Upvotes

3 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 • 1d ago

TIL that besides inventing television (which he called the “Televisor”), John Logie Baird also attempted to produce diamonds from graphite, a rust-proof glass razor (which shattered), pneumatic shoes (which burst), infrared night-viewing (Noctovision), and mechanical video recording (Phonovision).

en.wikipedia.org

1.5k Upvotes

94 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

41.2m

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 December 2025

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.