r/todayilearned 3h ago

TIL that transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (also known as prion diseases) have the highest mortality rate of any disease that is not inherited: 100%

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5.1k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 8h ago

TIL: In China for about three years around 1900, a secret martial arts training club tried to overthrow the Chinese government & force out foreigners. Known to the West as "The Boxer Rebellion," the name literally comes from the fact that members fought unarmed using Chinese forms of unarmed combat.

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8.8k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 3h ago

TIL About Diana Budisavljević, the female Schindler, who undertook one of the greatest humanitarian acts in WWII, by saving over 7,700 children from concentration camps in the area of what is today's Croatia

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2.5k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 12h ago

TIL Burritos are popular food for astronauts in space because it's easy to eat and doesn't produce crumbs that could float around and damage equipment

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7.3k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 18h ago Narwhal Salute

TIL that Carlo Urbani, an Italian Microbiologist, was the first to identify SARS-COV-1 in Vietnam and report it to the WHO as a dangerous new pathogen. Urbani himself died of SARS himself shortly after, having triggered a rapid response to a potential pandemic, and saving many lives.

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13.3k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 2h ago

TIL that Bolaji Badejo, a 6 foot 10 Nigerian visual artist, played the original Alien (1979)’s xenomorph. His height and slender body convinced Ridley Scott that he was a perfect choice for the villain. He also died from sickle cell disease at age 39.

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430 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 20h ago

TIL that at the company Hormel Foods, which makes canned SPAM, employees are supposed to refer to spam emails as unwanted emails.

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35.1k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 4h ago

TIL Austria's Coat of Arms is the last to feature a hammer and sickle in Europe

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410 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 17h ago

TIL About the Man-eaters of Tsavo, two man-eating lions that halted the construction of a railway bridge in 1898

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2.8k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 13h ago

Today I learned that beavers teeth are yellow in colour because of the iron in their tooth enamel.

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1.1k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 21h ago

TIL Antonie van Leeuwenhoek handcrafted his microscopes using secret methods. They had powers of magnification ranging from 50 to 300x and the instrument he made in 1677 was powerful enough to see sperm

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4.2k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago Facepalm

TIL a kidnapping victim was jailed after he tried to extort his kidnappers. He told them "call me if you want to finesse trial... either you cough up sum bread or sit in the feds for 20 years"

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22.6k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 21h ago

TIL about Georges Ruggiu. A Belgian civil servant, who at 35 moved to Rwanda, become a radio presenter for the ruling party (despite not speaking the native language) and demonised the Tutsis, which ended in their genocide.

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3.9k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 16h ago

TIL that NBA legend Paul Pierce was stabbed 11 times in 2000 and still played every single game of the 2000-01 season

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1.2k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 23h ago

TIL that Humans actually have stripes in their skin that can only be seen under UV light. They are called Blaschko’s lines after the Dermatologist who discovered them.

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4.2k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL of United Passions (2015), a movie financed by FIFA for $29 million as a fluff piece to make themselves look good. But due to being released right around the time of the FIFA Corruption Scandal, the movie only earned $918 at the opening weekend.

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18.9k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 17h ago

TIL about a man who was rescued by a sea lion after he tried to kill himself by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge

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1.0k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1h ago

TIL that Steve Wozniak created the first universal remote control

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Upvotes

r/todayilearned 2h ago

TIL: A million more babies are born every year in just Nigeria than all of Europe combined

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20 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 27m ago

TIL that during the peak years of her career, Marilyn Monroe was enrolled in correspondence art classes trying to learn to draw

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Upvotes

r/todayilearned 22h ago

TIL that Art Spiegelman, best known for the Pulitzer-winning graphic novel Maus, also created the Garbage Pail Kids line of trading cards

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633 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 21h ago

TIL The UK Has More Speed Cameras Than US

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435 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 8h ago

TIL - Due to bank erosion from river advancement and limited funds, Afghanistan had to resort to using discarded Soviet tanks for "bank armoring" to prevent land loss

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37 Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL of Daniel Sickles. He shot the son of Francis Scott Key in broad daylight for sleeping with his wife, and was the first person acquitted under the insanity defense. Later he was appointed a Union general, and lost his leg disobeying orders. He regularly claimed to be 6 years younger than he was.

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5.4k Upvotes

r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL: The last imperial eunuch of Chinese history was castrated by his father with a razor to serve the last emperor Pu Yi. However, just mere months after the operation, the emperor was deposed and the system of government changed.

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15.1k Upvotes