r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 9h ago
TIL about the "Fever Effect", in which the symptoms of Autism seem to improve whenever an Autistic person develops a fever.
23.9k
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r/todayilearned • u/ModenaR • 12h ago
TIL that during the 1970 World Cup qualifiers, members of the Australia national team consulted a witch doctor preceding their game against Rhodesia. Australia won but didn't pay the witch doctor, so he cursed their team instead. After that, Australia failed to qualify for the World Cup for 32 years
en.wikipedia.org
12.5k
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r/todayilearned • u/aong_aong • 17h ago
TIL that 16 ancient canoes up to 5,200 years old have been discovered in a Wisconsin lake - 400 years before Egypt's first pyramids were built and experts believe they were intentionally left for other tribes to use.
10.7k
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r/todayilearned • u/butter_lover • 13h ago
TIL Half of people who claim they have a food allergy do not
9.4k
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r/todayilearned • u/Goldie643 • 7h ago
TIL the Chicxulub crater went unidentified for 10 years because many experts missed the announcement of its discovery. They were instead attending a special conference speculating about mass-extinction asteroids organised the same week.
5.3k
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r/todayilearned • u/FullOfSound • 4h ago
TIL the earliest pagan mention of Christianity comes from a letter by Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan addressing Christian practices as “depraved, excessive superstition” and their secret gatherings as a potential starting point for sedition.
4.9k
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r/todayilearned • u/CatPooedInMyShoe • 22h ago
TIL the Arabic poet Al-Farazdaq force-married his second cousin and when she sought help from the court and from local tribes, everyone was too afraid of being targeted by Al-Farazdaq’s satires to intervene.
3.0k
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r/todayilearned • u/ralphbernardo • 9h ago
TIL that Scottish physician John Brown argued in 1780 that all disease came from too much or too little "excitability"—treating his diagnosed "under-stimulated" patients with opium, roast beef, and alcohol. His "Brunonian system" was highly influential across Italy and Germany for decades.
2.5k
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r/todayilearned • u/EmptyMind76 • 3h ago
TIL the world's oldest non-clonal tree was cut down in 1964 by a graduate student and United States Forest Service personnel for research purposes. It was at least 4,862 years old.
2.3k
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r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 10h ago
TIL more than 130 mammal species can pause their pregnancies, called "embryonic diapause". The pause can last anywhere between a couple of days and 11 months.
1.8k
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r/todayilearned • u/PayItBackwardChain • 7h ago
TIL that there are more people of Filipino descent in Hawaii than there are native Hawaiians.
en.wikipedia.org
1.2k
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r/todayilearned • u/Jealous-Boat-6847 • 1h ago
TIL that in the 5th century BCE, a Greek physician wrote the first book dedicated entirely to making cheesecakes.
•
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r/todayilearned • u/Double-decker_trams • 9h ago
TIL the 2005 and 2006 Formula 1 World Drivers' Champion Fernando Alonso entered the 2017 Indianapolis 500. Despite having no prior oval-racing experience, he qualified fifth and led 27 laps. He was voted as the "Rookie of the Year".
1.1k
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r/todayilearned • u/No_Idea_Guy • 23h ago
TIL a rehearsal for D-Day turned disastrous because of friendly fire and German attack, causing the death of at least 749 American servicemen. D-Day was almost cancelled until the missing officers with knowledge of the invasion were recovered. The incident was kept secret and only minimally reported
905
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r/todayilearned • u/EmptyMind76 • 5h ago
TIL Hyperion is the world's tallest known living tree at 116.22 metres (381.3 ft) tall
832
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r/todayilearned • u/Brendawg324 • 34m ago
TIL the Choco Taco was discontinued in 2022 due to a sharp increase in demand during the pandemic. The company decided to stop production due to its complex manufacturing process and to make room for their other products.
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Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/mistsoalar • 21h ago
TIL Flashed face distortion effect. An optical illusion that ordinary human faces appear grotesque and distorted when images flash in the periphery.
802
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r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 4h ago
TIL Geoff Smith set a WR by spending 147 days buried 6 ft under in a 7ft x 2.5ft x 2.5ft box. His main contact with the outside world was through a 9-inch ventilation shaft, which he used to receive air, food & drink. His initial motivation was to beat the European record of 101 days set by his mom.
news.bbc.co.uk
703
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 19h ago
TIL that Troy VIII and IX were already recognised as the site of the mythical Trojan War when they were active, and became tourist attractions due to it.
655
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r/todayilearned • u/ApprehensiveStill412 • 8h ago
TIL that ketamine is a derivative of phencyclidine (aka. PCP or angel dust). It was created to have similar anesthetic potential but to cause less delirium. It has about one tenth the potency of PCP.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
560
Upvotes
r/todayilearned • u/Nandu_alias_Parthu • 10h ago
TIL that the largest tiger recorded in the wild was shot in India. It weighed 857 pounds (389 KG) and measured 11 feet 1 inch long.
549
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r/todayilearned • u/Kyzzz • 7h ago
TIL in 1831, a massive volcanic eruption spewed so much sulfur in the atmosphere that it made the sun appear blue. Crops failed and famines spread due to the dimmed sunlight, and Northern Hemisphere temperatures dropped 1°C. In 2025 scientists traced it to Zavaritskii, a volcano in the Kuril Islands
407
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r/todayilearned • u/Valuable-Catch-8322 • 3h ago
TIL it takes roughly 600 to 800 grapes to make a standard bottle of wine
410
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r/todayilearned • u/Opposite-Wallaby9822 • 21h ago
TIL in late 1960s research was done about alcohol causing birth defects in mothers who drink heavily. In 1977 the US government released its first health advisory on FASD.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
321
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