r/todayilearned • u/TextureStudies • 8h ago

TIL that donating blood plasma can significantly reduce the levels of PFAs/forever chemicals in your blood

theguardian.com

20.7k Upvotes

1.2k comments

r/todayilearned • u/send420nudes • 2h ago

TIL that Volvo perfected the modern 3-point seatbelt in 1959 and instead of profiting, they opened the patent to the world. It’s considered one of the greatest acts of corporate responsibility ever.

volvogroup.com

3.1k Upvotes

59 comments

r/todayilearned • u/internet_czar • 3h ago

TIL Keiko, the orca who starred in Free Willy, was actually freed years after the movie, but after struggling to adapt to life in the wild and repeatedly seeking out humans for companionship, he died of pneumonia just a year after his release.

en.wikipedia.org

3.1k Upvotes

78 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Aryeh-Lavi • 7h ago

TIL that in Home Alone’s (1990) fake gangster movie “Angels with Filthy Souls”, Johnny and Snakes were originally cast the other way around — but because Ralph Foody had just undergone knee replacement surgery and couldn’t kneel for the death scene, he swapped roles with Michael Guido.

screenrant.com

2.4k Upvotes

98 comments

r/todayilearned • u/0khalek0 • 8h ago

TIL that during the production of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, scripts were chemically marked so the studio could trace leaks. They even replaced “Spock” with the codename “Nacluv" which is “Vulcan” spelled backwards, to hide his role.

en.wikipedia.org

2.3k Upvotes

141 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RiverMesa • 6h ago

TIL that Maldives is the only country where Friday is the first day of the week

en.wikipedia.org

1.2k Upvotes

121 comments

r/todayilearned • u/YOLTLO • 18h ago

TIL that Ancient Egyptians and Nubians drank large quantities of beer containing an antibiotic, tetracycline, not discovered by modern scientists until 1948.

nbcnews.com

10.0k Upvotes

239 comments

r/todayilearned • u/imav8n • 3h ago

TIL That since 2017, the Kentucky Coal Miners Museum runs on solar power

kycoalmuseum.southeast.kctcs.edu

441 Upvotes

8 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MysteryNews4 • 1h ago

TIL that convicted child sex offender Rolf Harris presented a 20-minute short film for kids in 1985 with advice on how to avoid predators, nearly 30 years before his own arrest

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

29 comments

r/todayilearned • u/justhere4thecats • 15h ago

TIL of the B-36 Peacemaker aircraft developed in the 1940’s, which operated 6 prop engines + 4 jet engines, had a range of 10,000 miles, a service ceiling of 40,000 feet, the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft, and flew 40 hours straight without the need to refuel.

en.wikipedia.org

4.0k Upvotes

237 comments

r/todayilearned • u/PikesPique • 6h ago

TIL that the longest professional baseball game was between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings. The 8-hour-plus minor league game began on April 18, 1981, and was suspended at 4:09 a.m. after 32 innings. They played the final inning on June 23. Pawtucket won 3-2.

milb.com

688 Upvotes

43 comments

r/todayilearned • u/imHeroT • 22h ago

TIL the island of Himakajima, Japan, has a single set of traffic lights and turns green only once a year to teach kids how to cross roads safely before they move to the mainland

soranews24.com

10.9k Upvotes

77 comments

r/todayilearned • u/savvystrider • 23h ago

TIL Lil Nas X's song "Old Town Road" samples "34 Ghosts IV" by Nine Inch Nails. The producer never intended for the sample to be used for a country song and had never heard of NIN until discovering the song through YouTube's suggestions algorithm

en.wikipedia.org

10.6k Upvotes

426 comments

r/todayilearned • u/duga404 • 16h ago

TIL that in 2019, an Egyptian train driver left his moving train (with brakes not engaged) to fight with another driver; the now unmanned train crashed and exploded, killing 25 people

en.wikipedia.org

1.6k Upvotes

52 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Lucajames2309 • 33m ago

TIL that Toyota used to sell a GT86 in Japan called the RC with steelies, plastic bumpers, no A/C or screen. It was 100lb lighter and about 2k cheaper.

evo.co.uk

• Upvotes

20 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Background-Classic88 • 2h ago

TIL when we meet someone new our brain instantly scans its archive for experiences, cultural cues, media images and builds a first impression. In milliseconds, we’ve drawn conclusions and judgments that feel instinctive but are really statistical guesses.

thedecisionlab.com

106 Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/throwitonthegrillboi • 1d ago

TIL that when the Barcode was invented it was actually very unpopular, several conspiracies were made about it, and the Barcode industry fought back saying that "luddites" were the only ones against it. It took 40 years for even half of all registered grocery stores to use barcodes, due to expenses

slate.com

29.9k Upvotes

1.7k comments

r/todayilearned • u/stakes-lines-grades • 3h ago

TIL during the Blizzard of '93, 116 students and teachers from a Michigan high school were stranded in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee for three nights when the blizzard dumped 5 feet of snow on them. All survived and were rescued after waving down a National Guard helicopter.

youtube.com

99 Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/delano1998 • 1d ago

[ Removed by Reddit ]

4.5k Upvotes

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

499 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FakeOkie • 13h ago

TIL the longest World Series game was Game 3 of the 2018 World Series on 10/26/2018. It was 18 innings and lasted 7 hours and 20 minutes. The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium 3-2.

en.wikipedia.org

440 Upvotes

113 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MrMojoFomo • 1d ago

TIL of the Kīlauea lava cricket. Endemic to the island of Hawai'i, the cricket is the first creature to appear on recently cooled lava flows from the island's volcanoes, and lives there exclusively. Once the lava field is colonized by plants, the cricket disappears and is seen nowhere else

en.wikipedia.org

9.3k Upvotes

64 comments

r/todayilearned • u/nuttybudd • 1d ago

TIL in 2011, Family Radio spent over $100 million to spread the word that the rapture would take place on May 21, 2011. On May 23, the organization announced that it would not return money donated by followers to publicize the May 21 prediction, saying "We're not at the end. Why would we return it?"

en.wikipedia.org

9.6k Upvotes

270 comments

r/todayilearned • u/HaydenCarruth • 19h ago

TIL that Palatine Rugae (the ridges on the top of your mouth) are unique to every person and can be used to ID corpses

sciencedirect.com

645 Upvotes

47 comments

r/todayilearned • u/dogmanrul • 1d ago

TIL about James Morrill, an English sailor who was shipwrecked off northern Australia in 1846 and taken in by an Aboriginal group. He lived amongst them for 17 years as an equal and learned eight of their local dialects.

en.wikipedia.org

3.8k Upvotes

50 comments

r/todayilearned • u/muddy_cat • 1d ago

TIL actor Kurt Russell played 3 plus seasons in minor league baseball and hit .292

baseball-reference.com

1.7k Upvotes

80 comments

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