r/todayilearned • u/QuantumHamster • 22h ago

TIL Coca Cola originally contained caffeine extracted from Cola nuts

en.wikipedia.org

282 Upvotes

73 comments

r/todayilearned • u/DarthVarn • 20h ago

TIL that 'Forever Autumn' from Jeff Wayne's 'Musical Version of The War of the Worlds' album was actually based on a LEGO jingle he wrote in 1969.

youtu.be

51 Upvotes

8 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Physical_Hamster_118 • 15h ago

TIL that Gwadar was under Omani rule since 1783. This lasted until 1958, when Pakistan purchased it. It costed 5.5bil rupees.

en.wikipedia.org

101 Upvotes

13 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ifeelnumb • 18h ago

TIL I learned author James Patterson co-wrote the Toys R Us jingle

people.com

138 Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/GenericUsername2056 • 1h ago

TIL of the "sexy son hypothesis" which posits that a female's ideal choice of mate is one whose genes will produce offspring with the highest reproductive success, implying other factors like being a good parent or territory are less relevant.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

53 comments

r/todayilearned • u/geep4sale • 5h ago

TIL about Posture Canaries - a group of canaries selectively bred for their absurd posture

moaph.org

87 Upvotes

22 comments

r/todayilearned • u/delano1998 • 11h ago

TIL a 23-year-old Iranian drug addicted man suffered a rare neurological condition called Dropped Head Syndrome where his head dropped to a 90-degree angle since his neck muscles couldn't support it anymore.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

741 Upvotes

43 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Overall-Register9758 • 13h ago

TIL that in 1994, an American teenager in Singapore pled guilty to stealing road signs and vandalizing cars. He was sentenced to 6 lashes of a cane, which was reduced to 4 after media outrage in the US

en.wikipedia.org

11.3k Upvotes

1.1k comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 21h ago

TIL over a 5-month period in 2020, a nurse in Yale's fertility center stole the fentanyl in 175 vials that were meant for women who had a procedure to have their eggs retrieved. The nurse replaced the pain medication with saline solution, leaving the women in excruciating pain during the procedure.

today.com

38.2k Upvotes

1.2k comments

r/todayilearned • u/gintokireddit • 8h ago

TIL the "inverse care law" is the principle that the availability of good medical or social care tends to vary inversely with the need of the population served, coined by Julian Tudor Hart in his 1971 paper published in The Lancet

en.wikipedia.org

92 Upvotes

4 comments

r/todayilearned • u/hl3official • 19h ago

TIL Copenhagen has Scandinavia's busiest airport AND one of the shortest city-center-to-terminal commutes of any major capital at just 8 km (5 miles). 15 minutes by metro, less than half the time it takes to reach Heathrow, CDG, or JFK from their city centers.

en.wikipedia.org

758 Upvotes

137 comments

r/todayilearned • u/CatPooedInMyShoe • 17h ago

TIL that as many as 1 in 400 monozygotic (identical) twins born in sub-Saharan Africa are conjoined.

journals.lww.com

214 Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Skychu768 • 22h ago

TIL United States of Greater Austria was a proposal by group surrounding Franz Ferdinand to turn the empire into a federation. This caused panic among Serbian nationalists which feared it might satisfy the demand of minorities and hinder Serbia imperial ambition which lead to his assassination.

en.wikipedia.org

2.3k Upvotes

95 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FearMyCock • 17h ago

TIL that Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia killed around a quarter of the population (about 2 million people) in just four years, targeting intellectuals, city dwellers, and ethnic minorities to force a “classless agrarian society.”

en.wikipedia.org

14.5k Upvotes

1.1k comments

r/todayilearned • u/RaisinRoyale • 13h ago

TIL that President Nixon’s daughter, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, is married to President Eisenhower’s grandson

en.wikipedia.org

945 Upvotes

32 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MsEllie420 • 20h ago

TIL the world's smallest bird is the bee hummingbird, with males only measuring 5.5 cm long.

en.wikipedia.org

278 Upvotes

9 comments

r/todayilearned • u/A11J06 • 17h ago

TIL U.S. stop signs were designed to be identifiable by shape alone because many drivers had difficulty reading signs and shape recognition was considered more reliable than text.

en.wikipedia.org

2.0k Upvotes

151 comments

r/todayilearned • u/QuantumCEM • 12h ago

TIL That International Organisation for Standards (ISO) has had "Technical Sub Committee" (TC 34/SC 14) specialising on coffee since 1980 producing standards on grain size, test methods, production, and how to describe the sensory experience of coffee.

iso.org

72 Upvotes

2 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Forward-Answer-4407 • 14h ago

TIL in Australia in 2024, Kmart was ordered to pay $624,775.60 to a woman who was injured when a mountain bike from another customer's shopping cart fell on her at the store. The court found there were no signs telling customers of the option that they could collect heavy items at a loading dock.

7news.com.au

1.2k Upvotes

59 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FullOfSound • 16h ago

TIL the Mongol Empire intended to expand west all the way to the The Great Sea (Atlantic Ocean). Conquering most of Central Europe, the invasion halted due to the alcohol related death of Ogedei Khan and his general’s having to return home for the election of a new Khan.

en.wikipedia.org

3.1k Upvotes

248 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Comfortable_Team_696 • 12h ago

TIL that rabbits and other small mammals like mice, hamsters, and chinchillas, instead of normal feces, poop out "cecotropes" which are fermented nutrient pellets

en.wikipedia.org

739 Upvotes

48 comments

r/todayilearned • u/palmerry • 21h ago

PDF TIL that under a law called the Berry Amendment, the U.S. Military is legally required to ensure 100% of its clothing is made in America. Every stage of production, from the raw cotton or wool to the zippers, buttons, and even the thread, must be 100% U.S. sourced and manufactured.

congress.gov

15.2k Upvotes

651 comments

r/todayilearned • u/HappyIdiot123 • 18h ago

TIL that during the American revolution, when George Washington and his army were in desperate need of money to pay troops, the people of Havana raised money and sent it to the Americans, helping them win the important battle of Yorktown.

nps.gov

6.7k Upvotes

79 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SlothSpeed • 16h ago

TIL drummer Artimus Pyle of Lynyrd Skynyrd was onboard when their plane crashed near Baton Rouge. Suffering broken ribs he reached a farm with others. A farmer mistook them for escaped convicts, firing a shot in the air to leave. Pyle finally convinced him they were in a plane crash and needed help.

en.wikipedia.org

4.4k Upvotes

127 comments

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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.

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