Today I Learned 🎓

27 June 2025 09:49

TIL your belly button is a thriving "rainforest" of microbial diversity, and some people even have bacteria in there that have never been seen before by scientists. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 June 2025 08:49

TIL the human gut has its own nervous system with over 100 million neurons, more than a cats brain, and it can function independently of the brain. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 June 2025 06:49

TIL that Hitler's bodyguard, Rochus Misch, lived long enough to see the film Downfall depicting Hitler's final days in the bunker. He commented on the historical accuracy, stating that Hitler did far less yelling. He also noted that the scene where he contemplates suicide was different from reality. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 June 2025 04:49

TIL that in 2010, 83% of Chinese people reported having trouble writing characters according to a survey done by China Youth Daily. In another survey 60% of teachers complained of declining writing ability. This phenomenon is known as "Character Amnesia/提笔忘字". [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 June 2025 02:49

TIL A former Creek County District Judge Donald Thompson, 61, was accused of using a "penis pump" in court for 22 years and was convicted in June 2006 on four counts of indecent exposure [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 June 2025 01:49

TIL the Nebra Sky Disc, the oldest known depiciton of astrological was part of a trademark lawsuit as the state of Saxony-Anhalt claimed trademark but a counter argument was that it was published 3500 years ago and thus out of copy right. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 23:49

TIL about KIDS - Koala Immune Deficiency Syndrome - 80% of deaths of captive koalas in Queensland are attributed to KIDS and in studied koala populations infection rate is 100% [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 21:49

TIL that the earliest version of the Pied Piper story makes no mention of rats - only that, on 26 June 1284, a piper led 130 children out of Hamelin, never to return. Music and dancing remain banned on Bungelosenstrasse, the “street without drums” where they were last seen. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 19:49

TIL It's been 40 years since a person has been born in Antarctica. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 17:49

TIL James Rothschild is a double heir, to both Rothschild and Guinness fortunes [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 14:49

TIL There's a statue in front of the HQ of the CIA with four encrypted messages and its fourth message remains undeciphered. It's, in fact, one of the biggest mysteries in the world of cryptography. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 12:49

TIL after a woman put $40 into a lottery vending machine with the intention of buying multiple cheaper tickets, "some rude person" bumped into her & caused her to accidentally select a $30 ticket. She was annoyed until she started scratching that ticket & realized she'd won the $10 million jackpot. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 09:49

TIL boredom causes stress and discomfort for people with ADHD. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 06:49

TIL Alaska and Hawaii are tied for having the lowest record high temp among the 50 US states. They each have a record high of just 100 degrees Fahrenheit [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 03:49

TIL there is an 85 mile stretch of land on the Mississippi River called "Cancer Alley" due to the concentration of petrochemical and refinery plants there. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 June 2025 09:49

TIL Pedro Pascal’s parents returned to Chile in 1995 after his father Dr. Jose P. Balmaceda was accused of stealing fertility patients' eggs and embryos and implanting them in other women without their knowledge and consent. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 June 2025 07:49

TIL In 1987, an 18-month old girl, Jessica McClure, fell 22 feet into a well in her aunt’s property in Midland, Texas. The rescue took 58 hours and was televised on CNN, the first 24 hr news station. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 June 2025 05:49

TIL There’s a pay phone in Takoma Park, MD, that only makes bird calls. If you pick up the handset, you’ll hear the call of the Mourning Dove instead of a dial tone. Press a key to hear another bird call along with its identification and info about it. The phone attracts a lot of children. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 June 2025 04:49

TIL of the M*A*S*H* spinoff W*A*L*T*E*R*, about Radar O'Reilly after the war. He had lost his farm, had to evict his mother from her home, and his wife left him for his best friend during their honeymoon leaving him destitute and suicidal. It was a comedy… [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 June 2025 02:49

TIL about Beatriz Flamini who spent 500 days alone in a cave without clocks, sunlight, or human contact as part of a scientific experiment on extreme isolation. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 June 2025 01:49

TIL that after a lifeguard put her head under water and opened her eyes while wearing contact lenses, an amoeba called acanthamoeba keratitis damaged one of her corneas and she went blind in one eye. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 22:49

TIL Rwanda has the highest female parliamentary representation —standing at 64%—in the world. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 19:49

TIL oscar-nominated 2021 movie 'Don't Look Up' allegedly ripped off a self-published novel 'Stanley's Comet' by William Collier. The novel has almost the exact same plot and even uses the phrase "Don't look" in a similar way. However, in 2024 the copyright lawsuit was dismissed [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 18:49

TIL Snuffleupagus was a child of divorced parents according to an unaired episode of Sesame Street. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 15:49

TIL the Smurfs’ creator, Peyo, was so upset that his characters appeared in an anti-drug special, Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, without his permission that he refused to work with Hanna-Barbera ever again. This ultimately cancelled the TV series. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 12:49

TIL Danny Boyle, director of 28 Days Later and Slumdog Millionaire, declined knighthood for directing London Olympic opening ceremony. Proclaming he is proud equel citizen and that's what ceremony was about. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 11:49

Today I learned that the writers of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" had never actually attended a baseball game before writing the song. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 08:49

TIL: President (James) Garfield’s great-great-grandson, Richard Garfield, invented Magic The Gathering [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 05:49

TIL Ireland's population peaked in the census of 1841 with over 8 million people. It never recovered from the long lasting effects of the potato famine. Was at 4 million for half a century. Today, it's at 7.2 million, having not fully recovered almost 2 centuries post famine [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

26 June 2025 02:49

TIL that there were at least 42 assassination attempts on Hitler uncovered by historians. [Source]