Today I Learned 🎓

24 December 2025 04:49

TIL about Snapdragon, a 16th century holiday game where players try to grab brandy-soaked raisins which were set on fire. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 December 2025 01:49

TIL that in 1816, the entire Northern Hemisphere experienced a year without summer. Snow fell in June, crops failed, and famine spread, all because a volcano on the other side of the world exploded the year before. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 23:49

TIL that fungi were found growing inside the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that actually feed on radiation. They use a process called "radiosynthesis" to convert gamma rays into chemical energy, similar to how plants use photosynthesis to convert sunlight. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 21:49

TIL that In 1867 an American businessman attended a reading of the Charles Dickens story "A Christmas Carol." The businessman was so moved by the reading that he closed his factory on Christmas Day and sent every employee a turkey. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 20:49

TIL that thr Appendix isn't just a vestigial organ in Humans but a still functional organ that helps play a role in immune system and gut bacteria health [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 18:49

TIL that a Smilodon fatalis with a crippling hip condition survived to adulthood, hinting it may have relied on others (e.g. through food sharing), which supports the idea that these saber-toothed cats might have been social. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 16:49

TIL there’s a species of salp (a barrel shaped marine invertebrate) with the scientific name “Thetys vagina.” At the time of its naming in 1802 the word “vagina” didn’t have the modern definition and just meant a sheath. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 15:49

TIL in 1991 a woman Michael Jordan had an ongoing affair with told him that she was pregnant with his kid. Multiple paternity tests proved this was false, but he paid her $250K to keep their relationship private. In 2003 her lawsuit against him that claimed he had agreed to pay her $5m was dismissed [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 13:49

TIL that despite both NFL teams being in the same city, the Jets and Giants have only ever played each other 15 times. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 12:49

TIL that during the 80 years war, the Spanish city of Breda was taken when a small force hid inside a peat barge which was allowed to enter the city. Once inside, the force were able to attack the defending garrison, routing them easily with only one casualty. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 08:49

TIL: Andy Serkis has been making a performance capture movie version of Animal Farm, focusing on globalization and corporate greed, for "12" freaking years. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 05:49

TIL that between the 1950s and mid-1970s, roughly 60–80% of hit songs were written by professional songwriters who never performed them [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 05:49

TIL that the Driftless Area is a region in the midwest US that was never covered by ice during the last glacial period, despite being surrounded by glaciers multiple times. The region has unique geology and ecology, but is threatened by habitat destruction and soil erosion. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 02:49

TIL that when a container of mixed nuts is shaken, the largest nuts (like Brazil nuts) always rise to the top. This phenomenon, known as "Granular Convection," contradicts the logic that heavier objects should sink. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 01:49

TIL Nicki Minaj is not a US citizen [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 December 2025 02:49

TIL from watching the Tetris movie about Robert Maxwell, a British businessman who was posthumously found to have propped up his failing businesses with some of the worst pension fraud in British history [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

24 December 2025 00:49

TIL about the Spotted green pigeon, a single mysterious stuffed specimen of an extinct species of pigeon which due to poor record keeping it is unknown where it was originally from. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 23:49

TIL "The Eternaut" is a legendary Argentine graphic novel, first published in 1957. Its author was "disappeared" by the military dictatorship in 1977, yet today the book is so revered the government distributes it to high schools. It received its first official English translation in 2015. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 21:49

TIL the human brain normally limits muscle strength to prevent injury, and in extreme stress it temporarily removes this limit, allowing people to use far more strength than usual. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 19:49

TIL of the 52 American submarines lost in WWII, three were destroyed when their own torpedoes circled back and hit them. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 17:49

TIL that in 1731, Britain banned Latin and French from the legal system because it was seen as 'elitist gatekeeping' used to confuse the public. Despite the ban, phrases like 'status quo' survived because lawyers argued they were 'too useful' to replace with English. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 16:49

TIL that journalist Carl Bernstein had an affair with the daughter of the UK Prime Minister. His wife, writer Nora Ephron, delivered their second son prematurely on learning of the affair and later wrote the novel Heartburn based on these events. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 15:49

TIL we arent born with the bacteria that causes cavities, its transmitted by saliva [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 13:49

TIL about Pointing and calling, a method in occupational safety for avoiding mistakes by pointing at important indicators and verbally calling out their status. It is especially common on Japanese railways. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 09:49

TIL Stanley Kubrick canceled Bill McKinney's audition to play the drill instructor in Full Metal Jacket after Kubrick professed an irrational fear of the actor. He was known for playing a psychopath in Deliverance, most memorably in a scene Kubrick called "the most terrifying scene ever put on film" [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 07:49

TIL that Zooey Deschanel wasn't the first choice for the role, Jovie, in the movie, Elf. She filled in as a backup. She had a meeting for the movie while she had blonde hair, and the team wanted her to remain blonde for the movie. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 05:49

TIL that in 1816 Old Farmer's Almanac rose to fame by correctly predicting snow in July. The prediction, however, was a prank by child courier who was asked by the editor to "just put something" into a missing July entry. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 03:49

TIL the NFL record for passing yards in a game has stood for over 70 years (Norm Van Brocklin, 554 yards in 1951). [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

23 December 2025 01:49

TIL about the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, a 12-month clinical study aiming to learn how best to help European and Asian famine victims recover after WWII. Healthy volunteers were selected from among conscientious objectors in lieu of military service. Most suffered extreme psychological trauma. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

22 December 2025 22:49

TIL more than half of Earth's oxygen is produced by ocean plankton, not trees. [Source]