r/todayilearned • u/Number_169 • 36m ago

TIL that the solar system is currently passing through a nebula: the Local Interstellar Cloud, and is protected from the interstellar medium by the solar wind and the Sun's magnetic field.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

5 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sweet_Foundation_868 • 1h ago

TIL that Mark Cuban purchased the town of Mustang, Texas for 2 million dollars.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

38 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 • 2h ago

TIL one of the most popular actors in China is Mark Rowswell (stage name: Dashan), a Canadian comedian. He is often considered the most famous foreigner in the country. He is largely unknown in North America.

en.wikipedia.org

5.5k Upvotes

310 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Coverlesss • 2h ago

TIL about the Münchhausen trilemma - The philosophical argument that all attempts to prove something true eventually rely on circular logic, endless regress, or an unsupported assumption.

en.wikipedia.org

836 Upvotes

241 comments

r/todayilearned • u/UgliestDisability • 3h ago

TIL that country star Dwight Yoakam made an uncredited, brief appearance in the film An Officer and a Gentleman as the lead singer of the Navy prom band, singing "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree".

youtube.com

21 Upvotes

4 comments

r/todayilearned • u/loloreel • 3h ago

TIL that dice are 12,000 years old, they are older than the invention of the wheel (5,000 years old). Modern looking, 6 faced dice are around 2,600 years old

libarts.source.colostate.edu

1.7k Upvotes

93 comments

r/todayilearned • u/fotogneric • 3h ago

TIL that English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748 - 1832) coined the words "international," "maximize," "minimize," "codify", "marginalize," "bicameral," and many others.

ucl.ac.uk

820 Upvotes

77 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Parking_Spot • 3h ago

TIL That Bob Marley gave songwriting credits for No Woman, No Cry to his friend Vincent Ford so that royalties from the hit song would support Ford's Kingston, Jamaica soup kitchen.

en.wikipedia.org

1.2k Upvotes

17 comments

r/todayilearned • u/real_picklejuice • 5h ago

TIL that the water inlet on a Bombardier CL-415 Super Scooper firefighting airplane is only about the size of your hand

tsb.gc.ca

90 Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jamieseemsamused • 5h ago

TIL Helium was first detected in the Sun from an unknown spectral line during a solar eclipse, years before any Helium was discovered on Earth. It was named after Helios, Greek god of the Sun.

en.wikipedia.org

3.2k Upvotes

21 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Electronic_Cause_796 • 6h ago

TIL leopards have the most varied diet of any big cat, with over 100 recorded prey species. They're also the only big cats known to regularly store their kills in trees, hauling prey up to 140% of their own body weight high into the branches to keep it from scavengers.

pbs.org

705 Upvotes

14 comments

r/todayilearned • u/3_2_1 • 7h ago

TIL that before French novelist Marc Levy's debut book, If Only It Were True, was published, Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks acquired the film rights, later adapting it into the movie Just Like Heaven

en.wikipedia.org

18 Upvotes

0 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Mors_Acerba • 8h ago

TIL Elizabethan era theater was directly influenced by the then recent re-discovery of the roman era tragedies written by stoic philosopher Seneca. Despite that, Seneca's tragedies later felt into disrepute again because of their strong horror elements, especially the grotesque displays of violence

en.wikipedia.org

407 Upvotes

28 comments

r/todayilearned • u/UndyingCorn • 8h ago

TIL Because radio coverage was banned at the 1939 Academy awards, George Fischer from LA’s KHJ radio station locked himself in a booth and was able to broadcast for about 12 minutes before security guards broke down the door. Partial radio coverage was restored for the 1942 ceremony.

en.wikipedia.org

2.4k Upvotes

33 comments

r/todayilearned • u/johnsmithoncemore • 10h ago

TIL about Yukigassen, a snowball fighting-competition. Played between two teams of seven players, the goal of the game is to either capture the other team's flags or to eliminate all of the other team's players by hitting them. The JYF has been lobbying to include it as a sport in the WinterOlympics

en.wikipedia.org

56 Upvotes

3 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jacknunn • 11h ago

TIL cheetahs once roamed much of Africa and Eurasia. As well as Africa, they still exist in the wild in the Middle East

nationalzoo.si.edu

149 Upvotes

19 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Redd1928 • 16h ago

TIL about the Great Hedge of India (or Indian Salt Hedge), which was a customs barrier built by the British colonial rulers of India to prevent smuggling of salt from coastal regions.

en.wikipedia.org

1.0k Upvotes

41 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 17h ago

TIL that in 2018, a 14-year-old girl named Cindy Redmond had an air horn blasted into her ear by her friend's stepfather after she wouldn't get off her phone. This caused her to develop hyperacusis, a rare hearing disorder which makes any small noise cause her immense pain.

people.com

29.9k Upvotes

1.1k comments

r/todayilearned • u/Mopman43 • 17h ago

TIL The first recorded international Ice Hockey game took place in Burlington VT in 1886 on the frozen Lake Champlain.

hmdb.org

101 Upvotes

4 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Gnomeslikeprofit • 19h ago

TIL that traffic lights are called "robots" in South Africa and other African countries. Directions can be given such as "Turn right at the 2nd robot".

drivesouthafrica.com

1.2k Upvotes

139 comments

r/todayilearned • u/johntwit • 19h ago

TIL that Rose Wilder Lane, the daughter of Little House on the Prairie author Laura Ingalls Wilder, was an early Libertarian and is considered one of the three "founding mothers of the American libertarian movement" along with Isabel Paterson and Ayn Rand

en.wikipedia.org

2.5k Upvotes

498 comments

r/todayilearned • u/gonejahman • 20h ago

TIL the Capital Records building in Los Angeles is the first circular office building in the world.

en.wikipedia.org

500 Upvotes

46 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ubcstaffer123 • 20h ago

TIL In 1897, Gilbert Loomis became the first person to purchase car insurance from the Ohio Automobile Insurance Company. . The policy, which cost $5, protected Loomis in the event that his car caused damage to property or injured or killed someone

automotivehistory.org

120 Upvotes

6 comments

r/todayilearned • u/IgnoreTh1sName • 20h ago

TIL there is a theoretical type of matter called "Strange Matter" that contains particles known as Strange Quarks. It can only exist in states of extremely high energy and pressure and is thought to be "contagious", meaning normal matter that comes into contact will convert into more Strange Matter.

en.wikipedia.org

837 Upvotes

130 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FullOfSound • 20h ago

TIL hand grip strength (HGS) is a premier biomarker. HGS is known to be connected to mortality, longevity, neuromuscular, cognitive and chronic disease.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

973 Upvotes

110 comments

Subreddit

Posts

Wiki

Today I Learned (TIL)

r/todayilearned

You learn something new every day; what did you learn today? Submit interesting and specific facts about something that you just found out here.

Members Active

41.5m

Sidebar

New to reddit? Click here!

You learn something new every day; what did you learn today?
Submit interesting and specific facts that you just found out (not broad information you looked up, TodayILearned is not /r/wikipedia).

Posting rules

Submissions must be verifiable. Please link directly to a reliable source that supports every claim in your post title. Images alone do not count as valid references. Videos are fine so long as they come from reputable sources (e.g. BBC, Discovery, etc).
No personal opinions, anecdotes or subjective statements (e.g "TIL xyz is a great movie").
No recent sources. Any sources (blog, article, press release, video, etc.) with a publication date more recent than two months are not allowed.
No politics, soapboxing, or agenda based submissions. This includes (but is not limited to) submissions related to:
1. Recent political issues and politicians
2. Social and economic issues (including race/religion/gender)
3. Environmental issues
4. Police misconduct
No misleading claims. Posts that omit essential information, or present unrelated facts in a way that suggest a connection will be removed.
Rephrase your post title if the following are not met:
1. Titles must begin with "TIL ..."
2. Make them descriptive, concise and specific (e.g. not "TIL something interesting about bacon").
3. Titles must be able to stand on their own without requiring readers to click on a link. Starting your title with a why/what/who/where/how modifier should be unnecessary.
4. "TIL about ..." and other broad posts don't belong on TIL. Try /r/Wikipedia, etc. instead, or be more specific (and avoid the word "about").
5. "TIL how to ..." posts belong on /r/HowTo.
6. "TIL the definition of a word..." Word definitions/translations/origins are not appropriate here
No submissions related to the usage, existence or features of specific software/websites (e.g. "TIL you can click on widgets in WidgetMaker 1.22").
All NSFW links must be tagged (including comments).

Please see the wiki for more detailed explanations of the rules, as well as additional rules that may not be listed here

(Why we need rules)

Additional info

If your post does not appear in the new queue and you think it meets the above rules, please contact the moderators (include a link to your reddit.com post, not your story).
Please report spam, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate posts by messaging the moderators, as this helps us remove them more promptly!
More information available on the TIL FAQ and wiki.

Frequent TILs Repost List

As of May 2026

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.

Etiquette

We ask that you please do the following:

avoid mobile versions of websites (e.g. m.wikipedia.org)
link to the appropriate heading when referencing an article (particularly on Wikipedia)
link to the appropriate start time when referencing videos (e.g. on YouTube)
add [PDF] or [NSFW] tags to your posts, as necessary.
Please avoid reposting TILs that have already made the front page in the past

Please also read the site-wide Reddiquette.

You are loved.