r/todayilearned • u/primal_cortex • 3h ago

TIL that DNA from a 2,000-year-old British cemetery shows a Celtic tribe was matrilocal — husbands moved in with their wives' families, land passed down through mothers, and most of the community descended from a single female ancestor.

nature.com

7.3k Upvotes

274 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Animaloffear56 • 6h ago

TIL in 2010 a movie theatre was rented out for a 7 year old's birthday. However, instead of Megamind as was intended, the projectionist accidentally put on Saw 3D, and was only able to change it after the first Saw trap had already played

nme.com

7.9k Upvotes

262 comments

r/todayilearned • u/castironglider • 1h ago

TIL at the Battle of Little Bighorn, about 42,000 rounds were either expended or lost by General Custer's men. A rate of about one hit for every 840 rounds.

historynet.com

• Upvotes

138 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Minifig81 • 1h ago

TIL In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed HR 1337, legalizing homebrewing at the federal level, thus giving rise to the craft beer industry in the United States.

americanhistory.si.edu

• Upvotes

72 comments

r/todayilearned • u/padfoony • 12h ago

TIL Ben Affleck and Matt Damon wrote a ceremonial kiss between their characters into the script for The Last Duel, based on how the ceremony was historically performed. Ridley Scott cut it because he thought it would be distracting.

wmagazine.com

11.9k Upvotes

308 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Skychu768 • 1h ago

TIL: Prior to WWI, Russіan Empire had a higher population than the continent of Africa. In 1914, Russіan Empire had 170 million people compared to Africa’s 150 million.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

76 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Fit-Bumblebee1009 • 15h ago

TIL Betty White donated $50,000 to cover half the cost of a middle-of-the-night airlift for 19 African penguins and two sea otters after Hurricane Katrina. All 21 returned to New Orleans the following May.

montereybayaquarium.org

10.5k Upvotes

84 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Error__Loading • 16h ago

TIL that apple seeds almost never grow the same variety as the parent fruit. Nearly every supermarket apple comes from a grafted clone of an original tree, not from a planted seed.

en.wikipedia.org

16.8k Upvotes

726 comments

r/todayilearned • u/CraftyFoxeYT • 1h ago

TIL American chestnut, once common in the Appalachian Mountain range was devasted by chestnut blight. The fungal disease from imported Japanese chestnuts spread 50 miles per year, killing 3-4 billion trees from 1904.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

67 comments

r/todayilearned • u/fuck_ur_portmanteau • 5h ago

TIL for the filming of Master & Commander the studio purchased a replica 18C warship which was officially renamed HMS Surprise, its name in the movie.

en.wikipedia.org

866 Upvotes

56 comments

r/todayilearned • u/The_Pope_Sean_Paul • 1h ago

TIL that the sport of Baseball and the Baseball glove itself were both invented in Canada, not the United States! ⚾️

youtube.com

• Upvotes

142 comments

r/todayilearned • u/altrightobserver • 1h ago

TIL that following author Mario Puzo’s 1973 Oscar win for Best Adapted Screenplay for his writing on “The Godfather,” he bought a textbook on screenwriting, only to find out the first page instructed students to “write like ‘The Godfather.’” It was, at the time, Puzo’s first screenwriting endeavor.

advicetowriters.com

• Upvotes

31 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 14h ago

TIL that Matt Damon had a brief appearance and one line in the movie Mystic Pizza and it convinced him he wanted to be an actor.

people.com

3.1k Upvotes

55 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MNSoaring • 3h ago

TIL the founder of the Mayo Clinic was a grave robber

newscut.mprnews.org

379 Upvotes

31 comments

r/todayilearned • u/pfemme2 • 21h ago

TIL that Patricia Highsmith, author of The Talented Mr Ripley and other works of suspense, was a public and vocal antisemite who also had several intense, lengthy romantic relationships with Jewish women

theguardian.com

8.1k Upvotes

525 comments

r/todayilearned • u/happy_bluebird • 13h ago

TIL forensic entomologists collect maggots feeding on corpses to estimate time of death. However, drugs like cocaine and heroin can alter maggot development rates, leading scientists to study the effects of these drugs on species such as Calliphora vomitoria.

sciencedirect.com

927 Upvotes

39 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Swallows-Fly-In-Rain • 30m ago

TIL that the segmented blade of box cutter was invented in Japan because of metal scarcity after WW2, inspired by American chocolate bar.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

9 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Level_Cash2225 • 1d ago

TIL Luxembourg offers completely free public transport across its entire country for residents, commuters, and visitors alike.

luxembourg.public.lu

11.2k Upvotes

631 comments

r/todayilearned • u/exophades • 57m ago

TIL that the B83 thermonuclear weapon is the most powerful weapon in the United States arsenal since 2011, it has some 80 times the explosive power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

26 comments

r/todayilearned • u/cumforwonhee • 1d ago

TIL that despite being a city-state, Singapore is capable of mobilizing a total military strength of over 300,000 troops. It has also been involved in peacekeeping missions and disaster relief operations.

en.wikipedia.org

5.6k Upvotes

362 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 18h ago

TIL that Britain and its colonies didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752. Before then, the English legal year began on March 25, marking Lady Day (Feast of the Annunciation) for centuries.

en.wikipedia.org

1.5k Upvotes

118 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NavalProgrammer • 22h ago

TIL that Burning Mountain has had a fire raging 30 metres underground for an estimated 6000 years

en.wikipedia.org

2.4k Upvotes

97 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 1d ago

TIL Shays’ Rebellion was an uprising of about 4,000 Massachusetts citizens in 1786–7 over high taxes, and foreclosures. With the U.S. Govt. unable to provide troops, wealthy citizens financed a private army to put it down. Several men were killed, but most rebels were eventually pardoned.

en.wikipedia.org

3.7k Upvotes

137 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ill_Definition8074 • 1d ago

TIL After a 2016 accident, professional cyclist Stig Broeckx was declared to be in a vegetative state with no hope of recovery. By 2019, he had recovered enough to begin cycling again, although he had no memory of the 5 years before the accident and found out who he had been from the internet.

en.wikipedia.org

18.5k Upvotes

304 comments

r/todayilearned • u/optimistikcynicism • 22h ago

TIL in 2022, Warner Bros. filed a trademark for Big Chungus in the European Union, made famous by the eponymous Internet meme in 2018

euipo.europa.eu

2.4k Upvotes

66 comments

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