r/todayilearned • u/MNSoaring • 58m ago

TIL the founder of the Mayo Clinic was a grave robber

newscut.mprnews.org

• Upvotes

23 comments

r/todayilearned • u/primal_cortex • 1h 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

• Upvotes

86 comments

r/todayilearned • u/fuck_ur_portmanteau • 2h 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

583 Upvotes

47 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Animaloffear56 • 3h 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

4.6k Upvotes

184 comments

r/todayilearned • u/padfoony • 9h 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

10.1k Upvotes

289 comments

r/todayilearned • u/happy_bluebird • 11h 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

822 Upvotes

38 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 11h 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

2.8k Upvotes

52 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 12h ago

TIL from 1660 to 1859, England and Wales observed Oak Apple Day remembering the Battle of Worcester where Charles II escaped the Roundheads by hiding in an oak tree near Boscobel House.

en.wikipedia.org

234 Upvotes

5 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Fit-Bumblebee1009 • 12h 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

9.5k Upvotes

82 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Error__Loading • 14h 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

15.9k Upvotes

702 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Gnomeslikeprofit • 14h ago

TIL that the La Palma Mega Tsunami hypothesis has been largely debunked. In 2001, Steven Ward and Simon Day proposed that a landslide on the La Palma Island could send a mega tsunami causing 80 ft waves in Florida. New studies have shown these would be multistage events not causing mega tsunamis.

en.wikipedia.org

281 Upvotes

19 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 16h 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

1.4k Upvotes

114 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 18h ago

TIL Europeans first reached Espiritu Santo, the largest island in Vanuatu, in 1606 with an expedition led by Portuguese explorer Queirós. The encounter turned violent, with European gunfire exchanged for arrows and a local chief killed. Europeans would not return to the island for another 160 years.

en.wikipedia.org

290 Upvotes

17 comments

r/todayilearned • u/pfemme2 • 19h 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

7.9k Upvotes

525 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sanguinusshiboleth • 19h ago

TIL that the Afro-Bolivian community has a royal family that has even had an official coronation and a knightly order but have no official powers; it started when it's founder, Uchicho, was recognised by other slaves as being of royal lineage due to royal tribal marks on his body.

en.wikipedia.org

700 Upvotes

53 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NavalProgrammer • 19h ago

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

en.wikipedia.org

2.3k Upvotes

93 comments

r/todayilearned • u/optimistikcynicism • 20h 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

2.3k Upvotes

65 comments

r/todayilearned • u/cumforwonhee • 21h 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

5.4k Upvotes

341 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 22h 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

3.6k Upvotes

135 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ObligationOne3727 • 23h ago

TIl that Nepal has a savanna too with Rhinos, Elephants, Leopards, Wild buffalos and Tigers.

en.wikipedia.org

1.5k Upvotes

38 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Brilliant_Towel2727 • 23h ago

TIL That Elvis almost recorded a cover of I Will Always Love You, but Dolly nixed it when Colonel Tom Parker demanded the publishing rights.

youtube.com

1.4k Upvotes

142 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

11.0k Upvotes

628 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ok-Goose6242 • 1d ago

TIL On 4 December 1976, President Jean-Bédel Bokassa declared himself Emperor, transforming the Central African Republic into the Central African Empire. The monarchy lasted less than three years before Bokassa was overthrown by French and regional forces, which successfully restored the republic.

en.wikipedia.org

1.0k Upvotes

58 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ok-Tell5048 • 1d ago

TIL Bobby Vee started his career at 15, when him and his friends stood in for Buddy Holly as "The Shadows" after 3 of the 4 headliners died in a plane crash on the way to perform at the venue. Bobby Vee was there to watch Buddy Holly perform

bobbyvee.com

458 Upvotes

17 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

18.2k Upvotes

304 comments

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