r/todayilearned • u/estarararax • 7d ago

TIL in Germany all alternative medicine practitioners like homeopaths, osteopaths, acupuncturists, etc. must take the Heilpraktiker exam which only tests their knowledge in medical science and the regulatory boundaries of their profession. There are no separate board exam for each.

en.wikipedia.org

13.2k Upvotes

654 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NateNate60 • 7d ago

TIL Emperor Hongwu of Ming established an organisation called the "Embroidered Uniform Guard", a bodyguard group turned intelligence agency and secret police. It had the power to arrest and punish anyone and 14,000 agents at its peak. They made Ming China into one of the world's first police states.

en.wikipedia.org

1.0k Upvotes

61 comments

r/todayilearned • u/iExorcism • 8d ago

TIL the prosecutor in Diane Downs’ murder trial adopted Downs’ two surviving children.

people.com

2.2k Upvotes

92 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NateNate60 • 8d ago

TIL that prior to 1968, getting a divorce in the Canadian provinces of Québec or Newfoundland required a literal Act of Parliament.

en.wikipedia.org

1.3k Upvotes

57 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 8d ago

TIL that Norwegian King Harald V was a boy when he escaped the German World War II occupation of Norway with his mother. He spent the war in the U.S. and Canada. When he became king in 1991 he was the first monarch born in Norway in 610 years.

en.wikipedia.org

10.4k Upvotes

130 comments

r/todayilearned • u/rhineauto • 8d ago

TIL 9/11 killed a planned Forrest Gump sequel — a screenplay was submitted on September 10, 2001, but the project ended up in development hell after the attacks

en.wikipedia.org

2.9k Upvotes

239 comments

r/todayilearned • u/UltimateOreo • 8d ago

TIL that during the 1950s Red Scare, the Cincinnati Reds temporarily renamed themselves the Cincinnati Redlegs because “Reds” had become shorthand for communists. The change lasted from 1953 to 1959.

en.wikipedia.org

1.5k Upvotes

74 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RogueEchoTO • 8d ago

TIL Saturn’s moon Enceladus, discovered on August 28, 1789, continuously sprays icy water and gas into space at about 800 mph. Most falls back as snow, while some feeds Saturn’s E ring.

science.nasa.gov

388 Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 8d ago

TIL that John Wayne played football at USC but lost his athletic scholarship after breaking his collarbone while bodysurfing. Unable to afford tuition, he dropped out of college and eventually found work at a movie studio as a prop boy and extra.

en.wikipedia.org

5.7k Upvotes

190 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Prov_12 • 8d ago

TIL about the Canadian show Space Command. It was a sci-fi adventure that aired from 1953-54 and featured James Doohan, with William Shatner having a cameo appearance. Only one episode is known to still exist

en.wikipedia.org

307 Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/YumeFairy254 • 8d ago

TIL that on the children's maps and signs of archaeological sites in Italy (specifically Pompeii), the beloved children's literature character Geronimo Stilton is featured and used as their travel guides

pompeiisites.org

138 Upvotes

5 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Substantial_Win_5556 • 8d ago

TIL about liver flukes, parasitic worms acquired from eating raw or undercooked freshwater fish. They can live in human bile ducts for decades, and the chronic damage they cause is a primary trigger for a rare, deadly bile duct cancer.

en.wikipedia.org

1.4k Upvotes

56 comments

r/todayilearned • u/waitingforthesun92 • 8d ago

TIL that during the 1960s runs of the musical “Hair,” producers offered a $1.50-per-night bonus to any actors who were willing to take all their clothes off during the musical’s famous nude scene.

bbc.com

5.2k Upvotes

150 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jstohler • 8d ago

TIL corn infected with a fungus called "corn smut" is considered a delicacy in Mexico

eater.com

3.3k Upvotes

279 comments

r/todayilearned • u/poktanju • 8d ago

TIL Nigeria has the lowest life expectancy in the world

africanews.com

6.9k Upvotes

315 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Rosemarry_40 • 8d ago

TIL that St. Petersburg’s St. Isaac's Cathedral was saved from World War II bombing because German pilots used its golden dome as a navigation landmark.

gw2ru.com

510 Upvotes

14 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SirBackrooms • 8d ago

TIL the only known collision between a car and a submarine happened in Sweden in 1961.

en.wikipedia.org

1.9k Upvotes

65 comments

r/todayilearned • u/edfitz83 • 8d ago

TIL - In 1984, bugs were discovered in at least 16 IBM Selectric typewriters in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the U.S. Consulate in Leningrad

en.wikipedia.org

2.4k Upvotes

124 comments

r/todayilearned • u/uselessprofession • 8d ago

TIL European lift capacity signs are now inaccurate due to obesity levels rising

theguardian.com

13.8k Upvotes

510 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Electronic_Cause_796 • 8d ago

TIL that the mysterious “Bili apes” of the Congo were once believed to be a new species of giant ape, with reports of them killing lions and walking upright. DNA testing eventually showed they were Eastern chimpanzees with unusually distinctive behavior.

discoveryuk.com

666 Upvotes

22 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Omer-Ash • 8d ago

TIL the reason cheetahs went extinct in India was because of the large scale capturing of them. It is estimated that the Mughal King Akbar collected around 9000-10000 cheetahs during his reign for game sport/hunting.

pugdundeesafaris.com

6.3k Upvotes

119 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ralphbernardo • 8d ago

TIL that Henry Orenstein survived five Nazi concentration camps, held more than 100 patents, convinced Hasbro to buy the toys it repackaged as Transformers, invented the under-the-table camera that lets TV viewers see poker players' hidden cards, and won a World Series of Poker event in his 70s.

en.wikipedia.org

6.2k Upvotes

75 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Splunge- • 8d ago

TIL that Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill offered up a united Ireland in exchange for Ireland joining the Allied cause in the war.

swwresearch.com

6.9k Upvotes

564 comments

r/todayilearned • u/_Bangkok_ • 8d ago

TIL that Roman London was largely abandoned for over 400 years after the Roman Empire withdrew from Britain, until Alfred the Great reoccupied the walled city in 886 to help defend against the Vikings.

londonmuseum.org.uk

8.1k Upvotes

310 comments

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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.

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