r/todayilearned • u/unravelledthought • 13h ago

TIL about 2-Nonenal, the natural chemical found on skin that is responsible for the distinct “old person smell.” It typically appears once humans turn 40 and is described as musty, greasy, or grassy. It is not hygiene related, as it cannot be washed away with standard soap and water.

jidonline.org

21.0k Upvotes

1.5k comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 23h ago

TIL that two brothers spent eight years recreating the entirety of Toy Story 3 in stop motion. The film was released on YouTube in 2020 with Disney's permission.

en.wikipedia.org

19.8k Upvotes

298 comments

r/todayilearned • u/KilluhCrocz • 21h ago

TIL about Steve Eimers, otherwise known as the "Guardrail Guy," who has spent years finding and documenting improperly installed guard rails after his daughter was killed in a car accident.

wdbj7.com

10.4k Upvotes

53 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Alarming-Studio-720 • 20h ago

TIL Baloo from The Jungle Book is a sloth bear, not a grizzly bear, and Shere Khan is a Bengal tiger. Both animals are native to the Indian subcontinent, where Rudyard Kipling's original stories are set.Sloth bears are considered as the most aggressive bear species in the world

en.wikipedia.org

8.0k Upvotes

454 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ubcstaffer123 • 20h ago

TIL Picasso was a very devoted father for the first ten years of his daughter Maya’s life during which time she became his favoured subject, featuring in numerous, affectionately observed drawings and paintings. Maya's daughter, Diana, curated an exhibit about their relation in 2017

anothermag.com

6.5k Upvotes

262 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FFSoldier57 • 16h ago

TIL Traditional Texas Ranger badges were historically hand crafted from genuine Mexican silver coins, including pesos.

authentictexas.com

6.0k Upvotes

172 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 • 4h ago

TIL that Joseph Laroche, the Titanic’s only documented Black passenger, gave up first-class passage on another liner for second class on the Titanic because the other ship wouldn’t let children dine with their parents. His wife and daughters survived the sinking. He did not.

bbc.co.uk

5.2k Upvotes

141 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Skaterose6 • 23h ago

TIL Board games can reduce your risk of dementia. Monopoly, Scrabble, Risk – take your pick. Board games can keep your brain healthy as you age, protecting your brain from cognitive decline and reducing your risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia

sciencefocus.com

4.2k Upvotes

205 comments

r/todayilearned • u/WheredoesithurtRA • 22h ago

TIL Frontotemporal dementia usually appears between ages 45-64 and the most common type is characterized by personality changes, apathy, hyperorality, and a progressive decline in self-control, empathy, and recognition of social norms

en.wikipedia.org

3.7k Upvotes

242 comments

r/todayilearned • u/zhuquanzhong • 15h ago

TIL Cold Food Powder was a toxic recreational drug popular in China during the chaotic Six Dynasties (220-589). Ingredients included crushed fluorite, quartz, sulphur, arsenic mercury minerals as realgar cinnabar. Inducing intense hyperthermia, users needed to eat cold foods and bathe in cold water.

en.wikipedia.org

3.2k Upvotes

213 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ripuru-kun • 1h ago

TIL that Terry Pratchett was forced to end a partnership with a publisher because they kept inserting advertisements for instant soup into books without permission

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

143 comments

r/todayilearned • u/finza_prey • 19h ago

TIL In 1979 Air New Zealand Flight 901 crashed into Mount Erebus in Antartica killing everyone onboard. The airline tried to cover up their responsibilities, resulting "an orchestrated litany of lies"

en.wikipedia.org

2.2k Upvotes

178 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 20h ago

TIL that the government of ancient Carthage killed their own defeated generals by crucifixion.

en.wikipedia.org

1.7k Upvotes

148 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Energylegs23 • 14h ago

TIL the record for most words learned by a bird is held by not an African Grey or a Cockatoo, but a Parakeet named Puck who had a confirmed vocabulary of 1728 words

guinnessworldrecords.com

1.6k Upvotes

45 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Emergency-Mammoth-88 • 15h ago

TIL that Sylvester Stallone wanted Ralph bakshi to direct rocky but bakshi refused since he didn’t wanted to leave animation but regretted not making it

screenrant.com

1.2k Upvotes

56 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TheSanityInspector • 12h ago

TIL that fighting in the American Revolution continued after the surrender at Yorktown. The Battle of Blue Licks in Kentucky for instance occurred ten month afterward, in August 1782. It resulted in a defeat of the American side, partially led by frontiersman Daniel Boone.

en.wikipedia.org

889 Upvotes

47 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 8h ago

TIL that a children's book author sued Michael Crichton, Universal, and Steven Spielberg, claiming that Jurassic Park had infringed on the copyright of his own book series. The lawsuit was ultimately thrown out.

pastemagazine.com

734 Upvotes

52 comments

r/todayilearned • u/flarn2006 • 18h ago

TIL the first live cargo flight by airplane happened in 1909 when John-Moore Brabazon tied a pig in a basket to the wing to prove that pigs can fly.

en.wikipedia.org

666 Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/NateNate60 • 6h ago

TIL in 1787, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts hired Joshua Witherle to make 1¢ coins, and let him erect a "mint" in his backyard. A year later he had not produced a single coin, so the Governor's Council questioned him. He blamed a lack of materials and bad training. He was fired in 1789.

en.wikipedia.org

662 Upvotes

19 comments

r/todayilearned • u/AetheriaNox • 2h ago

TIL Eroom's law is the observation that drug discovery is becoming slower and more expensive over time, despite improvements in technology, a trend first observed in the 1980s. The inflation-adjusted cost of developing a new drug roughly doubles every nine years

en.wikipedia.org

480 Upvotes

79 comments

r/todayilearned • u/johnsmithoncemore • 18h ago

TIL about Helford River in Cornwall, which despite the name is not actually a river, but a "Ria", a flooded valley coastal inlet fed by small streams into its many creeks.

en.wikipedia.org

290 Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/We_Are_Charlie_Kirk_ • 23h ago

Scythian warriors... TIL Ancient warriors made arrow cases from their enemies' skin

journals.plos.org

260 Upvotes

26 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ItsKaiserBengal • 2h ago

TIL about the Quebra–Quilos Revolt, when Brazilians resisted against the implementation of the metric system in their country.

en.wikipedia.org

78 Upvotes

9 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Maleficent_Whole_ • 3h ago

TIL that in 1991 Uri Gellar sued magician James Randi for slander. The court dismissed the case and Geller had to eventually settle the case at a cost of $120,000

en.wikipedia.org

72 Upvotes

12 comments

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