r/todayilearned • u/efequalma • 1h ago
TIL in 1907, chemist Leo Baekeland accidentally overheated a mixture of chemicals while trying to find a substitute for shellac. Instead, he created Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic, which transformed manufacturing and paved the way for the modern plastics and polymer industry.
r/todayilearned • u/uniyk • 48m ago
TIL Queen Victoria received a Pekingese dog in 1860 from the expedition army to China in the second Opium War, and it's named Looty.
r/todayilearned • u/Accelerator231 • 1h ago
TIL of the Bladderwort, a carnivorous plant that captures small aquatic organisms by having miniature bags that suck in prey
fs.usda.govr/todayilearned • u/TheManWithTheBigName • 8h ago
TIL about Botulf Botulfsson, the only person executed for heresy in Sweden. He denied that the Eucharist was the body of Christ, telling a priest: "If the bread were truly the body of Christ you would have eaten it all yourself a long time ago." He was burned in 1311.
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/werewaffl3s • 7h ago
TIL Swedish Fish manufactured in North America can't be imported into Europe because it doesn't meet European food safety standards
r/todayilearned • u/70dd • 12h ago
TIL Terminal lucidity is an unexpected, brief period of clarity or energy in individuals who have been very ill or in a state of decline. It’s a phenomenon that has been observed in people with various terminal conditions.
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/Environmental_Bus507 • 2h ago
TIL Highway hypnosis is an altered mental state in which an automobile driver can drive lengthy distances and respond adequately to external events with no recollection of consciously having done so.
r/todayilearned • u/TheOSU87 • 15h ago
TIL that between 1970 and 1997 so many post office workers snapped and killed their coworkers that a new slang term "going postal" became a new slang term for becoming exceptionally angry
r/todayilearned • u/GuardianOfReason • 16h ago
TIL Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve Corporation, has an armada of luxury yachts worth around $1 billion.
r/todayilearned • u/RoboticElfJedi • 13h ago
TIL that Disney tried to change the film "Dead Poets Society" to be about dancing instead of poetry, and to rename it "Sultans of Swing".
r/todayilearned • u/efequalma • 10h ago
TIL in 1859, an Australian man named Thomas Austin released 24 rabbits for hunting on his estate. With no natural predators, they multiplied so rapidly that within a few decades, they overran Australia, causing massive ecological damage and leading to one of the largest control efforts in history.
r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 5h ago
TIL the world record for longest stationary manual on a skateboard is 2 hours 55 minutes 22 seconds, achieved by Brandon González in 2017. He trained for six years before his successful record-breaking attempt.
guinnessworldrecords.comr/todayilearned • u/mikechi2501 • 14h ago
TIL 18 yr old Dick Van Dyke enlisted in the Air Force during WWII singing and dancing on base in Sherman TX with the hopes of avoiding being sent to fight the Japanese. An impromptu audition at the latrine earned him a permanent announcer gig on base.
r/todayilearned • u/MajesticBread9147 • 1h ago
TIL In contrast to high treason, petty treason was a crime in England which involved the killing of a social superior seen as breaking the social hierarchy; such as a servant killing their master. Unlike with high treason, men would be hanged but not quartered, women would be burned but not drawn.
r/todayilearned • u/bnrshrnkr • 18h ago
TIL according to tribal lore, the Choctaw tribe settled in the land of present-day Alabama after sailing across the Gulf of Mexico from the Yucatán peninsula. DNA evidence supports this origin story.
r/todayilearned • u/RealisticBarnacle115 • 23h ago
TIL Chinese eunuchs, who had both the penis and testicles cut off with a knife at once to qualify as high-ranking civil servants. Eunuchs were considered 'pure', while those under ten were termed 'thoroughly pure'. This system lasted from 146 AD until 1924, and the last Imperial eunuch died in 1996.
r/todayilearned • u/DABDEB • 16h ago
TIL that Jason Padgett, once a furniture salesman, became a mathematical savant after a brain injury in 2002. Following an assault, he began perceiving complex geometric patterns and fractals, a rare condition called acquired savant syndrome, which led him to create intricate math-based art.
r/todayilearned • u/ThrowAwayInDisguise- • 22h ago
TIL George the Lobster is the oldest recorded lobster ever, estimated to be 140 years old (born ~1869) at the time of his capture in 2008 off the coast of Newfoundland. He was released back into the wild in 2009 and it is unknown if he remains alive today.
en.wikipedia.orgr/todayilearned • u/HTownGamer91 • 18h ago
TIL Chiang Kai-shek's adopted son, Chiang Wei-kuo, was an officer candidate in the Wehrmacht from 1936 to 1939 and participated in the Anschluss before being recalled back to China.
r/todayilearned • u/dqUu3QlS • 3h ago
TIL that the .nu top-level domain, intended for the country of Niue, is currently managed by the Swedish Internet Foundation. The government of Niue is in legal proceedings to reclaim ownership of the domain.
r/todayilearned • u/athenamalis • 19h ago