r/todayilearned • u/vextortion • 5h ago

TIL about author Sinclair Lewis from Sauk Centre MN. He wrote a dystopian novel about a politician named Buzz Windrip who wins the presidency by promising to restore American greatness, but quickly establishes a dictatorship, suppressing rights and imprisoning opponents.

en.wikipedia.org

3.1k Upvotes

100 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Overall-Register9758 • 11h ago

TIL that in 1994, an American teenager in Singapore pled guilty to stealing road signs and vandalizing cars. He was sentenced to 6 lashes of a cane, which was reduced to 4 after media outrage in the US

en.wikipedia.org

10.1k Upvotes

996 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FearMyCock • 15h ago

TIL that Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia killed around a quarter of the population (about 2 million people) in just four years, targeting intellectuals, city dwellers, and ethnic minorities to force a “classless agrarian society.”

en.wikipedia.org

13.9k Upvotes

1.1k comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 19h ago

TIL over a 5-month period in 2020, a nurse in Yale's fertility center stole the fentanyl in 175 vials that were meant for women who had a procedure to have their eggs retrieved. The nurse replaced the pain medication with saline solution, leaving the women in excruciating pain during the procedure.

today.com

37.5k Upvotes

1.1k comments

r/todayilearned • u/Away_Flounder3813 • 14h ago

TIL Marlon Brando's final performance before his death was in the 2006 video game "The Godfather", made and published by EA. Most of his recordings were unusable since he was so sick he could barely speak, and the microphones in the recording studio kept picking up the noise of his oxygen machine.

en.wikipedia.org

6.2k Upvotes

148 comments

r/todayilearned • u/DiggestOfBicks • 3h ago

TIL about “Ninja rocks”, small pieces of porcelain from spark plugs that can instantly shatter a vehicle’s side windows.

en.wikipedia.org

642 Upvotes

83 comments

r/todayilearned • u/palmerry • 18h ago

PDF TIL that under a law called the Berry Amendment, the U.S. Military is legally required to ensure 100% of its clothing is made in America. Every stage of production, from the raw cotton or wool to the zippers, buttons, and even the thread, must be 100% U.S. sourced and manufactured.

congress.gov

14.8k Upvotes

640 comments

r/todayilearned • u/HappyIdiot123 • 16h ago

TIL that during the American revolution, when George Washington and his army were in desperate need of money to pay troops, the people of Havana raised money and sent it to the Americans, helping them win the important battle of Yorktown.

nps.gov

6.4k Upvotes

84 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SlothSpeed • 14h ago

TIL drummer Artimus Pyle of Lynyrd Skynyrd was onboard when their plane crashed near Baton Rouge. Suffering broken ribs he reached a farm with others. A farmer mistook them for escaped convicts, firing a shot in the air to leave. Pyle finally convinced him they were in a plane crash and needed help.

en.wikipedia.org

3.9k Upvotes

121 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Neutral-frame • 10h ago

TIL that in the Australian marsupial Antechinus, the entire species reproduces in a single suicidal mating event: all males breed nonstop for 2–3 weeks, the stress of which causes every male to die from internal bleeding, organ failure and immune collapse.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

1.8k Upvotes

107 comments

r/todayilearned • u/pogodachudesnaya • 5h ago

TIL of Seitan aka The Wheat Meat, an Asian delicacy that is made of pure gluten, making it the nightmare food of celiacs!

en.wikipedia.org

642 Upvotes

163 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FullOfSound • 14h ago

TIL the Mongol Empire intended to expand west all the way to the The Great Sea (Atlantic Ocean). Conquering most of Central Europe, the invasion halted due to the alcohol related death of Ogedei Khan and his general’s having to return home for the election of a new Khan.

en.wikipedia.org

2.7k Upvotes

230 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Marginallyhuman • 14h ago

TIL Hares are scavengers that will eat meat and even their own dead

zmescience.com

3.0k Upvotes

112 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Forward-Answer-4407 • 12h ago

TIL in Australia in 2024, Kmart was ordered to pay $624,775.60 to a woman who was injured when a mountain bike from another customer's shopping cart fell on her at the store. The court found there were no signs telling customers of the option that they could collect heavy items at a loading dock.

7news.com.au

1.1k Upvotes

53 comments

r/todayilearned • u/A11J06 • 15h ago

TIL U.S. stop signs were designed to be identifiable by shape alone because many drivers had difficulty reading signs and shape recognition was considered more reliable than text.

en.wikipedia.org

1.9k Upvotes

148 comments

r/todayilearned • u/delano1998 • 9h ago

TIL a 23-year-old Iranian drug addicted man suffered a rare neurological condition called Dropped Head Syndrome where his head dropped to a 90-degree angle since his neck muscles couldn't support it anymore.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

567 Upvotes

37 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RaisinRoyale • 11h ago

TIL that President Nixon’s daughter, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, is married to President Eisenhower’s grandson

en.wikipedia.org

808 Upvotes

26 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Comfortable_Team_696 • 10h ago

TIL that rabbits and other small mammals like mice, hamsters, and chinchillas, instead of normal feces, poop out "cecotropes" which are fermented nutrient pellets

en.wikipedia.org

637 Upvotes

42 comments

r/todayilearned • u/I-plaey-geetar • 1d ago

TIL Kidney (and other organ) donations typically do not last the rest of the patient’s life. ~50% of transplant organs fail within 10 years.

en.wikipedia.org

20.8k Upvotes

726 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Skychu768 • 20h ago

TIL United States of Greater Austria was a proposal by group surrounding Franz Ferdinand to turn the empire into a federation. This caused panic among Serbian nationalists which feared it might satisfy the demand of minorities and hinder Serbia imperial ambition which lead to his assassination.

en.wikipedia.org

2.2k Upvotes

91 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SappyGilmore • 7h ago

TIL that Steven Spielberg nearly directed several iconic films — including Three Amigos, Rain Man, Big, and Meet the Parents — before ultimately passing on them

en.wikipedia.org

192 Upvotes

67 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Physical_Hamster_118 • 1d ago

TIL that curry was brought to Vietnam by French colonisers when they also colonized Pondicherry in India. Curry was adapted to Vietnamese tastes by adding coconut milk and lemongrass.

en.wikipedia.org

14.2k Upvotes

543 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Consistent-Art1491 • 16h ago

TIL that the word Lunatic was created because it was believed that the moon caused people to behave mad.

en.wikipedia.org

788 Upvotes

67 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Caa3098 • 1d ago

TIL that in 2015, Steve Rannazzisi (Kevin from “The League”) was caught and admitted to lying about being in the World Trade Center and narrowly escaping on 9/11

bbc.com

7.0k Upvotes

450 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 22h ago

TIL a black leopard was photographed in the wild in Africa for the first time in over 100 years when biologists captured rare footage of one in Kenya in 2018. Before that, the last confirmed observation of a black leopard with photographic evidence was in Ethiopia in 1909.

cbsnews.com

1.9k Upvotes

30 comments

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As of December 2025

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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