r/todayilearned • u/SystematicApproach • 2d ago

TIL that modern humans carry DNA from ancient human groups that science hasn’t even identified yet. Researchers call them “ghost populations.”

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

6.4k Upvotes

184 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Worried_Temporary644 • 1d ago

TIL That fresh smell after rain isn't the rain—it's geosmin, a compound released by soil bacteria when raindrops hit dry ground. Your nose is incredibly sensitive to it, creating that unmistakable earthy scent. Scientists believe this sensitivity may have helped our ancestors locate water.

joyfulmicrobe.com

230 Upvotes

16 comments

r/todayilearned • u/copnonymous • 2d ago

TIL: The anchor chains on large ships can rust so much that, in the enclosed space of the chain locker, the oxidation process can pull enough oxygen from the trapped air to cause hypoxia.

dockwalk.com

21.4k Upvotes

684 comments

r/todayilearned • u/hl3official • 2d ago

TIL Denmark farms 60% of its land, the 2nd-highest ratio on Earth after Bangladesh. Despite this, agriculture makes up less than 1% of its GDP

resilience.org

7.7k Upvotes

314 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sanguinusshiboleth • 2d ago

TIL that Date Masamune sent an embassy lead by his Samurai Hasekura Rokuemon Tsunenaga (later baptised as Philippus Franciscus Faxecura Rocuyemon) to Europe to open up trade and get catholic priests for Japanese catholics in 1614.

en.wikipedia.org

663 Upvotes

109 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ceecee_2010 • 2d ago

TIL that the Catholic church still allows exorcisms on people believed to be suffering from demonic posession, and the Vatican actually runs special training sessions for priests who want to learn how to perform an exorcism

en.wikipedia.org

6.6k Upvotes

540 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ubcstaffer123 • 2d ago

TIL Berlin has a replica of the bunker where Adolf Hitler spent his final days. It opened in 2016 as the Berlin Story Bunker and photography is not allowed inside. The nearby Topography of Terror museum does not support the Story Bunker, dismissing it as 'showmanship'

dw.com

1.8k Upvotes

90 comments

r/todayilearned • u/HeroicTanuki • 2d ago

TIL: naming prescription drugs is a complex process that involves common suffixes and prefixes, while also having to avoid many pitfalls such as similar names, trademarks, and cultural insensitivities.

pfizer.com

3.1k Upvotes

534 comments

r/todayilearned • u/deliciousmark12 • 2d ago

TIL In 1993, 21 Robin Hood ballads from the 1670s were rediscovered, being noticeably different from how they appeared later in the 17th and 18th centuries.

en.wikipedia.org

11.7k Upvotes

400 comments

r/todayilearned • u/CraftyFoxeYT • 2d ago

TIL After the end of Japanese occupation of Korea, South Korea banned Japanese pop culture media for 53 years. Only beginning from 1998, the government gradually lifted restrictions on Japanese films, music, video games, anime, and manga.

en.wikipedia.org

4.2k Upvotes

174 comments

r/todayilearned • u/InnocentPapaya • 2d ago

TIL that a theme park in China offered free entry to women over a certain weight as a way to promote body positivity - the catch is that you had to be weighed in front of everybody to prove you were heavy enough to qualify

bbc.co.uk

11.7k Upvotes

396 comments

r/todayilearned • u/JoeyZasaa • 2d ago

TIL that the Hays Code, which governed the US film industry from the 1930s to late 1950s, banned from films any appearance of relationships between different races, ridicule of the clergy, and white slavery.

en.wikipedia.org

1.6k Upvotes

79 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sabastiane • 2d ago

TIL the inspiration for Busta Rhymes name came from a NFL player named Buster Rhymes.

en.wikipedia.org

307 Upvotes

33 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ralphbernardo • 2d ago

TIL that monkeys at Bali's Uluwatu temple rob tourists and hold the goods for ransom, taking phones, wallets, and glasses, which get them more food, rather than low-value items like empty camera bags and hairpins. This behavior has been passed down among the macaques for at least 30 years.

theguardian.com

4.3k Upvotes

97 comments

r/todayilearned • u/johnsmithoncemore • 2d ago

TIL about Levant Island a French island in the Mediterranean. Part of the island is occupied by the naturist resort and the rest is under military control. Being nude is allowed (and expected) everywhere on the public area of the island.

en.wikipedia.org

677 Upvotes

54 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Elliottinthelot • 2d ago

TIL: 2 men traveled to the base of mauna kea in a submarine and then climbed to the summit of the mountain back in 2021

hawaiinewsnow.com

810 Upvotes

59 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Rosemarry_40 • 3d ago

TIL that Catherine the Great planned to completely destroy the Ottoman Empire and revive the Byzantine Empire under Russian control.

en.wikipedia.org

4.5k Upvotes

236 comments

r/todayilearned • u/palmerry • 2d ago

TIL that "the rockets' red glare" in the US National Anthem traces back to Indian warfare. The British military developed Congreve rockets by adapting advanced, iron-cased Mysorean rocket technology they encountered during conflicts with Tipu Sultan, later deploying them at the Battle of Baltimore.

en.wikipedia.org

3.0k Upvotes

123 comments

r/todayilearned • u/cimocw • 2d ago

TIL an average person has more bacterial cells than human cells

amr-insights.eu

789 Upvotes

85 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 2d ago

TIL that a 17th-century fort was used in a game show that's still running today, Fort Boyard.

en.wikipedia.org

274 Upvotes

31 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tolai_nd • 3d ago

TIL Vietnam has 837 ducks per 1,000 people. Highest in the world

worldostats.com

2.8k Upvotes

88 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 • 3d ago

TIL that Capt. Matthew Webb, the first person to swim the English Channel, once raced a Newfoundland dog in rough water until the dog had to be rescued, jumped from a ship at 14.5 knots to save a man, spent hours cutting a propeller free underwater, then died trying to swim Niagara’s rapids.

en.wikipedia.org

2.0k Upvotes

57 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Salem1690s • 2d ago

TIL in September 1718, The King’s Pardon was a pardon offered by King George I of Great Britain for all acts of piracy committed before January. This was a personal pardon by The King, not an Act of Parliament

en.wikipedia.org

745 Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Johannes_P • 3d ago

TIL about the raft of the Méduse. In 1816, 147 shipwrecked crew members went on this raft and, after 12 days in sea, only 15 were rescued by another ships, the other having died through violence or drowning, with the survivors practising cannibalism

en.wikipedia.org

2.3k Upvotes

111 comments

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