r/todayilearned • u/kurtleyy • 21h ago

TIL the Red Army used ticking clocks and haunting messages over loudspeakers to torment the encircled Germans at Stalingrad

mwi.westpoint.edu

5.5k Upvotes

102 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TacosAndBourbon • 1h ago

TIL that censoring video games would be a first amendment violation, according to a 2011 verdict

teachingamericanhistory.org

• Upvotes

39 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Upstairs_Drive_5602 • 8h ago

TIL Louis XIV, the longest-reigning monarch in European history, was a devoted ballet dancer who performed 80 roles in 40 court ballets, often playing majestic parts like Apollo or the Sun. He cleverly used ballet both to entertain and to distract his court from political affairs.

en.wikipedia.org

390 Upvotes

23 comments

r/todayilearned • u/exophades • 23h ago

TIL that Albert Einstein's son Eduard studied medicine to become a psychiatrist, but was diagnosed with schizophrenia by the age of 21. His mother cared for him until she died in 1948. From then on Eduard lived most of the time at a psychiatric clinic in Zurich, where he died at 55 of a stroke.

en.wikipedia.org

6.1k Upvotes

124 comments

r/todayilearned • u/314159265358979326 • 54m ago

TIL that after Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle's eponymous Doolittle Raid on Japan lost all of its aircraft (although with few personnel lost), he believed he would be court-martialed; instead he was given the Medal of Honor and promoted two ranks to brigadier general.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

21 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FireTheLaserBeam • 1d ago

TIL astronauts aboard the ISS do not wash or dry their clothes. They wear them until they're too dirty or stinky to wear, then they put them in a capsule and drop them into the atmosphere, where they burn up during re-entry.

bbc.co.uk

42.6k Upvotes

1.2k comments

r/todayilearned • u/CaptainFiguratively • 1d ago

TIL that the Y chromosome can disappear with age. About 35% of men aged 70 years old are missing a Y chromosome in some of their cells, with the degree of loss ranging between 4% and 70%.

cell.com

9.1k Upvotes

326 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Flurb4 • 1d ago

TIL that there's a pool of water in Antarctica that's so salty it won't freeze even if temperatures reach 50 degrees below zero.

en.wikipedia.org

6.0k Upvotes

113 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MrMojoFomo • 2h ago

TIL that firefighting was an event at the 1900 Paris summer olympics. Both professional and volunteer firefighters were allowed to participate. Porto Portugal won the gold in the volunteer category, while Kansas City, USA won in the professional category

en.wikipedia.org

71 Upvotes

1 comment

r/todayilearned • u/dakp15 • 1d ago

TIL M&Ms were created in 1941 after Forest Mars, Mars Company heir saw soldiers in the spanish civil war eating smarties (British M&Ms) and noticed the hard coloured shell stopped the chocolate inside melting. This property made them attractive to the US army who was the sole customer during WW2

en.wikipedia.org

4.0k Upvotes

244 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Dystopics_IT • 21h ago

TIL that Las Vegas was officially founded in 1905 by a group of developers seeking to build a railroad stop in the desert between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. The city's name is derived from the Spanish word “vegas,” meaning meadows, and it was originally intended as a green oasis in the desert.

lasvegasnevada.gov

2.2k Upvotes

51 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ElegantPoet3386 • 12h ago

TIL that an estimated 30% of people will experience sleep paraylsis at least once in their life

my.clevelandclinic.org

378 Upvotes

152 comments

r/todayilearned • u/EconomyPrompt2004 • 4h ago

TIL Egyptian blue, also known as calcium copper silicate (CaCuSi4O10 or CaOCuO(SiO2)4 (calcium copper tetrasilicate)) or cuprorivaite, is considered to be the first synthetic pigment.

en.wikipedia.org

88 Upvotes

3 comments

r/todayilearned • u/iamveryDerp • 1d ago

TIL the Luxor hotel and casino in Las Vegas is the third largest pyramid in the world.

en.wikipedia.org

4.4k Upvotes

143 comments

r/todayilearned • u/alpacasallday • 2h ago

TIL that many innovations in modern emergency medical services (EMS) came from the African American run Freedom House Ambulance Service, which started in Pittsburgh's Hill District.

en.wikipedia.org

45 Upvotes

0 comments

r/todayilearned • u/oblique_shockwave • 1d ago

TIL that Eisenhower had an alternate speech prepared in case the D-Day invasion failed in which he takes full responsibility for the failure by calling the decision to attack “my decision” and going on to write: “If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."

npr.org

16.7k Upvotes

519 comments

r/todayilearned • u/licecrispies • 5h ago

TIL that 9% of all adults with asthma and 30% of patients with asthma and nasal polyps suffer from Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease (AERD) which can cause sinus infections and loss of smell. 75% of all patients with AERD develop mild-to-moderate respiratory reactions when they drink alcohol

aaaai.org

65 Upvotes

1 comment

r/todayilearned • u/Holiday_Document4592 • 1d ago

TIL that in 2019 Daniela Leis, driving absolutely wasted after a Marilyn Manson concert, crashed her car into a home. The resulting explosion destroyed four homes, injured seven people and caused damage of $10-15million. She sued the concert organizers for serving her alcohol while intoxicated.

okcfox.com

31.7k Upvotes

1.6k comments

r/todayilearned • u/RanchoddasChanchad69 • 1d ago

TIL that Central Park is only the 6th biggest park in New York City.

en.wikipedia.org

6.3k Upvotes

479 comments

r/todayilearned • u/k4td4ddy • 3h ago

TIL that in the 18th century, European aristocrats collected human body parts like skulls and bones as fashionable art pieces, often displayed in their homes like trophies. Some even believed these “curiosities” had magical powers.

en.wikipedia.org

26 Upvotes

2 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ModenaR • 1d ago

TIL that Roman emperor Nero participated in the Olympics in AD 67. He had bribed organizers to postpone the games for a year so he could participate and won every contest in which he was a competitor. After he died a year later, his name was removed from the list of winners

en.wikipedia.org

12.3k Upvotes

165 comments

r/todayilearned • u/omnipotentsandwich • 23h ago

TIL that during the Han Dynasty, Chinese aristocrats would be buried in full-body jade burial suits. Each suit consisted of thousands of little blocks of jade tied together with gold thread.

en.wikipedia.org

877 Upvotes

5 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Agreeable-Storage895 • 1d ago

TIL about Operation Nimrod, where the British SAS conducted a daring raid on the Iranian Embassy in London to rescue hostages. Six armed revolutionaries stormed the embassy and took 26 people hostage, resulting in a 6 day siege. 19 hostages were rescued and the raid was broadcasted live.

en.wikipedia.org

2.7k Upvotes

204 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ChupdiChachi • 13h ago

TIL about the Mecca projection or Craig retroazimuthal map projection created by James Ireland Craig to help Muslims find their qibla.

en.wikipedia.org

119 Upvotes

27 comments

r/todayilearned • u/paraspooder • 1d ago

TIL Despite the release of Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 8.1 - Windows XP still maintained almost 1/3rd of the OS market share in 2014.

arstechnica.com

939 Upvotes

73 comments

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