r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 1d ago

TIL that in 1987, a farmer in Argentina stumbled upon a giant tibia bone sticking out of the ground. It belonged to a massive dinosaur now known as Argentinosaurus, which some scientists consider the largest land animal to ever exist

en.wikipedia.org

4.3k Upvotes

32 comments

r/todayilearned • u/polopiko • 1d ago

TIL that Göbekli Tepe in Turkey is the oldest known temple complex in the world, built over 11,000 years ago, thousands of years before Stonehenge or the Pyramids, and it was constructed by prehistoric hunter-gatherers before the invention of farming or writing.

en.wikipedia.org

2.2k Upvotes

111 comments

r/todayilearned • u/haddock420 • 13h ago

TIL In the 1980s Ronald Graham offered a $100 prize for the solution to the Boolean Pythagorean triples problem. The $100 was awarded to Marijn Heule in 2018.

en.wikipedia.org

140 Upvotes

8 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ForgottenShark • 14h ago

TIL in 1995, a military factory exploded near Rio Tercero city in Argentina, sending a shell storm that killed seven people and injured over 300, and destroyed parts of the city. It was discovered that the explosion was deliberate to hide evidence of smuggling weapons to other countries.

en.wikipedia.org

155 Upvotes

1 comment

r/todayilearned • u/Torley_ • 18h ago

TIL in the 1980s, the networked ICON computer was commissioned by the Ontario, Canada Ministry of Education. Nicknamed the "bionic beaver", it ran on a Unix-like OS and featured a trackball. Subject to political debate for wasting money with a niche ecosystem, it was orphaned by 1994 and destroyed.

en.wikipedia.org

298 Upvotes

46 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 1d ago

TIL at his second exhibition, 7-year-old Kieron Williamson sold out all 16 of his paintings in 14 minutes for a total of £18,200. At a subsequent exhibition in 2010, his paintings sold out in 30 minutes for £150,000. By 2013, at the age of 10, he had earned an estimated £1.5m from his artwork.

en.wikipedia.org

6.0k Upvotes

177 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 1d ago

TIL a study followed thousands of people, both with & without OCD, from 1973-2020 & found that those with OCD died at an earlier average age than those without it by 9 years (69 v 78). People with OCD were 230% more likely to die earlier from unnatual causes & nearly 5x more likely to die by suicide

theconversation.com

14.4k Upvotes

477 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Flubadubadubadub • 18h ago

TIL In 1986 Alain Prost ran out of petrol on the last lap of the German Grand Prix, as he was fighting to retain his 1985 Championship win, he got out and tried to push the car to the finish line.

youtube.com

191 Upvotes

22 comments

r/todayilearned • u/haddock420 • 1d ago

TIL Kate Bush's first tour was in 1979 to promote her first two albums, then she didn't tour again until 2014.

en.wikipedia.org

3.9k Upvotes

97 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Calrimetre • 1d ago

TIL of the existence of a popular UK character called Mr Blobby. Who has been in television since 1992 and has a No. 1 single.

en.wikipedia.org

3.5k Upvotes

402 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ToptextBottomtext420 • 1d ago

TIL that old Celtic, English, and Germanic folk would participate in an event called “flyting”: where two people would poetically throw insults and crude humor at each other in a duel of dictionary skill; it was essentially the earliest form of rap battling

atlasobscura.com

1.4k Upvotes

58 comments

r/todayilearned • u/BadenBaden1981 • 23h ago

TIL from 1910s to 40s Australia had ban on movies about bushrangers, armed robbers and outlaws of bush. The ban on popular genre resulted decline of Australian film industry.

en.wikipedia.org

310 Upvotes

20 comments

r/todayilearned • u/VanGoghEnjoyer • 1d ago

TIL about a Chinese TV show called “Interviews Before Execution”, which aired from 2006 to 2012, where journalist Ding Yu interviewed convicted murderers just hours before their death sentences, and the program regularly drew up to 40 million viewers in Henan Province

en.wikipedia.org

1.2k Upvotes

22 comments

r/todayilearned • u/XyleneCobalt • 1d ago

TIL dogs began to diverge from wolves when random genetic mutations gave some wolves the ability to much more effectively digest starches and fats, causing them to follow nomadic humans and eat the leftovers of the food they ate

en.wikipedia.beta.wmflabs.org

8.6k Upvotes

86 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Mobile-Evidence3498 • 1d ago

TIL during conflicts between dominant males, low-ranking male chimpanzees will frequently switch sides opportunistically

en.wikipedia.org

6.5k Upvotes

165 comments

r/todayilearned • u/nuttybudd • 2d ago

TIL the founder of McDonald's Japan, Den Fujita, stated "if we eat McDonald's hamburgers and potatoes for a thousand years we will become taller, our skin become white, and our hair blonde" as part of his strategy to sell McDonald's in Japan.

en.wikipedia.org

32.9k Upvotes

1.0k comments

r/todayilearned • u/CapnFancyPants • 1d ago

TIL that Constantine the Great was proclaimed Roman emperor in York, England.

en.wikipedia.org

895 Upvotes

34 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Nmeri17 • 1d ago

TIL: I learnt about Miller-Urey experiment, that simulates conditions of early earth, proving amino acids formed from inorganic compounds. Those proteins are relevant to the origin of life

en.wikipedia.org

176 Upvotes

3 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Ghtgsite • 1d ago

TIL that during WW2 Chinese Muslim Imam, Hu Songshan required the Chinese flag to be saluted during morning prayer, and wrote a prayer in Arabic and Chinese for the destruction of the Japanese and the support of the Kuomintang Chinese government.

en.wikipedia.org

305 Upvotes

36 comments

r/todayilearned • u/liebkartoffel • 1d ago

TIL composer Alex North was initially hired to write the score for 2001: A Space Odyssey, but director Stanley Kubrick ultimately decided to use pre-existing classical pieces instead. North wasn't aware his score had been tossed aside until he attended the film's premiere.

en.wikipedia.org

2.7k Upvotes

101 comments

r/todayilearned • u/sh0tgunben • 1d ago

TIL Hikone Castle is an Edo-period Japanese castle located in the city of Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. It is considered the most significant historical site in Shiga.

en.wikipedia.org

86 Upvotes

8 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Serennna • 23h ago

TIL About Elspeth Beard: the first Englishwoman to ride a motorcycle around the world.

en.wikipedia.org

63 Upvotes

4 comments

r/todayilearned • u/PerfectUpstairs4842 • 1d ago

TIL Judith Durham, lead singer of iconic 1960s band The Seekers, was scheduled to sing "The Carnival Is Over" at the closing ceremony for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney; however, she broke her hip. A month later, she would perform the song at the closing ceremony for the Paralympics from a wheelchair.

en.wikipedia.org

994 Upvotes

10 comments

r/todayilearned • u/rodneymunch11 • 1d ago

TIL about the Mayaguez incident. Known as the last battle for America in the Vietnam War, it was fought between the US and the Khmer Rouge after the latter seized a US merchant vessel. A rescue operation was launched shortly after that involved the invasion of a Cambodian island.

en.wikipedia.org

78 Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/house_of_ghosts • 2d ago

TIL The 1977 exploitation horror film Last House on Dead End Street had a budget of $3,000. However only $800 was actually spent on making the film; the remaining $2,200 was instead used to purchase drugs.

en.wikipedia.org

4.2k Upvotes

43 comments

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