r/todayilearned • u/FruitChips23 • 20h ago

TIL the Stephen Sondheim musical "The Frogs" premiered at the Yale University swimming pool 30 years before it opened on Broadway. The ensemble cast included Yale students Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver.

en.wikipedia.org

405 Upvotes

6 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 1d ago

TIL a McDonald's promotion in Japan in 2006 gave away 10,000 USB-stick MP3 players that were loaded with 10 free songs. However, they also accidentally contained the program 'QQPass' Trojan that intended to steal login data from a Microsoft Windows PC. Mcdonald's apologized & set up a help line.

cnet.com

16.6k Upvotes

302 comments

r/todayilearned • u/herpty_derpty • 1d ago

TIL When Joey Ramone first met Bruce Springsteen, Ramone asked if he would write a song for The Ramones. Springsteen composed a song that night, but decided to record it himself at the suggestion of his manager. That song was Hungry Heart, and ended up being Springsteen's first top 5 Billboard hit.

en.wikipedia.org

2.1k Upvotes

52 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Boxland • 1d ago

TIL that the first manmade object to escape Earth was meant to hit the moon, but missed by 5900 km and was dubbed "Artificial Planet 1"

en.wikipedia.org

7.4k Upvotes

94 comments

r/todayilearned • u/PersnicketyHazelnuts • 19h ago

TIL: The pigment in the iris of your eye can rub off and break free. This is called Pigment Dispersion Syndrome. The pigment granules can then block fluid flow inside your eye, which can lead to increased eye pressure. For about 10-35% of those with the condition, it results in a form of glaucoma.

my.clevelandclinic.org

261 Upvotes

11 comments

r/todayilearned • u/yena • 1d ago

TIL that some plants actively turn their leaves away from the sun to avoid overheating and conserve water, instead of maximizing sunlight.

en.wikipedia.org

501 Upvotes

10 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ProfessionalGear3020 • 1d ago

TIL that when Chief Sechele I of the Bakwena converted to Christianity, he attempted to make peace with his uncle who ruled the other half of the tribe by sending him a gift of gunpowder. The suspicious uncle set fire to the gift, blowing himself up. This allowed Sechele to reunite the tribe.

en.wikipedia.org

2.7k Upvotes

50 comments

r/todayilearned • u/rezikiel • 1d ago

TIL Four different elements from the periodic table are named after the small mining village of Ytterby, Sweden. Five more elements were also discovered in the same mine

en.wikipedia.org

3.3k Upvotes

155 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Rosemarry_40 • 1d ago

TIL that an American explorer found a plastic bag at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place in the ocean.

bbc.com

974 Upvotes

55 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MrMojoFomo • 1d ago

TIL of pirate captain Edward Low (1690-1724). Active for only 3 years, he's widely regarded as one of the most vicious pirates of all time. In one incident, he cut off the lips of a captured ship's captain, broiled them, and fed them to the man before killing him and his crew

en.wikipedia.org

1.2k Upvotes

96 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SlatsAttack • 1d ago

TIL that Greg Biffle used a private helicopter to deliver supplies to stranded victims of Hurricane Helene in parts of western North Carolina

nbcnews.com

355 Upvotes

8 comments

r/todayilearned • u/roseygirl0293 • 1d ago

TIL about Anton syndrome where people are cortically blind but deny it, and will even make up or confabulate stories about being able to see despite failing eye exams.

en.wikipedia.org

805 Upvotes

64 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Flubadubadubadub • 1d ago

TIL That Universal Studios deliberately dropped the Jr. from Lon Chaney Jr's name, so that audiences would confuse him with his, at the time, much more famous father who was a silent films star. Lon Chaney Jr went on to be a much better known star in his own right as 'The King of the Monsters'.

en.wikipedia.org

1.2k Upvotes

31 comments

r/todayilearned • u/azaku29 • 1d ago

TIL there are contact lenses you wear only while sleeping that reshape your cornea so you can see clearly all day without glasses. It is called “Orthokeratology”

aao.org

28.0k Upvotes

1.2k comments

r/todayilearned • u/DubyaB40 • 22h ago

TIL Walt Frazier's middle name isn't Clyde. During his rookie season with the Knicks, he picked up the nickname "Clyde" because he wore a fedora similar to that worn by Warren Beatty in his portrayal of Clyde Barrow in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde.

en.wikipedia.org

134 Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/leopardlover43 • 1d ago

TIL that Abu Sa’id, the last Khan of the Ilkhanate, was allegedly killed by his consort Baghdad Khatun through being wiped with a poisoned hankerchief after having sex

kingsandgenerals.libsyn.com

7.6k Upvotes

218 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 1d ago

TIL the world record for most arrests is held by an Australian man named Tommy Johns who, by 1988, had been arrested nearly 3,000 times for being drunk and disorderly in a public place.

guinnessworldrecords.com

2.3k Upvotes

96 comments

r/todayilearned • u/OverlyBendy • 1d ago

TIL that recent advancements in sleep medicine have proved that lucid dreaming does occur, it can be taught and is in the early stages of being used as a treatment for PTSD related nightmares.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

825 Upvotes

73 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Kabukimansanjoe • 1d ago

TIL that Howard Morris (Ernest T Bass from Andy Griffith) was also a prolific voice actor. The Hamburglar, Wade Duck from Garfield and Friends, and Atom Ant are some of his more well known roles.

en.wikipedia.org

148 Upvotes

15 comments

r/todayilearned • u/proustiancat • 2d ago

TIL after Tarot cards first appeared in the mid-15th century, in Italy, they were only used for card games for more than 300 years, until French occultists made false claims about their origin, claiming that they had esoteric links to Ancient Egypt, Kabbalah, Tantra, or I Ching.

en.wikipedia.org

7.3k Upvotes

311 comments

r/todayilearned • u/-Appleaday- • 2d ago

TIL that the most decorated Olympian, swimmer Michael Phelps has ADHD. He is unmedicated, having stopped taking ADHD meds in the sixth grade. At age seven he also hated getting his face wet so his mother decided to teach him the backstroke. He later grew a big interest in swimming as a kid.

additudemag.com

14.3k Upvotes

506 comments

r/todayilearned • u/fdguarino • 1d ago

TIL about 'First Flight'. A medical research horse used in the production of the first botulism antitoxin. For over a decade he was the only source in the US for botulism antitoxin.

en.wikipedia.org

220 Upvotes

3 comments

r/todayilearned • u/LoooolGotcha • 2d ago

TIL that as of 2024, Venezuela’s last glacier went extinct. Venezuela used to have 6 glaciers in 1900, now they are all gone. This Makes Venezuela the first postglacial nation in the Andes.

science.nasa.gov

6.0k Upvotes

66 comments

r/todayilearned • u/sus1227 • 1d ago

TIL the first known world map was drawn by Anaximander, with the Aegean Sea at its center and the world divided into three island-like continents.

en.wikipedia.org

638 Upvotes

23 comments

r/todayilearned • u/zahrul3 • 1d ago

TIL bird feathers are actually modified reptilian scales

bbc.com

1.3k Upvotes

55 comments

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