r/todayilearned • u/adpablito • 8h ago

TIL about the Boötes Void, an enormous, nearly empty region of space 330 million light-years in diameter. It is so desolate that if the Milky Way had been in its center, we wouldn't have known other galaxies existed until the 1960s.

skyatnightmagazine.com

10.2k Upvotes

430 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Blenderhead36 • 4h ago

TIL that Konami, makers of Yu-Gi-Oh, do not provide card packs for prizes at tournaments because of concerns about Japanese gambling laws. This leads to Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments having unorthodox prizes, including one in 2024 where the top 8 players were each awarded an air fryer worth about $80.

tcgrocks.com

2.1k Upvotes

82 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Mr__JimLahey • 7h ago

TIL India has never won a Winter Olympic medal and only won 41 total Olympic medals.

en.wikipedia.org

3.7k Upvotes

602 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Wazula23 • 11h ago

TIL George RR Martin bought the first ticket to the first Comic Con in 1964.

en.wikipedia.org

7.1k Upvotes

237 comments

r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • 13h ago

TIL in 2005 the Wisconsin owners of a missing cat received a call informing them that their cat had ended up in France and would be coming home soon. Their cat had wandered into a container of paper bales inside a nearby paper company, which went by truck to Chicago before being shipped to Europe.

nbcnews.com

11.2k Upvotes

206 comments

r/todayilearned • u/incognitoloris • 1h ago

TIL in 1997, a parody site "Bert Is Evil" posted edited images of Bert with figures such as Osama bin Laden. After 9/11, a Bangladesh publisher unknowingly found one online and printed it on anti-American posters. An unedited Reuters photo later showed the Bert image at a pro-bin Laden rally.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

54 comments

r/todayilearned • u/croato87 • 8h ago

TIL by the late 16th century it was common for mounted knights to wield wheel-lock pistols while clad in armor

warfarehistorynetwork.com

1.7k Upvotes

140 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Physical_Hamster_118 • 11h ago

TIL there is a law that prohibits people in Thailand from owning more than 120 unapproved playing cards.

en.wikipedia.org

3.1k Upvotes

211 comments

r/todayilearned • u/khmerelder • 11h ago

TIL that during the 1980s, Thailand’s massive humanitarian support for Cambodian refugees was also a deliberate military strategy. By placing refugee camps directly on the border, Thailand created a "human buffer zone" to deter a potential invasion by the Vietnamese-backed army.

en.wikipedia.org

1.2k Upvotes

44 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Embarrassed_Map1112 • 23h ago

TIL Iceland has never won a Winter Olympic medal

en.wikipedia.org

13.8k Upvotes

846 comments

r/todayilearned • u/dreampuff • 1h ago

TIL there are ancient limestone caves in Spain that perfectly age massive amounts of blue cheese

cheeseunderground.com

• Upvotes

20 comments

r/todayilearned • u/DeltaMike94 • 6h ago

TIL About Democritus, a Greek philosopher who, with his mentor Leucippus, created the atomic theory in the fifth century B.C.

en.wikipedia.org

374 Upvotes

48 comments

r/todayilearned • u/One_Needleworker5218 • 11h ago

TIL that in 1896, 2 physicists discovered radioactivity by accident when he left uranium salts in a drawer and found they fogged photographic plates in complete darkness, showing that atoms could emit energy on their own.

aps.org

832 Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/WavesAndSaves • 1d ago

TIL that Charles Dance's father was born in 1874 and fought in the Second Boer War, which began in 1899. Dance's older half-sister was born in 1898.

en.wikipedia.org

13.3k Upvotes

388 comments

r/todayilearned • u/sidvicarious • 1d ago

TIL in 1487, a young working class boy claimed to be Edward Plantagenet, heir to the throne of England. He was crowned 'King Edward VI' in Ireland and led a failed rebellion against Henry VII. Because of his young age, he was pardoned and employed in the royal kitchen. His real name is unknown.

en.wikipedia.org

7.5k Upvotes

124 comments

r/todayilearned • u/pigeon-in-greggs • 11h ago

TIL that the MV Doña Paz’s sinking was the deadliest maritime disaster that occurred outside of wartime, accounting for 4,385 deaths

en.wikipedia.org

372 Upvotes

9 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Koiboi26 • 1d ago

TIL Aspartame was discovered by accident in 1965 by James M. Schlatter while researching anti-ulcer drugs. Schlatter was synthesizing the intermediate tetrapeptide, when he accidentally licked his finger to turn a page, and tasted an intense sweetness.

en.wikipedia.org

4.5k Upvotes

211 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RedditIsAGranfaloon • 12h ago

TIL Boban Marjanovic had the NBA’s largest hands, measuring 10.75 inches in length and spanning 12 inches (as compared to Shaquille O’Neal’s 10.25/12 inches).

clutchpoints.com

266 Upvotes

39 comments

r/todayilearned • u/capacochella • 13h ago

TIL of the Missing Princes Project, a 10 year investigation done into the disappearance and alleged murder of Edward V and Richard, Duke of York which at its conclusion theorized the Yorkist “pretenders” Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck were the assumed identities of the exiled, usurped princes

revealingrichardiii.com

250 Upvotes

9 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Well_Socialized • 1d ago

TIL Danny DeVito and Robert Reich are so short because they both suffer from multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, a rare genetic disorder that slows bone growth

en.wikipedia.org

8.0k Upvotes

245 comments

r/todayilearned • u/QuarterTarget • 1d ago

TIL that the Switzerlands largest supermarket Migros, doesn’t sell alcohol or tobacco in stores, pays no dividends, caps profits by lowering prices if earnings exceeds 5%, is a cooperative with 2M+ members, and donates 1% of revenue to social projects, purely out of the founders moral philosophy

en.wikipedia.org

46.0k Upvotes

900 comments

r/todayilearned • u/IamDDT • 1d ago

TIL about the Herxheim archaeological site, where around 5000 BC over 1000 people were brought in, often from a great distance, to be killed and likely eaten

en.wikipedia.org

7.3k Upvotes

278 comments

r/todayilearned • u/WouldbeWanderer • 1d ago

TIL that Norman Rockwell intended to be an artist from a young age. Rockwell dropped out of high school at 14 to attend art school, and landed his first paying job as an illustrator for Boys' Life magazine at 18, making $50 per month for cover and story illustrations.

en.wikipedia.org

1.6k Upvotes

19 comments

r/todayilearned • u/darkages69 • 16h ago

TIL In 2023 The lateTomas Lindberg of Melodic Death Metal band 'At The Gates' was diagnosed with ACC and would require surgery to remove most of the roof of his mouth, he entered the studio and recorded all vocals for future album 'The Ghost of a Future Dead' in a SINGLE day ONE day before surgery.

blabbermouth.net

221 Upvotes

8 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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