r/todayilearned • u/Bright-Surround-747 • 7h ago

TIL that the first benzodiazepine chlordiazepoxide (commonly used for severe alcohol withdrawal) was named Librium, short for equilibrium.

edu.rsc.org

232 Upvotes

73 comments

r/todayilearned • u/BisonThunderclap • 22h ago

TIL Nebraska is the only state with a unicameral legislature. It has 49 senators who serve 4 year terms with half of the legislature being up for election every 2 years.

en.wikipedia.org

3.3k Upvotes

235 comments

r/todayilearned • u/wandering_soles • 8h ago

Navy, not Air Force TIL about the USS Macon (ZRS-5), a flying 'aircraft carrier' built by the U.S. Air Force in the 1930's that carried 5 scout biplanes in internal hangars which were deployed and retrieved in-flight via a retractable hook system.

en.wikipedia.org

236 Upvotes

48 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FuckASchwarzenegger • 6h ago

PDF TIL Danish is unusually reluctant to respell foreign words: a Nordic study of newspapers from 2000 found that only 7% of modern loanwords were adapted to Danish spelling, compared with 17% in Swedish, 44% in Norwegian and 48% in Icelandic. Danish also had the highest proportion of English loanwords

helda.helsinki.fi

146 Upvotes

18 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 10h ago

TIL that the oldest-known sandals in the world were found in the 1930s dating back to 10,000 years old in Fort Rock in Oregon.

mnch.uoregon.edu

304 Upvotes

8 comments

r/todayilearned • u/MrMrSean • 21h ago

TIL Joseph Beyrle served in both the U.S and Soviet armies during WWII. Initially with the 101st Airborne, he was captured by the Germans after jumping into Normandy on D-Day. He escaped from an Eastern Front POW camp and joined the Red Army. His son later served as the U.S. Ambassador to Russia.

en.wikipedia.org

2.1k Upvotes

53 comments

r/todayilearned • u/dinozaurs • 5h ago

TIL that in 1985 the English band The Fall released a song titled "I Am Damo Suzuki," in homage to the singer Damo Suzuki from the band Can. The bassist for The Fall said that years later he met Suzuki at a club, who approached him by saying, "I am Damo Suzuki."

en.wikipedia.org

105 Upvotes

9 comments

r/todayilearned • u/fan_tas_tic • 16h ago

TIL Matmata, Tunisia's underground "troglodyte" structures stay 64–77°F (18–25°C) year-round without AC or heating, even when summer exceeds 104°F (40°C). Thick earth insulates against desert heat and cold nights.

atlasobscura.com

667 Upvotes

26 comments

r/todayilearned • u/60s_timer • 15m ago

TIL the Beach Boys were inspired from the 1965 Beatles' album Rubber Soul to form their 1966 album Pet Sounds, which inspired the Beatles to form their 1967 album Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

faroutmagazine.co.uk

• Upvotes

14 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 1d ago

TIL although the Dutch monarchy favors male heirs, King William III’s three sons all died before him. His daughter Wilhelmina inherited the throne in 1890, beginning 123 years of rule by three successive queens, each succeeded by a daughter, until Willem-Alexander became king in 2013.

en.wikipedia.org

4.6k Upvotes

142 comments

r/todayilearned • u/brondynasty • 1d ago

TIL about the ancient Roman practice of Damnatio Memoriae (condemnation of memory) whereby an unpopular or disgraced public figure from history is systematically erased as if they had never lived.

en.wikipedia.org

3.9k Upvotes

238 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Fairytlly • 1d ago

TIL that the "zombie-ant" fungus (Ophiocordyceps) does not control ants by invading their brains. Instead, it leaves the brain completely intact while directly encircling and seizing control of their muscle fibers like a biological puppet.

psu.edu

19.9k Upvotes

593 comments

r/todayilearned • u/FGGF • 1d ago

TIL that imitation crab in California rolls is often made from pollock, which is caught using trawl nets that catch and kill actual crabs, the very animal imitation crab is meant to mimic.

nationalfisherman.com

4.2k Upvotes

146 comments

r/todayilearned • u/mahrogamers • 18h ago

TIL that Claude Shannon, whose work helped lay the foundations of the digital age, built a calculator named THROBAC (THrifty ROman numeral BAckwards-looking Computer) that did all of its arithmetic entirely in Roman numerals, both externally and internally

mitmuseum.mit.edu

618 Upvotes

42 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Mr-Thuun • 6m left

TIL That Saint Lucia is the only country in the world named after a historical woman.

worldatlas.com

• Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/AetheriaNox • 1d ago

TIL On average, a kidney transplant from a living donor lasts about 15 to 20 years, and a kidney from a deceased donor lasts 8 to 12 years.

kidney.org

14.7k Upvotes

479 comments

r/todayilearned • u/carboncopy95437 • 1d ago

TIL that Herman Melville earned only about $1,260 from Moby-Dick, less than he made from any of his five previous books. Decades later, his widow received just $81 in royalties from nearly 1,800 copies sold between 1892 and 1898.

en.wikipedia.org

3.9k Upvotes

166 comments

r/todayilearned • u/conlanyoo • 12h ago

TIL that historian Shekhar Pathak led a decadal foot expedition called the "Askot-Arakot Abhiyan," walking over 1,150 kilometers across the length of the Himalayas every ten years (starting in 1974) to document the environmental and social changes in rural mountain villages.

downtoearth.org.in

158 Upvotes

2 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RiverMesa • 14h ago

TIL Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, used to be called Lourenço Marques until independence in 1976, and was originally going to be renamed Can Phumo, after a chief who lived in the area before the Portuguese arrived

en.wikipedia.org

203 Upvotes

10 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Infamous-Skippy • 11m left

TIL the guy behind modern Breatharianism, the belief that you can survive off of only sunlight, air, and dust, was busted eating McDonald’s, and defended this by saying "All McDonalds are constructed on properties that are protected by 5th Dimensional high energy/spiritual portals."

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

5 comments

r/todayilearned • u/delano1998 • 1d ago

TIL that in 1993, a failed Malaysian pop singer-turned-shaman named Mona Fandey murdered a politician during a fake "money-falling" ritual where she promised him invincibility. She then went on a luxury shopping spree and got a facelift before being executed.

en.wikipedia.org

1.7k Upvotes

116 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Dazzling-Ad1894 • 1d ago

TIL that the proposed Beatles film of "Lord of the Rings" stopped at only one meeting. In 1968, both John Lennon and Paul McCartney convened with potential director Stanley Kubrick at his London office, but Kubrick persuaded the pair that the film would be unadaptable, and the project was dropped.

faroutmagazine.co.uk

3.8k Upvotes

261 comments

r/todayilearned • u/wandering_soles • 1d ago

TIL that Vinnie Ream was only 18 years old when she was commissioned to sculpt the statue of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln for the United States Capitol rotunda in 1866, making her the first woman and youngest artist to be commissioned for a statue by the U.S. government

en.wikipedia.org

4.8k Upvotes

32 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 1d ago

TIL there was a myth about King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) that the film had different endings in different countries , with Godzilla winning in the Japanese version and Kong in the American. In reality, both cuts have the same ending, and Toho has repeatedly affirmed Kong as the ultimate winner.

en.wikipedia.org

4.0k Upvotes

159 comments

r/todayilearned • u/leafpool2014 • 1d ago

TIL there were over 525 Million Votes in the 1964 Illinois House of Representative Election. Because the state failed to redistrict, every single seat was elected at-large due to a constitutional quirk in the Illinois Constitution, meaning each person could vote for all 177 candidates seperately

en.wikipedia.org

2.7k Upvotes

78 comments

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