r/todayilearned • u/a2soup • 1h ago

TIL that the use of incubators to save premature babies was popularized by a Coney Island sideshow that exhibited preemies in incubators for decades before maternity wards adopted the technology. The show was funded by admission fees and saved thousands of babies at no cost to the families.

pbs.org

• Upvotes

37 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Pan_inside • 2h ago

TIL Thomas Edison’s 1876 electric pen made tiny perforations in paper to create reusable stencils for copying documents. In 1891, Samuel O’Reilly adapted the technology into the first officially patented electric tattoo machine.

blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk

259 Upvotes

5 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Therealdarkviper • 34m ago

TIL that several crew members onboard the Challenger space shuttle survived the initial breakup. It is theorized that some were conscious until they hit the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

39 comments

r/todayilearned • u/YappinZappin • 1h ago

TIL tetraethyllead (TEL) - main component used to make gasoline "leaded" - was selected out of thousands compounds tested mainly for being the cheapest - just 1 part TEL in 1300 parts gasoline was found to be enough to sufficiently reduce "knocking"

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

100 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sanguinusshiboleth • 58m ago

TIL of the Mount of Temptation, the mountain that Jesus was supposedly shown the whole world by Satan to tempt him after fasting for 40 days, is also called Mount Quarantine (from the latin "quarranta" meaning 40 days).

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

71 comments

r/todayilearned • u/haddock420 • 5h ago

TIL The 1833 Factory Act limited the hours children could work in factories, for children aged 9 to 13, they could work a maximum of 48 hours a week and 8 hours a day.

parliament.uk

920 Upvotes

60 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ubcstaffer123 • 3h ago

TIL Driving for more than two hours each day can steadily decrease the IQ of middle-aged drivers

readersdigest.ca

11.9k Upvotes

906 comments

r/todayilearned • u/eleanorharland • 7h ago

TIL a Dutch supermarket chain has "chat checkouts" for customers who aren't in a hurry and want to talk to the cashier. The first opened in 2019 to tackle loneliness among older people, and it was popular enough that the chain announced 200 more.

dutchnews.nl

5.2k Upvotes

164 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ijustwannanap • 7h ago

TIL that Winamp's slogan "It really whips the llama's ass!" comes from the Wesley Willis song "Whip the Llama's Ass". Willis was a schizophrenic musician and artist who released over 48 albums in his lifetime.

en.wikipedia.org

4.8k Upvotes

442 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Successful-Ear977 • 5h ago

TIL a nationwide US study found that only 42% of dog owners reported walking their dog during a typical week.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

6.4k Upvotes

2.4k comments

r/todayilearned • u/lmao-bruh-lol • 7h ago

TIL that in 1830, nearly half the students were expelled from Yale University, because they refused to draw their own geometric diagrams on the chalk board for maths exams rather than consult textbooks. This is also known as the Conics Sections Rebellion

mentalfloss.com

1.4k Upvotes

82 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 • 7h ago

TIL that in the 1860s Canada its own variant of baseball. The "Canadian Game" had 11 field players per team who all got to bat during an inning instead of a 3 out rule, 2 innings instead of 9, 5 bases, and base runners were ruled out by throwing the ball directly at them while between bases.

protoball.org

485 Upvotes

87 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Greene_Mr • 6h ago

TIL about Jim Creighton, who invented modern pitching before the MLB era and who died after his abdomen "snapped" during a game at the age of 21.

en.wikipedia.org

7.1k Upvotes

262 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jacknunn • 10h ago

TIL that in 1656, a disagreement between two ministers led to the Scottish Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling being divided by an interior wall into two separate churches. The wall was demolished when the church was reunited in 1935

en.wikipedia.org

217 Upvotes

17 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Important_Ad7676 • 9h ago

TIL that the city of Opa-locka, Florida, was completely modeled after the One Thousand and One Nights folktales. Founded in 1926, the entire town features streets named Ali Baba Avenue and Aladdin Boulevard

en.wikipedia.org

373 Upvotes

45 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Initial_Specialist69 • 10h ago

TIL There are "hunger stones" in rivers in central Europe. These stones were carved during droughts to mark the water level as a warning to future generations that they will have to endure famine-related hardships if the water sinks to this level again.

en.wikipedia.org

25.5k Upvotes

378 comments

r/todayilearned • u/eleanorharland • 13h ago

TIL from 1790 until 2015 bakers in Paris had to tell city hall before closing for holiday, so that half the city's bakeries shut in July and the other half in August. The rule was passed after the Revolution to make sure no neighbourhood ever ran out of bread.

npr.org

7.1k Upvotes

135 comments

r/todayilearned • u/caulay_mcculkin • 14h ago

TIL whisker fatigue is a type of sensory overload in cats caused when their sensitive whiskers constantly brush against the sides of a deep or narrow food and water, and it can lead to cat acting tense or aggressive during mealtimes or pacing near the food bowl or acting hungry but refusing to eat.

petmd.com

3.6k Upvotes

83 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Express-Ant6341 • 16h ago

TIL that Phobos, the larger moon of Mars, orbits so close to the planet that tidal forces are pulling it inward. It moves about six feet closer every hundred years and will eventually crash into the planet or break apart into a ring.

science.nasa.gov

3.4k Upvotes

120 comments

r/todayilearned • u/malcontentgay • 1h ago

TIL about sea silk, a rare golden fabric made from filaments secreted by pen shells. It's been around for millennia, and is still made at small scale by a few people in Sardinia.

en.wikipedia.org

• Upvotes

3 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 20h ago

TIL about Greg Land, an artist who illustrated several comics for both DC and Marvel, who is notorious for doing much of his art by tracing from other people's work, including pornography.

en.wikipedia.org

5.3k Upvotes

533 comments

r/todayilearned • u/nleachdev • 1d ago

TIL about "dead red" laws, which allow drivers and motorcyclists to proceed through a red light if the traffic signal fails to detect their vehicle.

en.wikipedia.org

21.9k Upvotes

952 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Greene_Mr • 6h ago

TIL the 1998 film adaptation of Scott Smith's novel "A Simple Plan" went through five different directors, including Mike Nichols (with Nicholas Cage attached), Ben Stiller, and John Boorman (who cast the two leads), before finally being helmed by Sam Raimi.

en.wikipedia.org

187 Upvotes

32 comments

r/todayilearned • u/YappinZappin • 23h ago

TIL modern jet fighters are designed to be inherently unstable in flight - tactical Supermaneuvrability dictates aircraft have enhanced responsiveness. On the downside it means pilots are no longer flying the airplanes - most control actions are performed by an onboard computer.

en.wikipedia.org

4.3k Upvotes

355 comments

r/todayilearned • u/heyauden • 15h ago

TIL that in Taiwan, a government-issued shopping invoice can also be a lottery ticket, with prizes of up to NT$10 million (nearly $315,000).

abc.net.au

854 Upvotes

39 comments

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