Today I Learned 🎓

01 March 2026 12:49

TIL about six Tongan boys who survived for 15 months on a desert island until they were rescued by an Australian fisherman. Unlike the novel Lord of the Flies, they co-operated to survive and lived in an abandoned 19th century settlement. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

01 March 2026 09:49

TIL the creator of Little Nemo also created a comic strip aimed at adults where a character would eat a Welsh Rarebit (open faced grilled cheese) and then would be subjecting with absurdist, dark dreams until he woke up. This was 1904. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

01 March 2026 06:49

TIL that as of February 2026, Starlink has officially hit the 10,000-satellite milestone, making up 65% of all active satellites. Scientists warn that a single major solar storm could knock out their navigation and trigger a "Kessler Syndrome" chain reaction, trapping humanity on Earth. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

01 March 2026 05:49

TIL Iceland has a higher proportion of English speakers than the USA, and Iceland has a higher proportion of English speakers than Icelandic speakers. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

01 March 2026 03:49

TIL the last time a checkmate actually occurred on the board during a World Chess Championship match was in 1929. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 23:49

TIL about Richard Tomlinson. A former MI6 officer who argued that he was subjected to unfair dismissal in 1995, and attempted to take his former employer to a tribunal. MI6 refused, arguing that to do so would breach state security. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 20:49

TIL Roman Emperor Diocletian tried to limit social mobility of farmers and soldiers in order to protect the Roman State functions and economy. Despite himself being a son of a liberated slave and were a soldier. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 18:49

TIL Christopher Nolan did not write the line "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain" said by Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, his brother Jonathan did. Nolan didn't understand it initially & revealed "It kills me because it's the line that most resonates." [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 16:49

TIL the James Webb Space Telescope has found over 300 "Little Red Dots", objects that existed between 13.2 an 12.2 billion years ago, and whose nature is currently uncertain [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 14:49

TIL Siam occupied Neustadt an der Weinstraße in Germany after WWI. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 12:49

TIL the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has 241 million people living in 94,000 sq miles/243,000 sq km. This is the equivalent to 70% of the US population living in an area the size of Oregon. Three quarters of the state's population is rural. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 09:49

TIL lobsters are biologically immortal - they don't age and can theoretically live forever, but die from exhaustion during molting as they grow larger, not from old age [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 05:49

TIL Bassem Youssef practiced as a cardiothoracic surgeon in Egypt for 13 years, until his move into comedy and political satire. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 03:49

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. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 00:49

TIL that mucus color does not indicate a viral or bacterial infection; the coloration only indicates an increase in the number of certain immune system cells, or an increase in the enzymes these cells produce. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

01 March 2026 11:49

TIL that the Black Sabbath Debut Album: Black Sabbath was recorded in a Single Day and the band made it to the pub in time for last order [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

01 March 2026 07:49

TIL that early audiences who heard "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath at clubs in 1970 were absolutely terrified of it. According to Ozzy Osbourne's autobiography: “All the girls ran out of the venue screaming. Isn’t the whole point of being in a band to get a shag, not make the chicks run away?" [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

01 March 2026 05:49

TIL that in 2023, scientists detected possible signs of a gas called dimethyl sulfide (DMS) in the atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18b — and on Earth, this gas is produced almost exclusively by living organisms (like marine plankton). [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

01 March 2026 03:49

TIL that carpenter ants don’t actually eat wood , they chew through it to build massive hidden colonies inside walls and furniture, sometimes causing structural damage that looks like termite destruction. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

01 March 2026 00:49

TIL the Rolls-Royce Phantom's 4-wheel steering turns the rear wheels counter to the front wheels at speeds lower than 60kmh to improve maneuverability. Between 60-80kmh the rear wheels don't steer at all. Over 80kmh the rear wheels turn in the same direction as the front wheels for better stability [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 23:49

TIL that during WW2 military brothel were set up by Nazi Germany throughout much of occupied Europe for the use of Wehrmacht and SS soldiers. Until 1942, there were around 500 military brothels of this kind in German-occupied Europe minimum of 34,140 European women were forced to serve as prostitute [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 18:49

TIL Facebook deliberately manipulated the news feeds of nearly 700,000 users in 2012 to study emotional contagion without informing them at the time effectively treating their users as guinea pigs. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 17:49

TIL Early Hominins (~3–4 million years ago) showed high levels of sexual dimorphism, with males significantly larger than females, like modern gorillas. Over time, with the emergence of genus Homo, size dimorphism decreased, approaching the more moderate levels seen in modern humans. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 15:49

TIL that Frederick the Great and Louis XIV used to inscribe cannons with the phrase "Ultima Ratio Regum", "The final argument of kings". [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 13:49

TIL That in the African language (Zulu) portions of The Lion King theme Circle of Life translates to‘ Here comes the lion, father, Oh yes it's a lion. A lion we're going to conquer, A lion and a leopard come to this open place." and "Look there is a Lion! Oh my God!" (repeated chorus) [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 10:49

TIL that in 1917, doctors deliberately infected people with malaria to treat syphilis — because the high fevers caused by malaria could kill the bacteria responsible for syphilis. The method actually worked and even won its creator, Julius Wagner‑Jauregg, the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1927. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 06:49

TIL the room used to collect sperm at a sperm bank is called a masturbatorium [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 04:49

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

Today I Learned 🎓

28 February 2026 01:49

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. [Source]

Today I Learned 🎓

27 February 2026 22:49

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