Albert Einstein once said that “intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death,” reminding us of the importance of learning and improving throughout our lives. However, with millions of things going on daily, it can be hard to reserve some time to educate ourselves on something new.
To help with that, we have a list of fresh facts from the ‘Today I Learned’ subreddit. They’re guaranteed to pique your curiosity and who knows, they may even lead you to a rabbit hole of new knowledge. To find these amazing facts, all you have to do is scroll down!
While you're at it, don't forget to check out a conversation with mindset psychologist Dr. Rebekah Wanic, who kindly agreed to share a few tips on how to find motivation for learning.
#21
TIL while voice actor Tara Strong was recording crying noises for her character Dill Pickles on Rugrats, the producers stopped her because her crying was so real that she made a woman in the studio lactate
Report
71points
After finding out what motivation is and what can interfere with it, we come to a point where we need to figure out how to find it in ourselves so we can start learning something new.
"Motivation to start learning starts with finding value in the outcome you seek to achieve. This will set the stage for viewing the learning tasks as important steps to gain abilities, skills, or new behaviors," said Dr. Wanic.
#22
TIL Isaac Newton was Master of the Mint in England for the last 30 years of his life. Although it was intended as an honorary title, he took it seriously—working to standardize coinage and crack down on counterfeits. He personally testified against some counterfeiters, leading to their hanging.
68points
#23
TIL IKEA’s founder, Ingvar Kamprad, had dyslexia, so he used Swedish names instead of numbers for products—making them easier to remember and now a signature part of the brand.
Report
68points
#24
TIL that when Dan Shechtman discovered quasiperiodic crystals in 1982, he got mocked and shamed. Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling spoke of the discovery, saying "There is no such thing as quasicrystals, only quasi-scientists." In 2011 Shechtman won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery.
62points
"Building in small checkpoints and rewards along the way can keep you motivated, as you will have both short- and longer-term aims to help guide and sustain motivation," she advised. "This will also provide feedback on whether your methods are working and give you information about what you might want to change if you aren't seeing results with your current strategy."
#25
TIL Florence Foster Jenkins (1868–1944) believed she was a great opera singer despite being completely tone-deaf. She performed in extravagant costumes, including tinsel wings, and dismissed laughter as jealousy. Her famous quote: “People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing.”
62points
#26
TIL that ''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' was nominated for 11 Oscars and won all of them, which makes it the largest sweep (winning awards in every nominated category) in Oscars history
Report
60points
#27
TIL Vincent Van Gogh left art school shortly after an incident where he was assigned to draw the Venus de Milo and instead drew the nude torso of a peasant woman. When confronted by his teacher Van Gogh protested that a woman must have "hips, buttocks," and "a pelvis in which she can carry a baby."
59points
#28
TIL Robert Kehoe discovered reports that the chemical benzidine caused bladder cancer. His client, DuPont, made benzidine. Instead of alerting the American public, Kehoe stuffed the report in a box. The moldy records were unearthed decades later when DuPont’s employees, stricken with cancer, sued.
58points
#29
TIL in 1863, Union General Joseph Hooker significantly boosted troop morale. He issued soft bread 4 times a week, fresh onions or potatoes twice a week, and dried vegetables once a week. He also improved sanitation, requiring bedding to be aired and soldiers to bathe twice a week.
Report
58points
#30
TIL Ludwig von Beethoven's associates used notebooks to hold conversations with the composer after he became functionally deaf, to the point where historians can roughly piece together whole conversations the composer had based on what was written.
56points
#31
TIL that when the small town of Delton, Michigan received a foreign exchange student, the host family thought the Austrian boy had exaggerated his size. Bernhard Raimann a) was 6' 6" tall and b) wanted to play American football. He dominated local teams, got a college scholarship, and is in the NFL.
Report
54points
#32
TIL: When someone important to you abruptly leaves you, your brain has a similar response to physical pain
Report
53points
#33
TIL in 2022 a man won a free drink in an air-guitar competition while on a cruise, which is his last memory before waking up overboard in the Gulf of Mexico without the ship in sight. He treaded water for 18 hours & was stung by two swarms of jellyfish all over his legs & arms before being rescued.
Report
51points
#34
TIL Prior to the Reagan era trickle down economics was called Horse and Sparrow Theory, as in feed the horse lots of oats and the sparrows get to pick it out of their poop.
49points
#35
TIL in 2006 thieves in Buenos Aires tunneled underneath a bank & entered its vault. After a 7-hour standoff with 23 hostages, authorities entered to find $20m missing, a row of toy guns, & a note that said "In a neighborhood of rich people, without weapons or grudges, it's just money, not love."
49points
#36
TIL that Andrew Lloyd Webber so so 'emotionally damaged' after seeing the 2019 adaptation of his musical 'Cats', he bought himself a dog.
Report
49points
#37
TIL that an early Irish legal text allowed for a pregnant woman to steal limited amounts of food if she had a craving for it
Editor's note: However, her husband or family still had to pay for the food
Editor's note: However, her husband or family still had to pay for the food
48points
#38
TIL That many competitive Scrabble players quit playing competitively after hundreds of “offensive” words were banned, including racial slurs, sexuality and gender insults.
47points
#39
TIL that in her 2019 testimony to stop paparazzi from endangering her children, Jennifer Garner described a “solid decade where there were five or six cars minimum, and easily up to 15 or 20 on the weekends, outside of my house at all times.”
46points
#40
TIL that Ahn Jung-hwan, the South Korean footballer who scored the winning goal against Italy at the 2002 World Cup, was playing for an Italian team at the time and had his contract terminated by the teams owner, citing his goal as the reason.
Report
46points
