r/todayilearned • u/named_mark • 23h ago

TIL the population of the NYC metropolitan area makes up 7.9% of the total US population. The city alone is 2.5% of the country's population.

census.gov

16.8k Upvotes

937 comments

r/todayilearned • u/ScienceTeacher1994 • 17h ago

Drop By, not Drop To TIL Jakarta, Indonesia, is now the world's most populous city, with a population of 42 million people. Dhaka, Bangladesh, with a current population of 36 million, is expected to surpass Jakarta by the mid century, while Tokyo is expect to drop to 2.7 million residents.

nbcnews.com

11.5k Upvotes

515 comments

r/todayilearned • u/jpw0w • 18h ago

TIL David Vetter "Bubble Boy" spent his entire life in a bubble, he suffered from severe combined immunodeficiency, and eventually died at the age of 12.

wamu.org

10.3k Upvotes

427 comments

r/todayilearned • u/AetheriaNox • 5h 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

9.5k Upvotes

346 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Fairytlly • 4h 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

9.0k Upvotes

308 comments

r/todayilearned • u/roll-_-ller • 20h ago

TIL that Measles infection can cause “immune amnesia” by wiping out 11%-73% of body’s immune memory cells and antibodies leaving behind a “reset” immune system that have “forgotten” how to fight off past infections.

hms.harvard.edu

8.7k Upvotes

216 comments

r/todayilearned • u/RaccoonCityTacos • 23h ago

TIL there is an actual "Granny Smith" behind the origin of the Granny Smith apple in Australia in 1868. And the creation of the new hybrid was an accident from discarded apple scraps.

en.wikipedia.org

6.0k Upvotes

177 comments

r/todayilearned • u/poo-rag • 11h ago

TIL the actor whose character died during the live fire exercise in Starship Troopers later married the actress who killed him (in the film)

en.wikipedia.org

3.8k Upvotes

175 comments

r/todayilearned • u/OutrageousNightcall • 22h ago

TIL that Glenn Close holds the record for most Oscar nominations for an actress without ever winning one.

en.wikipedia.org

3.4k Upvotes

129 comments

r/todayilearned • u/PikesPique • 10h ago

TIL that a Christian broadcaster called Family Radio spent $100 million promoting a host's prediction that the rapture would occur on May 21, 2011, and that the world would end on Oct. 21. Some listeners spent their own money to spread the word, with one retiree spending $140,000 on advertising.

en.wikipedia.org

3.3k Upvotes

435 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TMWNN • 12h ago

TIL that Kirk Kerkorian bought the MGM movie studio in 1969, and sold it in 1986. Five months later he bought back MGM, and sold it again in 1990. Kerkorian bought MGM back in 1996, and sold it again in 2005.

variety.com

2.7k Upvotes

131 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 4h 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

2.5k Upvotes

100 comments

r/todayilearned • u/leafpool2014 • 6h 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

1.9k Upvotes

53 comments

r/todayilearned • u/wandering_soles • 3h 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

1.6k Upvotes

12 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SakuraHana2008 • 20h ago

TIL that Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the Alphabet Song, Johnny Johnny, and Baa Baa Black Sheep were just the same song, and melodies were based on the classic children's song, “Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman”.

en.wikipedia.org

1.2k Upvotes

105 comments

r/todayilearned • u/TapFar687 • 10h ago

TIL that some men experience circular bald spots in their beard from a variant of the autoimmune condition, alopecia areata (barbae).

healthline.com

1.2k Upvotes

119 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Dazzling-Ad1894 • 2h 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

1.0k Upvotes

107 comments

r/todayilearned • u/randobis • 20h ago

TIL the melody always associated with ancient Egypt was actually composed in 1893 by an American songwriter who became a US congressman

en.wikipedia.org

868 Upvotes

66 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 19h ago

TIL that, during the ill-fated Polaris Expedition, William F. C. Nindemann became seperated from the expedition when an ice floe he was on broke off and drifted away. When he was rescued, and returned to America, Nindemann volunteered on a voyage searching for the still missing expedition.

en.wikipedia.org

525 Upvotes

7 comments

r/todayilearned • u/bullet494 • 9h ago

TIL there are three kinds of twilight- civil, nautical, and astronomical. They are based on how many degrees the sun is under the horizon.

en.wikipedia.org

415 Upvotes

19 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Downtown_Ebb9600 • 19h ago

TIL about Porcelain sickness (aka Porzellankrankheit in German or maladie de porcelaine in French )which was an obsessive 17th and 18th-century craze among European royalty and aristocrats to collect East Asian porcelain (white gold). It later trickled down to middle class as ‘Chinamania’.

asia-archive.si.edu

388 Upvotes

13 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Hermes3000Typewriter • 7h ago

TIL that Stan Laurel Tried To Bury Alive His Abusive Wife In 1938.

latimes.com

377 Upvotes

64 comments

r/todayilearned • u/SkierJC • 12h ago

TIL that Japanese brand Gekkeikan sake for sale in North America is actually brewed in the United States (and not Japan) since 1989

us.gekkeikan.com

332 Upvotes

93 comments

r/todayilearned • u/soupdawg • 3h ago

TIL In 1999 the NOAA recognized a 5th ocean, The Southern Ocean. Prior to 1999 only 4 oceans were recognized.

oceanservice.noaa.gov

197 Upvotes

41 comments

r/todayilearned • u/Recent_Flounder6011 • 19h ago

TIL that in the first three decades of California being a state, Spanish was briefly an official language alongside English. When the 1879 Constitution of the state was ratified, that was no longer the case.

en.wikipedia.org

184 Upvotes

6 comments

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