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.
#1
TIL Marie Curie had an affair with an already married physicist. Letters from the affair leaked causing public outrage. The Nobel Committee pressured her to not attend her 2nd Nobel Prize ceremony. Einstein told Marie to ignore the haters, and she attended the ceremony to claim her prize.
Image credits: HandsomeDim
#2
TIL that the rapture, the evangelical belief that Christians will physically ascend to meet Jesus in the sky, is an idea that only dates to the 1830s.
Image credits: ICanStopTheRain
#3
TIL that Coldplay has never had any lineup changes or used Touring musicians. It’s been the same 4 guys playing and touring together since the inception of the band, almost 30 years ago
Image credits: Werewolf_Nearby
With our busy schedules, finding the energy or brain capacity to be motivated and learn something new can be challenging. To find out how we can better motivate ourselves for the benefit of our personal development, we reached out to mindset psychologist Dr. Rebekah Wanic.
But before we dive into the expert’s recommendations, we first have to understand how motivation works in order to harness it.
#4
TIL that in the Pirahã language, speakers must use a suffix that indicates the source of their information: hearsay, circumstantial evidence, personal observation, etc. They cannot be ambiguous about the evidentiality of their utterances.
Image credits: Cogitotoro
#5
TIL that to persuade his first wife to accept a divorce, Einstein promised her the entire financial reward from his Nobel Prize. Three years later, he won the prize and transferred all the money to her.
Image credits: yooolka
#6
TIL UK teenager Olivia Farnsworth has a rare condition known as chromosome 6 deletion, which causes her to not feel hunger, pain, or a sense of danger. She is the only known person in the world who possesses all three of these symptoms together.
Image credits: tyrion2024
“Motivation is the drive state fueled by internal or external factors that compel us to take action,” explained Dr. Wanic.
When we are internally driven to do something, meaning that a specific activity is so exciting and interesting, we don’t need additional stimuli to perform it, it’s called intrinsic motivation. It comes from our inner desire to accomplish a goal.
#7
TIL that when Stalin was dying, his doctor was unavailable because he was being tortured by the secret police. Paralyzed and unable to speak, Stalin lay untreated for 12 h while his terrified subordinates debated calling a doctor, fearing he might recover and punish them for acting without orders.
Image credits: yooolka
#8
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.
Image credits: distelfink33
#9
TIL in 2008 a 20-year-old Belgium student died after reheating and eating leftover spaghetti that had been left out on the kitchen counter for five days. A bacteria called bacillus cereus was found to be the cause, which is an extreme type of food poisoning called “Fried Rice Syndrome”.
Image credits: tyrion2024
We could also be encouraged to perform something by external factors, like having a reward (a sweet) after achieving something (reading a chapter of a book). This is called extrinsic motivation, which over time can turn into internal motivation, if used in moderation, of course.
Neither type of motivation is better than the other—they both play a crucial role in the learning process.
#10
TIL that Dmitri Mendeleev, who is credited with creating the Periodic Table of Elements was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Chemistry 9 times but never won. His awarding was blocked each time by the 1903 winner, Svante Arrhenius, who held a grudge against Mendeleev for criticizing one of his papers.
Image credits: TriviaDuchess
#11
TIL That many competitive Scrabble players quit playing competitively after hundreds of “offensive” words were banned, including racial slurs, sexuality and gender insults.
Image credits: DystopianAdvocate
#12
TIL that Abraham Lincoln once captivated reporters with a speech so riveting that the audience stopped taking notes and we have no record of what he said! It has since been known as “Lincoln’s Lost Speech”
Image credits: SupermarketOk2281
“Motivation is crucial for learning because it determines the level of engagement, persistence, and effort put into a task,” explained Dr. Wanic.
“The more motivated, the more likely people are to continue to put in effort, even when they face challenges. It helps learners push through when energy wanes, stay consistent and practice regularly, and can even increase enjoyment of the learning process.”
#13
TIL that all 7,000 corporate employees at Costco’s headquarters are assigned cubicles. The CEO’s cubicle is slightly larger than the others.
Image credits: Overall-Register9758
#14
TIL Alan Turing, the father of modern computing, was an elite runner who nearly qualified for the Olympic marathon with a time of 2 hours 46 minutes—averaging an impressive 6:20 per mile
Image credits: Smooth_Record_42
#15
TIL in 2001 army major Charles Ingram cheated his way to £1,000,000 on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire by having a fellow contestant cough every time he read the right answer. For one question the coughing came from Ingram’s wife. All three were convicted of fraud.
Image credits: rocklou
However, our motivation can be fragile and susceptible to many factors that can hinder it. “There are many factors that can reduce motivation, including lack of perceived interest in the material, lack of confidence in one’s ability to accomplish the task, and feeling time constraints,” said Dr. Wanic.
#16
TIL An estimated 750,000 chocolate sprinkle and butter sandwiches (Hagelslag) are eaten each day in the Netherlands
Image credits: Fauked
#17
TIL that in 1989, a man bought a painting for $4 at a flea market and discovered an original copy of the Declaration of Independence hidden behind it.
Image credits: [deleted]
#18
TIL in 2005, three lions rescued a girl of 12 kidnapped by men who wanted to force her into marriage, chasing off her abductors and protecting her until she was rescued by Ethiopian police.
Image credits: MonkeyIncidentOf93
“Additionally, one’s mindset has an important impact—if you view challenge as an important part of learning and growth, you will be more likely to be motivated and see pushing through as a valuable behavior in achieving your long-term goals,” she noted. “If you view challenge as something that prevents you from getting what you want, then your motivation will be hindered.”
#19
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.
Image credits: ModenaR
#20
TIL Arnold Schwarzenegger was the first civilian in the United States to purchase a Humvee military vehicle. He loved it so much that he pushed its manufacturer to develop a street-legal, civilian version, which was released in 1992 as the Hummer H1.
Image credits: spicynugget5
#21
TIL that Sweden has a “sourdough hotel” where people can deposit their sourdough starters to be fed and cared for while they are on vacation.
Image credits: amateurfunk
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 that First Lady of the United States does not have to be the President’s wife and other women have held the title when the President was a widower or single. Most commonly a daughter, niece, or sister of the President.
Image credits: Capital_Tailor_7348
#23
TIL Hans Zimmer had trouble timing the score for Jack Sparrow and Will Turner’s fight in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl,” until an assistant making coffee asked to be given a shot, and that’s how Ramin Djawadi (“Game of Thrones,” “Iron Man,” “Pacific Rim”) got his career.
Image credits: Giff95
#24
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.
Image credits: tyrion2024
“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 that gorillas fart almost nonstop due to their fibrous diet
Image credits: katscarlettx
#26
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.”
Image credits: TriviaDuchess
#27
TIL that Warren Buffett earned over 99% Of his net wealth after the age of 56.
Image credits: seekerguru-00
#28
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
Image credits: SaltyPeter3434
#29
TIL in 2015 an unemployed 30-year old Princeton grad k**led his rich father when his allowance was cut down from $1,000/week to $300. He received a 30 year prison sentence
Image credits: ProudReaction2204
#30
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
Image credits: friendlystranger4u
#31
TIL Gavrilo Princip, the student who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, believed he wasn’t responsible for World War I, stating that the war would have occurred regardless of the assassination and he “cannot feel himself responsible for the catastrophe.”
#32
TIL two men conned €55m from wealthy people by asking for aid posing as French minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in online meetings by wearing a silicone mask of Le Drian & sitting at a fake official desk. They only duped 3 of 150 targets, but one wired $47m, thinking it was ransom money for journalists
#33
TIL that the last person to be executed in the Tower of London was Josef Jakobs in 1941. He was a German spy who parachuted into England but was quickly captured. When arrested, he was found carrying £500, forged papers, and a German sausage.
#34
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.
#35
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.
#36
TIL that chess player and Twitch streamer Anna Cramling created her own opening, “The Cow”, in 2023. In 2024 she for the first time played an opponent who used the opening. Cramling lost.
#37
TIL Apple’s first CEO, Michael Scott, once personally fired forty Apple employees, believing they were redundant. Later the same day, he gathered employees around a keg of beer and stated, “I’ll fire people until it’s fun again.” Following this event, he was demoted to vice chairman.
#38
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
#39
TIL: When someone important to you abruptly leaves you, your brain has a similar response to physical pain
#40
TIL that aside from telling Frodo “And you have my bow”, Legolas never speaks directly to Frodo at all in the entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, including the extended editions.
#41
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.
#42
TIL a finance worker was scammed for $25 Million through a Deepfake video conference. The worker thought he was on a call with multiple of his colleagues (who he recognised) and the company’s CFO, but all of them were fake.
#43
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.
#44
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.”
#45
TIL in 2012 a Navy SEAL accidentally shot himself in the head while trying to prove to his date that his gun wasn’t loaded
#46
TIL that the can-can was originally considered scandalous, and attempts were made to suppress it and arrest performers. The dance involves high kicks, and women’s underwear at the time had an open crotch.
#47
TIL that the children’s choir in “Another Brick in the Wall” was paid with a concert ticket, an album, and a single; their school received £1,000. Only 25 years later, after the copyright law changed and the choir members were tracked down, did they receive royalties.
#48
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.”
#49
TIL in 1985 Michael Jackson bought the Lennon–McCartney song catalog for $47.5m then used it in many commercials which saddened McCartney. Jackson reportedly expressed exasperation at his attitude, stating “If he didn’t want to invest $47.5m in his own songs, then he shouldn’t come crying to me now”
#50
TIL that George Washington ordered smallpox inoculation for all troops during the American Revolution. “we have more to dread from it than from the sword of the enemy.”
#51
TIL that Andrew Lloyd Webber so so ’emotionally damaged’ after seeing the 2019 adaptation of his musical ‘Cats’, he bought himself a dog.
#52
TIL the British pet massacre was a week-long event in 1939 in which an estimated 400,000 cats and dogs, a quarter of England’s pet population, were k**led so that food used for animals be reserved to prepare for World War II food shortages.
#53
TIL in US, millions of people sell their blood plasma for income, and the “donation stations” have business model designed to make the “donors” come back as much as possible.
#54
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.”
#55
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.
#56
TIL triple murderer Melvin Chelcie Carr accidentally asphyxiated himself while gassing his three victims to death in 1977. His wife came home and found them all dead in the garage.
#57
TIL that in the past decade, some obese patients were sent to zoos for MRI and CT scans because standard hospital machines couldn’t accommodate their weight. Zoos have larger scanners designed for big animals, making them a practical solution in these cases.
#58
TIL that Navy Bean Soup Has Been On The Menu of the Senate Dining Room Every Day Since 1903
#59
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.
#60
TIL the last Blockbuster in Bend, OR is still open, makes 80% of it’s income from merchandise, and has to buy its movies from Walmart and Target because DVD vendors have minimum orders far too large for their store.
#61
TIL that during SNL’s first season, it was just called “Saturday Night” because there was another show airing with the “Saturday Night Live” name. That’s why they say “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” at the beginning of every episode.
#62
TIL That we only know about MKUltra because 20,000 pages of records were filed incorrectly
#63
TIL in 1702, a British admiral attempted to attack a French naval squadron, but some of his captains refused to help, leading to the French escaping. The French admiral later wrote to the British admiral recommending that he execute the cowardly captains. He took his advice, shooting two of them.
#64
TIL that “Disaster Girl” Zoe Roth, who was 4 in the meme photo, sold an NFT of the pic in 2021 for a little under a half million dollars. She used the $ to pay off student loans after earning a BA in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
#65
TIL Vin Diesel’s real name is Mark Sinclair
#66
TIL In South Korea, a 16th-century letter written by a grieving pregnant widow to her late husband Yi Ŭngt’ae was found in his grave in 1998, resting on his chest.
#67
TIL In the original BBC version of The Office, Ricky Gervais’s character David Brent frequently used the double-entendre punch line “as the actress said to the bishop”. When the show was adapted for American audiences, the phrase was changed to Steve Carell’s memorable “that’s what she she said”
#68
TIL boxing legend Evander Holyfield lost almost every cent of the estimated $200m (AU$320m) he earned during his career through reckless spending, bad business deals & “even worse” financial advice. As of 2019, he earned up to $106K/month through personal appearances, but was still “basically broke”
#69
TIL that there’s a skydiving center in California where 28 people have died since 1985. It’s still open.
#70
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.
#71
TIL in 2015, Thomson Reuters experienced a “reply all” email storm when an employee located in the Philippines accidentally sent an email requesting his phone to be re-activated to over 33,000 coworkers. Seven hours later, the original email resulted in nearly 23 million emails.
#72
TIL William Shatner told Star Trek fans to “get a life”. In a 1986 ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit, the actor tells obsessed fanboys “it’s just a TV show!” The SNL segment accurately portrayed Shatner’s feelings about Trekkies, who had unrelentingly pestered him since the original 1960s ‘Star Trek’.
#73
TIL Henry, a Cardinal and Grand Inquisitor of the Catholic Church unexpectedly inherited the throne of Portugal when he was 65 years old. He petitioned the Pope to release him from his vows so he can marry and produce an heir, but his request was refused
#74
TIL that Set, the ancient Egyptian god of chaos, is depicted with the head of an animal that is consistently rendered but bears a resemblance to no known creature. The, “set animal,” is also sometimes depicted sitting or standing in fully animal form.
#75
TIL that the fbi has a database of photos of peoples faces that are involved in trafficking and constantly asking for public assistance to help ID
#76
TIL that Eleanor Roosevelt’s maiden name was Roosevelt. She was Teddy Roosevelt’s niece and FDR’s fifth cousin once removed.
#77
TIL Goalkeeper Tommaso Berni spend 6 years under contract to Inter Milan, reportedly earning around €200,000 a year. During those 6 years, he never made a single appearance for the club but managed to get a red card on two occasions, one for sarcastically applauding the referee and one for dissent
#78
TIL an artist displayed 10 goldfish in individual blenders in a Danish museum and allowed visitors to turn on the machines. Some did.
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