Between carving pumpkins, buying Halloween decorations, and dressing up for trick-or-treating, it seems people still had time to learn loads of new things over the past few weeks. Sometimes, purely by chance…
Many of us have been there. One minute you’re looking up a recipe, the next you’re going down a rabbit hole after discovering that 75% of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and 5 animal species. Or, you’re casually watching an army movie when you learn that military dogs outrank their handlers. (More on that further down.)
The world is indeed filled with an endless amount of interesting facts about everything under the sun. And for some people, many of them only came to light for the first time last month.
Bored Panda has gathered our favorite mix of recent Today I Learned posts from an online community that refuses to gatekeep fascinating facts. Whether you’re a trivia fan or just someone who likes to sound impressive during awkward small talk, there should be something here for you… So sit back, keep scrolling, and don't forget to upvote the ones that had you saying, “Wait, what?!?”
#1
TIL "the first unambiguous evidence" of an animal other than humans making plans in one mental state for a future mental state occurred in 1997 when a chimpanzee was observed (over 50x) calmly gathering stones into caches of 3-8 each in order to later throw at zoo visitors while in an agitated state.
Image credits: tyrion2024
How cool is it that U.S. military dogs outrank their handlers? Or that they have a rank at all? They even receive awards, accolades and promotions. Much to the disdain of "non-dog" people.
According to Regina Johnson, Sgt. 1st Class and the operations superintendent at the Military Working Dog School, some people get offended when animals receive honors normally reserved for humans.
But Johnson reminds them that the dogs work hard and save lives. She adds that the dogs are so much more than just U.S. government property.
"These dogs are our partners," the expert says. "I remember trying to get into the K-9 program, and I had a human partner working in law enforcement at the time who commented to me that he couldn't believe I would choose to work with a dog over a human partner, a big strong guy as a partner."
#2
TIL that “The staff ate it later” is a caption shown on screen when food appears on Japanese TV programs to indicate that it was not thrown away after filming (Since it is generally not socially accepted to discard food in Japan).
Image credits: abaganoush
#3
TIL a woman had half of her brain removed when she was 8 due to a condition that caused her to have up to 150 seizures a day. Her doctors said she'd never drive, she got her license at 17. She went on to earn her bachelor's & master's degrees in just 5 years before becoming a speech pathologist.
Image credits: tyrion2024
Apparently, every military working dog is an NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) - by tradition. If you're unfamiliar with the term, it's a high-ranking enlisted soldier who serves as the "backbone of the Army" by leading and training other soldiers. This means an Army dog is always one rank higher than its handler.
"That's out of respect," Johnson explains. "I see it all the time, especially in these young handlers. They make the mistake of thinking they're actually in charge. You've got to tell them, 'Hold up. That dog has trained 100 students. That dog is trying to tell you something.' I think the tradition grew out of a few handlers recognizing the dog as their partner."
#4
TIL about Chaser, a border collie with the best tested memory of any non-human animal. She could recognize and fetch 1,022 toys by name and category.
Image credits: dragonoid296
#5
TIL René Laennec invented the stethoscope in 1816 because he thought it was improper to press his ear on a woman’s chest and found that a tube let him hear heart and lung sounds more clearly.
Image credits: Brendawg324
#6
TIL the Jane Goodall Institute complained about one of Gary Larson's cartoons of her. She told them to be quiet, used the image to sell tshirts, and wrote the introduction to one of his collections.
Image credits: Forgotthebloodypassw
According to a U.S Army official site, when it comes to new working-dog handlers, experienced dogs help train the students. "They use dogs, known as training aids, that already understand commands," notes the site. "Once handlers graduate from the course, they go out into the force and are assigned a dog at their unit."
Military dogs have their work cut out for them... The K-9 teams aren't only deployed to war zones. They provide a variety of support, from patrol work around base to searches during health-and-welfare inspections and sweeps for explosives when VIPs arrive, explains the Army site.
#7
TIL military working dogs usually outrank their handlers in order to ensure proper respect.
Image credits: VaraNiN
#8
TIL In 1956 a Swedish sailor named Åke Viking sent out a message in a bottle that read "To Someone Beautiful and Far Away" and it ended up reaching a 17-year-old Sicilian girl named Paolina, which sparked a correspondence between them that eventually culminated in their marriage in 1958.
Image credits: tyrion2024
#9
TIL over half of Americans use subtitles at least some of the time while watching TV, and the biggest reason is that dialogue has become harder to hear. One contributing factor is digital sound recording that allows many overlapping audio tracks to run at once, which can make speech less clear.
Another October "Today I Learned" fact that we found quite intriguing was the one about the woman who had half of her brain removed when she was 8 years old, due to a condition that caused her to have up to 150 seizures a day. Needing to know a bit more, we went on a deep dive.
It turns out the woman's name is Christina Santhouse. In 1996, she was on a family beach vacation on the New Jersey shore when her foot began shaking uncontrollably. The little girl was rushed to hospital and underwent three days of gruelling tests.
Doctors diagnosed her with Rasmussen's encephalitis. It's a rare autoimmune disease, usually found in children. The body attacks the brain, and cells wither away as a result.
#10
TIL about Unitarian Universalism, a religion that encourages members to think for themselves and work towards a world where love and justice flourish.
Image credits: Mathemodel
#11
TIL Keanu Reeves’s stunt double in The Matrix went on to direct Keanu in the John Wick movies.
Image credits: Macievelli
#12
TIL Titanic victim Jeremiah Burke threw a message in a bottle overboard that read "From Titanic, goodbye all, Burke of Glanmire, Cork". It washed ashore a year later only a few miles from his family home in Ireland. It then remained in his family for nearly a century before being donated to a museum.
Image credits: tyrion2024
"Treating the seizures sounded worse than the disease," reported ABC News in 2002. "Doctors said she would have to get a hemispherectomy, a procedure in which the diseased half of the brain is surgically removed. In short, Christina would be left with half a brain."
But little Christina went on to defy the odds. She excelled at school, and took part in athletics as a teen. In 2016, People magazine reported that she "got her driver’s license at 17, became a star bowler who competed in England and Australia, then decided to go away to college, enrolling in Misericordia University near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania."
The publication added that she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five years. She went on to become a speech therapist, bought her own house, and got married.
#13
TIL Beethoven’s relationship with his brother Johann was strained. He opposed Johann marrying his housekeeper so much he tried contacting the authorities to stop it. After buying an estate, Johann signed a letter “your brother Johann, landowner.” Beethoven replied: “your brother Ludwig, brain owner.”
Image credits: VegemiteSucks
#14
TIL in 2014, passengers were warned three times not to eat nuts on a Ryanair flight due to a 4-year-old girl's severe nut allergy, but a passenger sitting four rows away from the girl ate nuts anyway. The girl went into anaphylactic shock, and the passenger was banned from the airline for two years.
Image credits: Forward-Answer-4407
#15
TIL about Riley Horner, an Illinois teen who, in the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury, found that her memory kept resetting every two hours. She was eventually able to recover with the help of specialists, and graduated from Nursing School in 2025.
Image credits: Sebastianlim
Now in her 30s, Christina is a mom to two kids. She revealed during an Associated Press interview that she's approached parenthood the same way she has everything else in her life since her 1996 surgery and rehabilitation:
"A lot of planning. A lot of preparation. A lot of faith. A lot of determination."
#16
TIL that the Beatles' record label once sued Sesame Street over a parody song called "Hey Food." The lawsuit was settled for $50.
Image credits: Blammyyy
#17
TIL that proponents of Prohibition were so certain that enacting it would solve all crimes in United States that some communities sold their jails after the amendment passed.
Image credits: SamsonFox2
#18
TIL that 75% of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and 5 animal species.
Image credits: Iluvpossiblities
“Motherhood brings a whole new set of challenges. It’s a constant effort to stay mentally and emotionally in the game, but the girls and my family are beyond worth it,” she said, adding that she's come to realize that different is okay.
"The way I care for the girls might look different or take a bit longer, but it always gets done, and it’s done with unconditional love.”
#19
TIL the village of Kräkångersnoret in Sweden changed its name because evolution in the Swedish language led to the name being ridiculed for essentially meaning “vomit regret snot”.
Image credits: HawkeyeJosh2
#20
TIL that cremated human remains aren’t actually ashes. After incineration, the leftover bone fragments are ground down in a machine called a cremulator to produce what we call ashes.
Image credits: Royal-Information749
#21
TIL the Romans had so many different gods that in later antiquity one theologian noted that there were at least three different gods just dealing with doorways, including a specific god for the door's hinge.
Image credits: 2SP00KY4ME
#22
TIL The owner of the world's oldest cat (Creme Puff, 38, 1967 - 2005) also owned the world's sixth-oldest cat (Granpa Rexs Allen, 34, 1964-1998).
Image credits: haddock420
#23
TIL that Roman Emperor Diocletian issued an Edict on Maximum Prices where prices and wages were capped. Profiteers and speculators who fail to follow were sentenced to [demise].
Image credits: Physical_Hamster_118
#24
TIL that during the Sylvester Stallone & Arnold Schwarzenegger rivalry in the 1980s, Schwarzenegger once tricked Stallone into doing the critically panned 1992 film "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot" by pretending that it was a brilliant movie and and that he was thinking of doing it himself.
Image credits: Murky-Ad-4088
#25
TIL the busiest pharmacy in the world is the Vatican Pharmacy, owned and operated by the Vatican City State. It is open to the public and is very popular among Roman residents because it stocks hard-to-find medicines and is much cheaper (purchases aren't subject to Italian taxes).
#26
TIL Central African Republic leader, Jean-Bédel Bokassa, spent years looking for his long-lost daughter Martine, whom he fathered while serving in Vietnam. The first "Martine” was exposed as a fraud when the real Martine was found. Bokassa accepted both as his daughters and adopted the fake Martine.
Image credits: Ill_Definition8074
#27
TIL a British man won £1.45m on a six-race rollover jackpot after placing a £2 bet. He correctly selected 6 winners including the final horse, Lupita, who hadn't won in 26 races & jockey, Jessica Lodge, who had not previously won. He picked them because "Lodge is just a name that sticks in my head."
Image credits: tyrion2024
#28
TIL the three actors in The Blair Witch Project signed a contract with a clause that allowed the studio to use their real names "for the purpose of this film". So when their identities were used again in the sequel without their permission, they sued the studio and won a settlement of $300,000 each.
#29
TIL that Brazil has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, with over 2 million people.
Image credits: Greydl1
#30
TIL the most complex word in the English language is "run", with 645 possible different meanings.
Image credits: chuuniversal_studios
#31
TIL that Oskar Speck paddled a folding kayak from Germany to Australia over seven years. He arrived in 1939, unaware World War II had begun, and was arrested as an enemy spy upon landing, spending the war interned in Australia before later becoming an opal trader.
Image credits: jacknunn
#32
TIL of the Abilene paradox, a group fallacy in which a group collectively decides on a course of action that no or few members actually want to undertake, as each member mistakenly believes that their preferences are counter to the preferences of the group.
#33
TIL that DJ Mustard's given name is Dijon.
#34
TIL that in 1999, a 15-year-old named Jonathan James hacked into NASA’s computers, accessed source code used for the International Space Station, and forced NASA to shut down parts of its systems for 21 days.
Image credits: Ordinary_Fish_3046
#35
TIL In 2006, Midas ran an "America's Longest Commute" award, won by electrical engineer Dave Givens. His commute was 186 miles each way, and he'd drink 30 cups of coffee per day. He was willing to make this long commute so that he could live in a scenic horse ranch.
Image credits: Polyphagous_person
#36
TIL that most people only use about 1,500 to 3,000 words regularly in everyday conversation, a range known as the surface lexicon.
Image credits: littleperfectionism
#37
TIL a Boeing chief test pilot improvised a barrel roll in new, untested 707 prototype during a public event. When his boss asked him what he thought he was doing rolling the plane, he replied, “I’m selling airplanes.”
#38
TIL that the Navajo Reservation was under a 43 year development ban until 2009 - preventing things like fixing roofs, building houses, and installing gas and water lines.
#39
TIL that the Sargasso Sea, located entirely within the Atlantic Ocean, is the only sea without a land boundary.
#40
TIL a man fooled the computers at Columbia House Music Club & BMG Music Service by using 1,630 aliases to buy CDs at rates offered only to first-time buyers. Over four years, he bought 22,260 CDs for about $2.50 each. Operating as "CDs for Less", he then sold the CDs at flea markets for $10 a piece.
#41
TIL: The modern Japanese Akita dogs are descended from a handful of dogs that survived World War II.
