TIL that James Buchanan was the only U.S. President to remain a lifelong bachelor. [source, comments]

TIL US presidents Harry Truman & Dwight Eisenhower both wanted to abolish the Marine Corps [source, comments]

TIL that 9% of plastic is actually recycled whilst 12% is incinerated, and 79% is accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. [source, comments]

TIL Andrew Jackson, in a duel, gave his opponent a free shot. Hit in the chest, he returned fire, killing the man. Later said "if he had shot me through the brain, I should still have killed him." [source, comments]

TIL that 25 Germans built a kayak and escaped a POW camp in Phoenix in 1944 - only to realize the Gila River they were relying on to escape to Mexico was completely dry in the Arizona desert. [source, comments]

TIL of brain stimulation reward, manually stimulating specific parts of the brain to elicit pleasure and happiness. A volunteer subject in 1986 spent days doing nothing but self-stimulate. She ignored her family and personal hygiene and she developed an open sore on her finger from using the device. [source, comments]

TIL there is a small part of Kentucky that can only be accessed by land by going through Tennessee. [source, comments]

TIL that 2025 marked the first time CRISPR gene therapy cured sickle cell disease [source, comments]

TIL that amethyst is just purple quartz, and the main reason that quartz turns purple is because it's been irradiated [source, comments]

TIL that in a part of India, people kill old people by making them drink an excessive amount coconut water. The process is known as Thalaikoothal. [source, comments]

TIL In 1935, while heiress Ann Cooper Hewitt was in the hospital for an appendectomy, her mother convinced the doctors to sterilize her. It just so happened that there was a clause in Ann’s father’s will stating that if she had no heirs, her portion of his estate would revert to her mother. [source, comments]

TIL about Japanese Toilet Meals - eating alone in a bathroom for various reasons, most commonly due to fear of being perceived as lonely because one is eating alone. Research in 2013 found that 12.08% of respondents said they'd eaten on the toilet, with a higher percentage of younger people & women. [source, comments]

TIL the anal sphincters and the brain work together to determine if something passing is gas or stool. [source, comments]

TIL that James Abercrombie, a Texas oil driller, invented the first reliable blowout preventer in 1926. It allowed drillers to control pressure and stop deadly oil well explosions, saving lives and changing the oil industry forever. [source, comments]

TIL the prevalence of food allergies in children In the US increased 18% between 1997-2007. [source, comments]

TIL that ancient Mesopotamian temples were used as banks creating some of the worlds first financial records on clay tablets [source, comments]

TIL that in 1977, serial killer Ted Bundy was allowed to appear in court without handcuffs or leg shackles because he was serving as his own attorney. He used that freedom to escape by jumping out of a second-story courthouse window. [source, comments]

TIL a woman presented with a persistent cough & fever for 6 months & despite receiving antibiotics & anti-tuberculosis meds during 4 of those months, her symptoms did not improve. Eventually, the cause was found to be an inverted bag-like structure in her lung that was later revealed to be a condom. [source, comments]

TIL Bill Murray once offhandedly asked a Philadelphia waitress if she wanted anything "from the army-navy store" before leaving. She replied, "Yeah, camo pants." Twenty minutes later, a pair of camo pants were duly delivered at the restaurant. [source, comments]

TIL a commuter train went by while Robert Patrick was filming his nude arrival scene in Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991). He called it the most embarrassing moment of his career. [source, comments]