Learning never ends! Or, well, at least it shouldn’t. Even if you’ve finished school or college, it doesn’t mean that you can kick back and relax for the rest of your life. Your mind needs to work out just like your body. Not to mention how deeply satisfying it is to discover new things about the world.
All that it takes is a dash of curiosity, a bit of patience, and—potentially—the support of a massively popular online community. That’s where the ‘Today I Learned’ or TIL subreddit comes in. Its 34.4 million eager members regularly share all the new things they’ve recently learned. We’ve collected some of their freshest and most astonishing insights for you, Pandas. Scroll down to check them out… and don’t forget to share them with your friends.
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The long and short of it is that we have to consistently take care of our brains if we want to live a healthy, happy, and high-quality life. A very wide range of factors contribute to this. For one, the positive relationships we build with the people we care about are paramount. Strong social networks make us more resilient to stress. On the flip side, loneliness is absolutely awful for our bodies, minds, and longevity.
On top of that, you have to get plenty of sleep, eat nutritious food, and get lots of movement throughout the week. Your body and mind are intrinsically linked. No matter how intelligent and skilled you are, your brain won’t thank you if all you ever do is stay cooped up inside, staring at screens and eating junk food.
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Aside from investing in your relationships and taking better care of your health, you ought to give your mind some direct training as well. We all know how much better life is when we’re feeling fresh and sharp, not groggy and slow. But a big part of feeling bright and capable comes from taking the time and energy to try new things and learn new skills.
You could go for something as simple and fun as reading a book, putting together a puzzle, solving a crossword, or trying your hand at Sudoku. You could give learning a new language a try or pick an interesting subject to research, whether that’s something to do with psychology, history, science, or anything else.
Or you could pick up a new hobby to try out. Like painting, dancing, playing an instrument, or putting together an entire vintage car from scratch in your garage. It should be something that’s new to you but that you feel at least slightly enthusiastic about. Doing things that we find hard improves our willpower. However, we shouldn’t go through life having to force every single thing that we do. There’s a balance to be found here.
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Dr. John N. Morris, the director of social and health policy at the Institute for Aging Research, which is affiliated with the Harvard Medical School, urges people to practice new and challenging activities.
“Eventually, your cognitive skills will wane and thinking and memory will be more challenging, so you need to build up your reserve. Embracing a new activity that also forces you to think and learn and requires ongoing practice can be one of the best ways to keep the brain healthy,” he said.
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Morris stressed the fact that you cannot improve your memory if you don’t work at it. "The more time you devote to engaging your brain, the more it benefits. It is the constant repetition of working to improve, and not the quest for mastery, that can have the greatest impact.”
Which of the facts in this list surprised you the most? Were there any that you’d already heard about before, dear Pandas? Let us know in the comment section. In the meantime, if your curiosity is all fired up and you’d like to learn some more TIL facts about the world, feel free to read Bored Panda’s earlier posts.
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TIL that dogs intentionally try to make humans laugh. They understand that laughter means play, and play is positive.TIL that the Australian Ibis (aka bin chickens) have learned how to eat the invasive and poisonous cane toad. They do this by picking the toad up, shaking it around to get it to expell its poison and empty is poison sacs, then washing the poison off with water.TIL about a phenomenon called "delayed implantation" in grizzly bears. The embryo will start gestation only after the mama bear has gained enough weight to avoid death by starvation during hibernation.TIL: A US Air Force cadet was reading about WWII when he stumbled upon the name of a janitor that worked at his USAF Academy. That’s how it was discovered at the academy that that janitor was a Medal of Honor recipient.TIL 1 in 5 CEOs have psychopathic tendencies.TIL The Green Bay Packers (NFL) is the only non-profit, community-owned major league professional sports team based in the United States.TIL the next periodical emergence of the 13- and 17-year cicada broods is 2024. The last time these insects co-emerged was 221 years ago while Thomas Jefferson was president.TIL that Nelson Rockefeller, once Vice President of the United States, died at age 70 of a heart attack rumoured to be caused during sex with his 25 year old assistant. The New York Magazine quipped: "Nelson thought he was coming, but he was going".TIL: Maryland was a slave state that sided with the Union, but in 1864, they actually had a referendum to abolish slavery. It narrowly failed - until the absentee ballots from the soldiers at the front came in, at which point it overwhelmingly succeeded.TIL that when the first rail bridge over the Mississippi River was being planned, riverboat operators pushed for rigid standards in hopes of making the bridge impossible. Instead, the bridge pioneered multiple engineering techniques and still carries road and rail traffic 150 years later.TIL that sperm whales can generate sounds up to 230 decibels - far beyond the fatality threshold for humans.TIL that the leader of the Crips, Stanley Williams, lived a double life where during the day, he was an anti-gang youth counselor, and at night acted as the overboss of the Crips, committing violent gang crimes against the Bloods.TIL that Sigourney Weaver earned $1,000,000 and a share of the profits for Aliens (1986), whereas she earned only $35,000 for Alien (1979).TIL that in 1973, two brothers, an 18-year-old and a 10-year-old stayed in Tom Sawyer's River at Disneyland past closing time. When they tried to swim to leave, the older brother carried his younger brother, who didn't know how to swim, on his back and drowned. The younger survived.TIL that sharks do not produce sounds that humans can hear. Out of the 400-500 species, no organ capable of producing sound has ever been found.TIL that only about 20% of homes in the UK are completely detached with zero shared walls, whereas, almost 85% of homes in the US are detached.TIL of the antimony pill, aka the everlasting pill, used in the 18th and early 19th century for stomach relief. It was reusable after pooping it out, making it very cost effective. Entire families used the same pill, which some times went through multiple generations.TIL that Hong Kong actor Michael Chan is well-known for his various triad (gangster) roles and martial arts movies. It was later discovered he was actually the No. 2 boss in the 14k Triad.TIL: Giant Tortoises lacked a scientific name for 300 years; as sailors devoured them on return trips.TIL that after childbirth, the placenta can leave behind a wound the size of a dinner plate inside the mother’s uterus.TIL the only state in the U.S. that requires shoes while driving is Alabama -- and that's only for motorcycle riders.TIL that, of the 50 oldest people on the planet, only ONE of them is a male.TIL Bermuda has no indigenous population, and has only been permanently settled since 1609.TIL that in the UK, the number of women (103,575) who applied to study law at the undergraduate level in 2022 was nearly double the number of men (51,865) who did.TIL a four-year-old m****r case was solved when detectives noticed a gang member's tattoo that depicted the entire crime scene.TIL a man bought all the spare B-2 windshields and used them in his daughter’s tree house. The USAF had to buy them back to replace a damaged Spirit windshield.TIL while most American sports are variations on older ones, volleyball, skateboarding, snowboarding and ultimate frisbee are completely American inventionsTIL that in 2016, Burger King opened a spa in one of its restaurants in Helsinki, Finland. Customers could enjoy a Whopper while sitting in the 15-seater sauna room, and the spa also featured showers, PlayStation, TVs, and beverages and the price was $283/person.TIL Korean astronauts eat a version of kimchi that has been radiated to kill all of the microorganisms.TIL that Bobby Driscoll, the voice of Disney's Peter Pan, lost his film contract due to puberty related acne, turned to drugs, went to prison, hung out with Andy Warhol, and died penniless and alone in an abandoned building in the East Village.TIL that a steel bridge in India is being dangerously eroded by pedestrians spitting on it.TIL There is a a parasite that can infect the human brain and alter our behaviour. It can cause road rage, increase chances of dying in a road accident and much more.TIL that the world's second most expensive building is The Clock Towers complex in Mecca, which had a total construction cost of 15 billion USD. It was built by the Saudi Binladin Group, whose founder is the father of Osama Bin Laden. Construction began in 2002, and opened in 2012.TIL that Okinoshima Island in Japan strictly forbids women to step ashore due to local traditions. The entire island is a sacred Shinto kami, and over 80,000 artifacts left as offerings have been recovered. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2017.TIL David Bowie ended the Ziggy Stardust Persona, and practically fired The Spiders from Mars on stage at their final performance in London’s Hammersmith Odeon on July 3rd, 1973. To the fans, and bands disbelief, “Not only is it the last show of the tour, but, it’s the last show we’ll ever do”.
