It’s difficult to imagine that the chocolate chip cookie, one of the world’s most beloved sweet treats, was actually invented by accident. The invention of the chocolate chip cookie happened in 1930 when Ruth Graves Wakefield and her husband, Kenneth, were running the Toll House Inn on Route 18 near Whitman, Massachusetts. Mrs. Wakefield, a dietician and food lecturer, prepared […]
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Even if you don’t recognize the name, odds are you’ve at least heard the Wilhelm Scream (listen to it here). It’s that classic scream that movie goers around the world remember and is sometimes also called the “Star Wars Scream”. You hear it when Luke Skywalker shoots that Stormtrooper on the Death Star, when Indiana Jones takes down that Nazi, […]
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“Don’t swallow your gum! It’ll take seven years to digest it!” If you chew gum, chances are you’ve been told that it’s dangerous to swallow it. You’ve probably even heard horror stories about giant wads of chewing gum hanging around in your gut for as many as seven years. Where this bit of folk wisdom originated is unclear, but the […]
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Today I found out why mustard is yellow. A common misconception is that yellow mustard (the kind you put on your hot dog) is yellow because of the mustard seed. This is not true. The mustard seed is a dullish gray, brown color. The striking, bold yellow color actually comes from the rootstock of a plant called turmeric. Turmeric, native […]
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Today I found out that both Häagen-Dazs and Frusen Glädjé are American companies, something that may come as a shock to the many people who assumed – and presumably still assume in some cases – that the two brands were not as “American as apple pie”, and more likely to be of Scandinavian heritage. But no, the Scandinavian vibe surrounding the two […]
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Today I found out how shrunken heads were made. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, a shrunken head is a decapitated human head that is shrunk through a cooking process by members of the Jivaroan tribes of the northwestern region of the Amazon rain forest in Ecuador and Peru. Why do this? Tribal members believed in the […]
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I recently put out a job listing for some new writers to add to the team here on Today I Found Out. I received well over 300 applicants, with a shockingly high percentage of them being amazingly good. After going through all the applications a few times, I managed to narrow the list down to the top 10% and gave […]
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The woman was Huang Yijun from China. When she was 31 in 1948, she became pregnant only to find out that she had an ectopic pregnancy, meaning the egg had not attached in the uterus. In most ectopic pregnancies, the egg will implant in the Fallopian tubes, but in Huang’s case, the egg implanted just outside her Fallopian tubes causing […]
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Today I found out why sideburns are named as they are. It turns out, despite this particular brand of facial hair style being around as far back as at least 100 BC (with one of the earliest known instances being in a mosaic of Alexander the Great), sideburns were named after a specific man in the late 19th century. The […]
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Paul Glee Waner played baseball in the big leagues for 20 seasons, from 1926 to 1945. They called him “Big Poison” despite Waner being a small man at 5 ft. 8 1/2 in. in height and never weighing more than 153 pounds. Despite his somewhat diminutive stature and the fact that he thought that he played better slightly drunk or […]
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Myth: Cracking your knuckles throughout your lifetime will eventually cause you to have arthritis. Have you ever cracked your knuckles and had someone yell at you to stop because it causes arthritis? 25-54% of the world’s population cracks their knuckles, men more so than women. Does this mean up to 54% of us will get arthritis? The short answer is […]
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The Beatles arrived in Manila to give two concerts in early July of 1966. This was to be one of their gigs on their 1966 final-ever tour; they had just finished a few very pleasant gigs in Germany. There were “bad vibes” almost from the word “go” as the boys arrived at the Manila airport. Ringo: “I hated the Philippines. […]
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Myth: Caffeine will stunt your growth We all remember being 12 years old and seeing your mom guzzling down her 3rd cup of coffee and really wanting some. When we asked if we could have a cup, the response was always the same: “No, caffeine will stunt your growth…” As if being tall was a necessary element in survival! It […]
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Matt asks: Does cranberry juice really help with urinary tract infections? The short answer is probably not according to recent research on the subject, though of course there are certainly many who swear by this method of getting rid of / preventing urinary tract infections (UTI’s) and there are good theories behind why cranberry juice could potentially help. In the […]
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J.K. asks: Why are the seasons called winter, spring, summer, and fall? “Winter” derives from the Proto-Germanic *wentruz, meaning winter. This in turn probably comes from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *wed, meaning “wet”. Alternatively, it may come from the PIE *wind-, meaning “white”. Either way, the Proto-Germanic *wentruz gave rise to the Old English “winter” as the fourth season of the […]
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Today I Found Out has teamed up with Jeremiah Warren to show his awesome “trivia” related videos here. I hope you enjoy his videos as much as I have. Bonus George Washington Facts: George Washington was taphephobic (irrationally terrified of being buried alive). On his death bed, he told his attendants “I am just going. Have me decently buried and […]
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Amanda asks: How exactly do penises become erect? Well Amanda, the physical response causing a flaccid penis to become hard can be mediated by both physical stimulation (known as somatic) or autonomic (involuntary) processes like arousal from an attractive person, or a combination of both. We’ll first look at the anatomy behind the erection and then talk about how the […]
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For those not familiar, the “First Lady” is a title which refers to the official hostess of the White House. Although it is not a firm prerequisite for the title, the First Lady is commonly thought to be the wife of the President. But who was actually the first-ever “First Lady”? If you guessed the logical answer, you, of course, […]
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