TIL that while filming Tenet, Robert Pattinson attempted to hide that he was auditioning for The Batman by claiming he had a family emergency whenever he had to do a screen test. Christopher Nolan immediately guessed what he was doing. [Source]

TIL the only mammals native to New Zealand are two species of bats and marine animals. It has no land based native mammals. [Source]

TIL the University of Oxford was already teaching students for more than 200 years before the Aztec Empire was founded. [Source]

TIL of Rudy Linares, who pull the plug on his son Samuel to end his suffering, and cradled him as he died while holding hospital staff at gunpoint, after they stopped him due to fears of legal problems [Source]

TIL that a 1993 rap album called Bangin' on Wax was recorded entirely by actual, active rival Bloods and Crips and sold over 500,000 copies, with all proceeds from the initial sales going directly to local schools and community parks [Source]

TIL while the early English colonists in Roanoke Island, North Carolina were widely believed for centuries to have disappeared there were actually oral and written accounts of these settlers blending into nearby Native American communities that were later proven true by archeological evidence. [Source]

TIL in 2019, the Chinese space mission Chang'e-4 had cotton seeds sprout on the surface of the Moon [Source]

TIL When Will Rogers presented Best Director at the 1934 Oscars, he opened the envelope and simply announced, "Come up and get it, Frank!" Frank Capra, certain he was the winner, ran to the podium to collect the Oscar, only to discover Rogers had meant Frank Lloyd, who had won for Cavalcade. [Source]

TIL that a Canadian academic study on Mother Teresa found that her clinics often lacked proper pain medication due to a philosophy that glorified human suffering, while she herself received advanced care in modern Western hospitals. [Source]

TIL that WW2 General George S. Patton believed in reincarnation and claimed he had fought in wars for thousands of years. He believed he'd lived as a Roman legionary, a knight in the Hundred Years' War, and even a marshal under Napoleon. [Source]

TIL that during his time in South Africa, Mahatma Gandhi used derogatory racial slurs against Black Africans and petitioned colonial health authorities to keep Indians segregated from Black people. [Source]

TIL that the FIFA World Cup trophy is hollow. If it were made of solid 18-karat gold, it would weigh over 70 kg (154 lbs) and be too heavy for players to lift. [Source]

TIL that in March 2003, 16 players on the Chicago White Sox were planning to voluntarily skip their steroid tests to register an automatic fail, because if a certain percentage of players failed the MLB would make testing mandatory for the next 3 seasons. [Source]

TIL about the "Batman effect": In an experiment, a woman appearing pregnant boarded a train. In some trials, another experimenter dressed as Batman also entered. Passengers were far more likely to offer the woman their seat when Batman was present—67.2% compared with 37.7%. [Source]

TIL Argentina was the catalyst behind the invention of soccer's yellow/red card system. In 1966, their captain refused an expulsion, later blaming language barriers. To prevent this kind of situation in the future, the universal color-coded system was developed so all players understand the calls. [Source]

TIL a mummy said to be an Egyptian king's two year old son was bought in 1886 for a Vermont museum, where it sat in the attic for decades. In 1945 a curator, told to throw it out, instead cremated it in his neighbor's furnace and buried it in his family plot in Vermont with a headstone dated 1883 BC [Source]

TIL Out of all the surviving works of ancient greek tragedian Euripides, 68% have female protagonists, compared to 29% in Sophocles and 15% in Aeschylus. He often had them express overtly feminist views and challenge moral and social standards, which drew some criticism from contemporaries [Source]

TIL in Spain, sangria is considered a drink for foreign tourists despite Spanish origins and EU laws that say that only Spain and Portugal can label the drink that name. [Source]

TIL on October 2024, Taylor Farms announced a recall after it was linked to the E. coli outbreak from raw onions consumed at McDonald's. 104 people were impacted, including one death, with a FDA inspection finding numerous violations in food safety procedures at the Taylor Farms facility. [Source]

TIL that during WWII, the US military developed the T13 Beano Grenade to be exactly the size, weight, and shape of a standard baseball. The theory was that almost any young American man would already know how to throw it with accuracy and distance. [Source]

TIL that after 2006, world cup winners cannot keep the actual trophy. The team that won would celebrate with it and hand it back to FIFA officials after. It would later be given a replica of the trophy. [Source]