Every week, I share a link to something I learned in the previous 7 days... these are things that grab my interest, but don't make it into my weekly newsletter.

  1. Europe has an Island that swaps nationality every six months.  Pheasant Island spends half the year French, and half the year Spanish.   Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of history behind this strange arrangement.
  2. Good quality audio makes you sound 19% cleverer. So, it's worth investing in that better headset or microphone.
  3. China's ROOFTOPS have more solar capacity than entire other countries' capacity. The challenge is getting all that solar into the grid.
  4. Apple used to have a door-to-door repair service. Not so much a genius bar, as a genius car. (geddit?)
  5. Someone dug a hole that is 12km deep. To put that in context, Mount Everest is 8.84km high.
  6. Jigsaw puzzles are now a competitive sport. Enter the world of Speed Puzzling where 500-piece jigsaws take just 37 minutes.
  7. The plague is back. A disease more associated with medieval times, is back in Oregon. Don't panic though, all is under control.
  8. The American Revolution was (partly) planned in a beautiful UK seaside town.
  9. US roadsigns look very different to everywhere else in the world. Turns out that the US trialled European (and other) signs, but preferred their own.
  10. In pagan-era Finland, bears were given elaborate funerals and were treated like high ranking humans.
  11. Each Oscar Nominee gets a goodie bag containing over $100k worth of gifts... including multiple holidays, kitchen products and 10,000 donated pet meals! 
  12. Tornadoes can be predicted by a 'low frequency infrasound' that is inaudible to the human ear. Knowing this means scientists can build early warning systems that can save lives.
  13. Other planets have 'Northern Lights' or Aurorae. Scientists at Reading University are currently studying aurora on Saturn, in some research that could change the way we understand those planets.
  14. Barbie Pigs are a (potentially) new to science species found deep in the Pacific Ocean. Down near the sea potatoes, rattail fish and unicucumbers, things start to get weird.
  15. NASA has approved 12 plants that can improve air quality. If you need better air in your living space, choose one of these.
  16. Research has shown that some people think that Scrabble is too competitive. This has led Mattel to design a new version of the word game that is less 'intimidating'.
  17. Some fish communicate with each other by hums and farts. 
  18. A mirrorball is made in a way that I didn’t exactly expect. 
  19. Birds get their colours through a multitude of factors, including evolutionary trade-offs and selective pressures.
  20. Philadelphia (the state - not the soft cheese) now has a 24-hour cheese vending machine. For all your emergency cheese needs.
  21. Kami Rita Sherpa has broke a record by summiting Everest for the 29th time.
  22. Power washing can actually improve your mood. 
  23. Slap Fighting' is now a professional sport. That's where two people 'slap' each other in the face until one goes down.
  24. ‘Encephalartos woodii’ is the loneliest plant in the world, with only one known living example. Scientists are using technology to try and find a female. If they can't find a date, then they might try and change the sex of the one they have!
  25. Soda cans are concave on the bottom for a very important reason.
  26. Scientists have made a connection between sleep deprivation and memory.
  27. Laying down is not a good way to avoid getting struck by lightning. It seems that there really is no escape, but lightning can be good for crops.
  28. It is still 2016 in Ethiopia. It’s actually 2017 now.
  29. Wild horses are returning to the Steppes of Kazakhstan for the first time in two-hundred years.
  30. Sir David Attenborough helped change tennis balls from white to yellow
  31. The American Library Association has for nearly 40 years been putting out “Read” posters featuring celebrities and their books.
  32. Scientists have discovered a source of 'dark oxygen' on the floor of the oceans. These are lumps of metal, that act as batteries, generating oxygen into the sea.  It might mean that we need to change the way that we think about mining the ocean.
  33. The habit of sending your partner or friends random pictures during the day, is similar to a behaviour that penguins have, pebbling. 
  34. East Germany invented ‘unbreakable’ glass - and this year, it made a comeback.
  35. Someone has built a robot that can solve a jigsaw puzzle 200x faster than the fastest human. 
  36. The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) look pretty incredible when viewed from space. This footage from the International Space Station is a revelation.
  37. Scientists have found out where love lives in the brain. Turns out, different love = different places.
  38. There are multiple ways of making decaffeinated coffee - the science is incredible
  39. There are 3142 counties in the United States of America - 31 states have a Washington County.
  40. You need a dictionary when you learn how to count in Japanese. Everything seems OK when you go from 1-10, but after that - things become more complicated.
  41. If you own a restaurant that sits high in the Arctic Circle, you'll need to get creative with some of the ingredients.
  42. Earth had TWO moons for a period of time this year.
  43. In the past, there was a phone number with a (sort of) Wikipedia at the end of it. 
  44. You don't really own your username, so keep an eye on your credentials. 
  45. Modern technology has uncovered long lost cities along the Silk Road. Using drones and LIDAR scientists were able to map cities that have since disappeared. 
  46. Japan launched a WOODEN satellite into space, using traditional techniques with no screws or glue. 
  47. An emperor penguin was found thousands of miles away from his natural home.
  48. Orcas (Killer Whales) sometimes wear a dead salmon as a hat, in what looks like a fashion statement.
  49. Sausage kiosks (Würstelstand) in Vienna are to be listed by UNESCO as part of the 'intangible cultural heritage' of Austria. 
  50. The 2025 colour of the year is ‘Mocha Mousse’ - so say Pantone, who decide these kind of things.
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