Welcome to WeJustFoundOut

Here are the latest things We have Just Found Out in all categories:

2 Nov 2008	The Marshmallow Test: self denial is good for you. I was reading today about "The Marshmallow Test", which was a 1960s study at... Read more >>
25 Aug 2008	Adolfo Aguilar Zínser, a man who dared to question Adolfo Aguilar Zínser (1949-2005) was a Mexican scholar, diplomat and politician who... Read more >>
29 Jun 2008	Thomas Hardy, grave re-arranger Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) wasn't just a talented chronicler of depressing stories set... Read more >>
26 Apr 2008	The Psychology Of Dropping Litter I have always been fascinated by people's behaviour while dropping litter. It is... Read more >>
10 Apr 2008	The Lone Gunmen and the attacks on the World Trade Center The terrorist attacks of September 11th on the World Trade Center have attracted a... Read more >>

BBC NEWS | Magazine Monitor: 10 Things...

10 things we didn't know this time last week

Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience. 1. Sharks have weak jaws. More details 2. Since 1972, 24 "leap seconds" have been added to the world's "time" because of the earth's slowing rotation. More details 3. Blind children used to be taught to write Braille right to left, so it could be turned over and read left to right. More details 4. Using both hands to read Braille achieves an average speed of 115 words per minute, compared with 250 words per minute for sighted reading. 5. Gold medal winner Chris Hoy was inspired to cycle by ET. More details 6. Jatropha plant oil can be used to fuel planes. More details 7. Dieting impairs your ability fo fight flu. More details 8. Chinese people spend three times longer online, for leisure, than the average Danish person. More details 9. Only older mosquitoes pass on dengue. More details 10. Our facial expressions are hardwired into our brains rather than learned during life. More details Seen 10 things? Send us a picture to use next week. Thanks to Catherine Spencer for her picture of 10 pigeons in Lancashire.
Fri, Jan 02 2009

100 things we didn't know last year

Interesting and unexpected facts can emerge from the daily news stories and the Magazine documents some of them in its weekly feature, 10 things we didn't know last week. To kick off 2009, here are some of the best of last year. 1. Victorians believed smoking cleared the lungs - and struck off Dr Thomas Allinson, who founded the bakery of the same name, for describing nicotine as a "foul poison" and advocating healthy eating. More details 2. Police are not required to clean up a crime scene once evidence has been gathered. More details 3. Octopuses need mental stimulation. More details 4. Etiquette dictates that at dinner parties, a man should always talk to the woman on his left during the first course, and right during the main course. More details 5. Both men and women find long legs in the opposite sex attractive, but not too long. More details 6. Carrots used to be purple. More details 7. Only offal-free versions of haggis are available in the United States. More details 8. A bear helped carry ammunition for Polish troops during World War II. More details 9. Swedes have a word for a man who visits prostitutes - torsk. More details 10. The age at which we are most vulnerable to depression is 44, while a 70-year-old who is physically fit is, on average, as happy and mentally healthy as a 20-year-old. More details 11. St Kilda has no rats. More details 12. The oldest Mormon congregation in the world is in Preston, Lancashire. More details 13. A fire at a landfill site in Guernsey has been smouldering for three years. More details 14. Brain tumours can be diagnosed by a handshake. More details 15. Whales catnap. More details 16. If housewives got salaries at the going rate for doing household chores, they would on average earn £30,000. More details 17. For the first time in US history, more than one in every 100 American adults is behind bars. More details 18. 23% of plastic bags used in the UK are from Tesco. More details 19. Prison pay is on average £9.60 a week. More details 20. The average midweek bedtime is between 10pm and 11pm. More details 21. Short men are more likely to be jealous. More details 22. Toasters are banned in Cuba. More details 23. The most frequently used term of abuse in schools is "gay". More details 24. Men eat more Brussel sprouts and broccoli than women. More details 25. Lions were kept in the Tower of London in the 14th century. More details 26. Up to one quarter of the sand on shorelines can be composed of plastic particles. More details 27. It costs $100,000 to hunt a rhino in South Africa. More details 28. The Olympic torch is designed to withstand winds of up to 65km an hour and stay alight in rain up to 50mm an hour. More details 29. Each year 40,000 people pay homage at the California garage where the founders of Hewlett Packard started out. More details 30. Smells can drift across the Channel. More details 31. The language of space is English. More details 32. There are 109 journeys between London's Tube stations that are quicker to walk. More details 33. A severed finger tip can grow back naturally. More details 34. The most common "combination craving" for a pregnant woman is pickles and peanut butter. More details 35. Punch and Judy puppeteers are called professors. More details 36. Some 1.3 million unopened yoghurt pots are thrown away each day in the UK. More details 37. The Ministry of Defence has amassed 160 files on UFOs, containing details of 8,000 sightings. More details 38. Sloths aren't lazy. More details 39. Brain chemical oxytocin makes us trust strangers with money. More details 40. You can lessen jet lag by not eating. More details 41. Women are banned by law from Mount Athos in Greece, home to 20 monasteries. More details 42. One of the earliest Mars Bars was pineapple-flavoured. It flopped. More details 43. Biscuits are key to clinching deals. More details 44. Syria has the world's largest restaurant, seating 6,014 diners. More details 45. Pigs can suffer from mysophobia, a fear of dirt. More details 46. A petaflop is a measurement of computing speed equivalent to one thousand trillion calculations a second. More details 47. Schools influence the smoking habits of young people. More details 48. A bespoke garment does not necessarily need to be handmade. More details 49. A Volvo can accommodate 13 people. More details 50. The Royal Family costs the equivalent of 66p per person in the UK. More details 51. An income of £13,400 is required to enjoy a minimum standard of living in the UK. More details 52. Everton, Aston Villa and Fulham are among the football clubs that were created from Sunday schools. More details 53. Pears sink while apples float. More details 54. A monsoon is a wind, rather than rain. More details 55. Young teenagers are drinking less and consuming fewer drugs. More details 56. White Americans are 14% more likely than other ethnic groups to survive cancer. More details 57. Faking one's death is known as pseudocide. More details 58. Having fat friends increases your risk of obesity. More details 59. Bees act in a similar way to serial killers. More details 60. Liz Taylor has broken her back five times. More details 61. Robins only became a symbol for Christmas in the 19th Century, when postmen - who mostly brought mail at Christmas - wore scarlet waistcoats and were known as Robin Redbreasts. More details 62. Pet dogs can catch human yawns. More details 63. Mills and Boon still publish at least one sheikh romance a month. More details 64. A rooftop luggage carrier increases fuel consumption by 20%. More details 65. A 72oz steak is about the size of a large telephone directory. And since 1960, 8,000 people have managed to eat one - plus all the trimmings - in under an hour. More details 66. Misheard song lyrics are known as mondegreens. More details 67. Twenty-three wedding cakes were made for the nuptials of Charles and Diana. More details 68. Shetland is the fattest part of the UK. More details 69. E-mail addresses beginning with "A", "M" or "S" get more spam than those starting with "Q" or "Z". More details 70. You can dive from 35ft into 12in of water - and only suffer bruising (with a lot of training). More details 71. Baseball was played in Surrey in 1755. More details 72. Portraits of famous people often look like the painter instead. More details 73. Texting impairs drivers more than alcohol. More details 74. Kenyan women eat stones. More details 75. The ideal drive is 16 minutes long. More details 76. Henry V invented passports. More details 77. Bradford and Bingley has registered the raising of the bowler hat as a trademark. More details 78. There are two £1m banknotes still in existence. Nine were made after World War II. More details 79. The word "unbepissed" means "not being urinated on". More details 80. Goats wear condoms. More details 81. The world's longest insect is 56cm long. More details 82. Prince Charles could have had a cameo in Doctor Who. More details 83. Gay couples can't commit adultery. More details 84. Stars make noise. More details 85. The United Arab Emirates, along with the US, has the largest ecological footprint per person. More details 86. There's a town in Uruguay called Fray Bentos. More details 87. Barack Obama supports West Ham. More details 88. Saddam Hussein's yacht had an escape tunnel leading to a submarine. More details 89. The QE2 does 49 feet to the gallon. More details 90. The song Two Little Boys was probably about the American Civil War. More details 91. On the Buses star Reg Varney opened the UK's first cash dispenser. More details 92. Camel urine is sought after for its medicinal effects in India's Bihar state and sells for £1.34 a litre. More details 93. Police use curry to hasten the re-emergence of swallowed drugs. More details 94. The 999 emergency number was chosen over 111 because telegraph wires rubbing together in the wind transmitted the equivalent of a 111 call. More details 95. The Sydney Opera House was inspired by a peeled orange. More details 96. A street light costs about 15p a night to keep lit. More details 97. Emily, of Bagpuss fame, was paid with a bag of sweets. More details 98. Councils are banning number 13 houses on new developments. More details 99. Sneezing can be a sign of arousal. More details 100. Leonard Cohen's original Hallelujah has more than 80 verses. More details
Thu, Jan 01 2009

10 things we didn't know last week

Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience. 1. Sugar does not cause hyperactive behaviour. More details 2. Oliver Twist was not hungry when he asked for more. More details (Daily Telegraph) 3. Leonard Cohen's original Hallelujah has more than 80 verses. More details 4. Sneezing can be a sign of sexual arousal. More details 5. It's legal to serve legal papers by Facebook, in Australia. More details 6. It's a bad idea to put out a chip pan fire with a wet tea towel. More details 7. The world's oldest singer and actor is 105. More details 8. Some villages in Wales still don't have mains electricity. More details 9. Japan has its own version of the foot-measurement - called the kanejaku. More details 10. The average global temperature is about 0.7C above pre-industrial times. More details Seen 10 things? Send us a picture to use next week. Thanks to PA for this week's picture of 10 present bearers.
Fri, Dec 19 2008