As we get into the new year, the various roundups of 2005 continue. The one linked above is from the BBC, with the title “100 Things We Didn’t Know Last Year.” For instance:
5. Nicole Kidman is scared of butterflies. “I jump out of planes, I could be covered in cockroaches, I do all sorts of things, but I just don’t like the feel of butterflies’ bodies,” she says.
11. One in 10 Europeans is allegedly conceived in an Ikea bed.
19. The = sign was invented by 16th Century Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde, who was fed up with writing “is equal to” in his equations. He chose the two lines because “noe 2 thynges can be moare equalle”.
78. One in 18 people has a third nipple.
And so on…
Also Nature magazine, an often interesting science journal, has another article called “13 Things That Do Not Make Sense”. As per that title, it’s an article about known scientific phenomenon that no one can explain. Downright fascinating stuff, something that shows that science knows it’s own limitations (which is actually the reason they win), and also just puts a little bit more magic in the universe (well, in a way that is still consistent with science, but just damn fun 🙂 )