Ten Things We Didn't Know Last Week - #2

Been a couple of days since the last post, the reason for the slackery being ... ukuleles. Always ukuleles! But the Hooley is over for another year so it's time to get back to normal and to catch up on all those vitally important research findings that I've been missing and have missed. Such things as:

• The reason people gossip - which is because they feel that being in the know raises their reputation among their peers.
• Or the fact that men who walk or take a bus to work are, on average, a half a stone lighter than men who drive.
• Or the fact that women believe they look five years younger than their actual age, according to research by Lancôme.
• Or that readers of paperback books are more likely to recall a book's storyline than those who use electronic devices. 
• Or that the novel Trainspotting was more powerful in the fight against drugs than any warning from the UK's Chief Medical Officer.
• Or that, contrary to folklore, magpies are not attracted to shiny objects but are afraid of them.
• Or the fact that before the white man arrived in America there were an estimated 5 billion Passenger Pigeons there but by 1914 the species was extinct.
• Or the news that Chinese pilots have been told to ditch their regional accents or face losing their jobs.
• Or the revelation that sun-cream which washes off when people jump into the sea is poisonous to plankton ...
• unlike urinating in the sea, which is actually good for marine life - though probably not for other bathers!

More stuff to put in yizzer pipes and smoke, with the exception of that last one of course!

More tomorrow ...

Well I'll be darned!