10 things we didn't know last week News snippets

Sliced and diced for your convenience Published duration 14 March 2014

1. Elephants can differentiate between men and women, and between different ethnicities, when they hear a voice.

2. The line often attributed to John Lennon - "Ringo isn't the best drummer in the world. He isn't even the best drummer in the Beatles" - was actually uttered by British comedian Jasper Carrott in 1983.

3. Lone peacocks fake the noise of sexual congress to attract peahens.

4. Bradley Wiggins is a fan of the Archers.

5. There were pygmy tyrannosaurs.

6. The rise of Genghis Khan's empire coincided with the mildest, wettest weather in more than 1,000 years, which may have kept his horses well fed.

7. The "five-second rule" does work - time is a significant factor in the transfer of germs from floor to food.

8. If a kitten doesn't encounter a human in a friendly context between the ages of three to eight weeks, it is more liable to go feral.

9. Humans make almost identical judgements of other people merely by hearing (not seeing) them say "hello".

10. Animals avoid power lines because they see frightening ultraviolet flashes that are invisible to humans.

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