Snippets from the week's news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience.

1. Mice enjoy being massaged.

More details (Scientific American)

2. Americans pronounce gifs as "jifs".

More details

3. Jane Austen was paid an advance of £110 for Pride and Prejudice.

More details

4. An adult is made up of around 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (7 octillion) atoms.

More details (The Observer)

5. The House of Lords has a rifle range.

More details (Daily Telegraph)

6. A storm is described as a "bomb" if pressure falls by 24mb in a 24-hour period.

More details (The Times)

7. Prince Charles did not use the London Underground between 1986 and 2013.

More details (Reuters)

8. Owls have smart bones in their necks.

More details

9. Male birds become more attractive to females when they go grey.

More details (The Times)

10. Formica, the mainstay of 1950s kitchen furniture, was so called because it was developed as a replacement for mica - an insulating material for car engines.

More details (Financial Times)

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