100 Things That Make You Go Hmmm...

Rather than put out a top 10 list, this year the BBC put out 100 things discovered this year:

1. Coach travel is the safest form of road transport in the country.
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2. Saddam Hussein's codename while in US custody in 2004/5 was "Victor".
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3. Adding milk to tea negates the health-giving effects of a hot brew.
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4. The word "jaywalking" came from the US slang "jay", a term popular in the early 20th Century meaning a rustic newcomer unfamiliar with city ways.
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5. Cloudy apple juice is healthier than clear, containing almost double the antioxidants which protect against heart disease and cancer.
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6. Dishcloths are purged of 99% of their bacteria during two minutes in a microwave.
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7. A haddock's mating call starts as a slow knocking sound, before turning into a quicker hum similar to a small motorcycle revving its engine.
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8. Newcastle is the noisiest place in England.
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9. The people who built Stonehenge lived at an ancient village in Durrington Walls.
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10. Brazil nuts are seeds encased in an outer shell that weighs more than 1kg.
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11. Astronauts wear nappies during launch and re-entry because they can't stop what they're doing should they need to urinate.
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12. Georgic is a punishment dished out to Eton pupils which involves the copying out of hundreds of lines of Latin.
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13. Tony Blair does not keep a personal diary.
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14. Antony and Cleopatra were ugly.
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15. 10% of university work from across the UK is plagiarised.
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16. Chimpanzees make their own spears for hunting.
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17. Two cups of spearmint tea a day is thought to control excessive hair growth for women.
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18. Burglar alarms, traffic wardens and crowded buses are good news for home owners, signalling an area is on the up.
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19. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hosts a daily radio phone-in show.
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20. More than half (52%) of smokers haven't told their parents about their habit.
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21. Only about half of China's population can speak the national language, Mandarin.
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22. The brief flowering of the cherry blossom tree is taken so seriously in Japan that forecasts are used to plan festivals, and travel agents use them to plan tours.
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23. To be found attractive, women should sway their hips and men their shoulders (although researchers call this a "shoulder swagger").
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24. The are 30,000 wild parakeets in London.
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25. Martina Navratilova has spent four years secretly working as an artist.
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26. Harvesting rhubarb in candlelight helps preserve its flavour.
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27. Drinking, drug-taking teenagers are in the decline, according to a survey by the Information Centre.
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28. Designer discount retailer TK Maxx is called TJ Maxx in the US.
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29. The average duvet is home to 20,000 live dust mites.
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30. Serving anything more than tea and biscuits at a political meeting is an offence called "treating" and punishable by a year in prison or an unlimited fine, under the the Representation of the People Act 1893.
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31. There is mobile phone reception from the summit of Mount Everest.
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32. Anti-Americanism began in Paris in the 18th Century.
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33. Female civil servants in India are questioned about their menstrual cycle as part of their appraisal.
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34. Kryptonite exists.
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35. Denmark is the happiest country in Europe; Italy the unhappiest. (The UK was 9th out of 15.)
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36. A water-tight denial by a politician – as opposed to one that leaves room for later manoeuvre - is known as a Sherman pledge. The other sort is called a non-denial denial.
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37. Spiralling obesity rates are forcing councils to upgrade their crematoria, to take wider coffins.
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38. Gerry Adams doesn't own a credit card, so gets a friend to download songs from the internet.
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39. The secret to happiness is accepting misery.
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40. A new three-bedroom house must have at least 38 plug sockets.
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41. There are 1,200 exhumations every year in the UK, but not all of those are part of criminal cases.
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42. Nearly seven out of 10 (69%) of adults are still in touch with at least one childhood friend.
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43. Bernard Manning worked as an armed guard watching over senior Nazis locked up in Berlin’s Spandau prison.
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44. Europe has a vodka belt comprising Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Denmark and Sweden, although the drink is also made in countries such as Britain, France, Italy and Spain.
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45. Domestic cats can trace their descent to the Middle East.
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46. Peanuts can be made into diamonds.
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47. The prime ministerial Jaguar is called Pegasus.
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48. You can be arrested for using someone's wi-fi network without permission.
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49. CDs were nearly called mini-racks.
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50. Left-handed people are called sinistral.
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51. Nick Clegg, the Lib Dems' new leader, once took a road trip across the US with his friend Louis Theroux.
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52. There are 17 surviving versions of the Magna Carta - or 17 Magnae Cartae.
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53. Renowned atheist Professor Richard Dawkins likes singing Christmas carols.
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54. The Australian town of Eucla has its own time zone.
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55. Books used to be bound in human skin.
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56. Eddie Irvine is Britain's wealthiest sports star – beating the Beckhams into second place by £30m.
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57. Sleeping on the job is tolerated in Japanese work culture, as long as you remain upright and obey certain other rules. It's called inemuri.
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58. The Romans had roadmaps.
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59. The word Blighty comes from "bilayti", the Urdu for homeland.
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60. The Queen took her corgi on honeymoon.
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61. Janet and John were named Alice and Jerry in the United States.
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62. Until the late 1990s, the RAF's nuclear bombs could be activated using a bicycle lock key.
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63. Cats can be police constables.
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64. King Tut had buck teeth.
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65. The Italian Mafia have commandments.
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66. Gun ownership per person in Finland is the third highest in the world.
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67. The brain can turn down its ability to see in order to listen to complex sounds like music.
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68. Of the waste in UK landfills, 0.1% is plastic carrier bags.
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69. Dogs occasionally shoot their owners in the US.
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70. IP addresses will run out in 2010.
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71. An ai is a three-toed sloth from South America (and the word that clinched Paul Allan the title of national Scrabble champion).
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72. Dumbledore is gay.
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73. UN population projections go as far as 2300.
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74. Sheffield FC is the world’s oldest football club.
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75. CO2 emissions from shipping are twice the level of aviation.
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76. George Clooney and Pierce Brosnan have had Bell's Palsy - a nerve condition that can result in paralysis on one side of the face.
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77. Leeches are used as treatment for cauliflower ears.
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78. A bdelloid rotifer is a pond-dwelling organism that has survived 80 million years without sex.
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79. Woodwork lessons are known as "resistant materials" in schools.
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80. Adults use maths skills 14 times daily on average and literacy skills 23 times a day.
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81. The opening bars to the theme tune of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em spelt the title of the series in Morse code.
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82. The children who sang on Pink Floyd's number one hit Another Brick in the Wall (Pt 2) couldn't appear in the video because they didn't hold Equity cards.
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83. Jack Straw has intervened in alleged crimes four times, apprehending a person on three occasions.
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84. On average a UK commuter travels the equivalent of two-and-a-half times around the globe over a full working career.
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85. A 23.8lb baby was born in the US in 1879, but it only survived 11 hours.
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86. There is a monastery in every village in Burma.
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87. Relocating crocodiles doesn't work - they come back.
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88. Deep-voiced men have more children.
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89. Being born without an ear is called microtia.
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90. Chickens can be diagnosed with depression.
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91. In Iceland, 96% of women go to university.
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92. Zsa Zsa Gabor is related to Paris Hilton.
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93. Dinosaurs had creches.
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94. Osama Bin Laden is known to fellow jihadists as Abu Abdullah.
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95. In Ethiopia the start of the year 2000 was celebrated in September.
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96. Bees can detect explosives.
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97. There have been at least two children given the name "Superman" in the UK since 1984.
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98. Prison officers are on average assaulted eight times a day.
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99. Each slug eats twice its body weight a day.
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100. Dogs can have two noses.
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