11 Things We Didn't Know Last Week

News, discoveries and ... fun

1. Two artists in Brooklyn are living in a giant hamster wheel. (Learn more at Huffington Post)

2. A simple blood test predicts 9 times out of 10 who will develop dementia. (Learn more at AARP)

3. Elephants can tell men from women and friends from foes by listening to their voices. (Learn more at Discovery)

4. Rolling Stone Keith Richards has written a children's book about his first guitar. (Learn more at AARP)

5. William Willett, not Benjamin Franklin, was the father of Daylight Saving Time. (Learn more at  AARP)

6. On the way down from Mount Everest, each climber must pick up 17.6 pounds of trash. (Learn more at The Star)

AFP

7. An Australian man allegedly used a drone to try to smuggle drugs into a prison. (Learn more at The Verge)

8. Binge drinking is especially bad if you're older. (Learn more at Washington Post)

9. A cat can trap its owners in a room ­ if the pet weighs 22 pounds. (Learn more at Los Angeles Times)

10. Dalai Lama is the first Buddhist to open a U.S. Senate session with a prayer. (Learn more at  AARP)

11. "Smart" crosswalks in London will know how many people are waiting and adjust crossing time accordingly. (Learn more at Mashable)

Lars Plougmann

Bonus video: Ever want to kiss a stranger? Here's what happened when 20 folks did.

Learn something this week? Mail your ideas to  11things@aarp.org, and we'll try to include your story next time.

On Twitter, we're using the hashtag   #11things.

Let us read 11 Things to you:
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Images - Hamster wheel/In Orbit art project: Courtesy Ward Shelley, Alex Schweder, and The Boiler / Pierogi; Elephants: Vaughan Leiberum/Flickr; Illustration credit: Gus & Me book cover courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Reprinted with permission; Mount Everest: Abd allah Foteih/Flickr; Cat: wsbtv/YouTube; Abbey Road crosswalk, London: Lars Ploughman/Flickr


Music - Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra plays Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra - Blue Blazes by Sy Oliver, Creative Commons, courtesy of Smithsonian Remix project.

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