11 Things We Didn't Know Last Week

News, discoveries and ... fun

1. What do you get if you cross a sheep and a goat? A "geep." (Learn more at People)

2. After 10 years and four billion miles, the Rosetta spacecraft will slow to the pace of a person walking to examine a 2.5-mile-wide comet. (Learn more at NY Times)

3. Your bag of potato chips can hear what you're saying - and perhaps even let others eavesdrop. (Learn more at The Verge)

4. A tear, like a snowflake, is unique. (Learn more at Studio 360)

5. President Barack Obama received a total of 274 gifts from foreign countries and their leaders from 2009 to 2012, including a bottle of Å»ubrówka (Bison Grass Vodka). (Learn more at the Washington Post)

6. Scientists have created transparent mice that could help them trace the flow of blood or see how cancer spreads. (Learn more at CBS News)

7. Giant penguins once walked the Earth. (Learn more at New Scientist)

8. The unhealthiest restaurant meal in the United States? Weighing in at 3,540 calories and 69 grams of saturated fat, it's Red Robin's "Monster"-size A.1. Peppercorn Burger with "Bottomless Steak Fries" and a "Monster Salted Caramel Milkshake." (Learn more at AARP)

>> Get travel discounts with your AARP Member Advantages.

9. After age 30, a man's testosterone drops about 1 percent a year. (Learn more at AARP)

10. When President Richard Nixon decided to resign in 1974, he faced such strong resistance from his wife that he brought a transcript of the "smoking gun" tape to a family meeting to show her how bad it was. (Learn more at Associated Press)

Jack Kightlinger

11. A 20-year-old Brazilian model has spent more than $50,000 in cosmetic surgeries to turn himself into a real-life version of Barbie's boyfriend, Ken. (Learn more at Yahoo! News)

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Bonus video: The amazing and unexpected story of a bear with a big heart is making the rounds...

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 -  "Geep": My Petting Zoo via Facebook; Rosetta Orbiter: European Space Agency; potato chips: theimpulsivebuy via Flickr; tear: Facing North East via Flickr; vodka: Jojo via Wikipedia; transparent mice: Cell, Yang et al., 2014, Cell.com © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved; mega penguin: New Scientist; men: Eli Brody via Flickr; Nixon: Wikimedia; "Ken" model: Celso Santebanes via Instragram

 

Also of Interest

• Insects as a Food Source and Other Things We Didn't Know Last Week
• 7 Unsolved Mysteries Boomers Can't Forget
• Fight fraud and ID theft with the AARP Fraud Watch Network.
• Join AARP: Savings, resources and news for your well-being

 

See the  AARP home page for deals, savings tips, trivia and more