11 Things We Didn't Know Last Week

News, discoveries and ... fun

1. People can be trained to like healthy food instead of french fries. (Learn more at CTV News)

2. Watching Hollywood action flicks on TV may be bad for your waistline. (Learn more at JAMA Internal Medicine)

3. Asian camel crickets — which will eat anything, including each other — have spread into homes across the eastern United States. (Learn more at North Carolina State University)

4. Thought to be a legacy of Chernobyl, radioactive wild boars roam the forests of Germany. (Learn more at The Telegraph)

5. New York City police commanders must be trained in Twitter and social media. (Learn more at New York Post)

>> 10 Foods to Avoid Before Boarding a Plane

6. In 2012, 9.6 million adults age 50 and over paid more than 50 percent of their income for housing. (Learn more at AARP)

7. A mobile payment app formerly called Isis is changing its name to Softcard to avoid confusion with the terrorist group. (Learn more at Mashable)

8. Fruit flies can reproduce in space, although we still don't know whether geckos have sex in a satellite. (Learn more at Huffington Post)

9. With the right mix of exposure to water, ice, sun and wind, rocks skim across the floor of Death Valley. (Learn more at National Geographic)

Dennis Maloney

>> Get entertainment and dining discounts with your AARP Member Advantages.

10. Experiences make you happier than possessions. (Learn more at AARP)

11. A college degree today is worth $272,692 in lifetime wages — more than three times its value in the 1980s. (Learn more at Federal Reserve Bank of New York)

Bonus video:

A woman and her mother share a special moment:

 

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 — Asparagus in french fry container: iStock/LICreate; Camel cricket: Lauren Nichols, YourWildlife.org; Wild boars: Flickr/Jeremy Ladan; Isis/Softcard: Web screenshot; Phelsuma Gecko  Wikimedia/Frank Wouters from Antwerpen, Belgium; Death Valley Rock: iStock/damaloney;

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

 

Also of Interest

• Rare Blue Lobsters and Other Things We Didn't Know Last Week
• Want to Drop Pounds Fast? Try These Tactics
• Fight fraud and ID theft with the AARP Fraud Watch Network.
• Join AARP: Savings, resources and news for your well-being

 

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