11 Things We Didn't Know Last Week

News, discoveries and ... fun

1. With only one male Northern White Rhino left, hope for the species relies on a possible test tube baby. (Learn more at Discovery)

2. For some Medicare patients, the prognosis was better when cardiologists were attending meetings away from the hospital. (Learn more at Science 2.0)

3. Eating fish lower on the food chain, like herring, is healthier than eating predators like shark . (Learn more at NY Times)

4. The inventor of cruise control was blind. (Learn more at Buzzfeed)

5. Coca-Cola has done away with voice mail at its Atlanta headquarters "to simplify the way we work and increase productivity." (Learn more at Bloomberg)

6. Helping others may help protect your brain from Alzheimer's disease. (Learn more at AARP)

7. Regional breweries are opening up at a rate of 1.5 per day. (Learn more at Yahoo! Finance)

8. In Slovakia and a few other nearby nations, carp swim in the bathtub for a few days before becoming Christmas dinner. (Learn more at NPR)

>> Get travel discounts with your AARP Member Advantages.

9. Japanese women can book an all-inclusive solo wedding trip to Kyoto and experience everything but the wedding. (Learn more at Mashable)

10. Those old-fashioned rocking chairs in airports? Most of them come from a company in Troutman, N.C. (Learn more at The Verge)

Photographer: sebastian julian

11. If Santa were paid a salary, he'd earn $139,924 this year. (Learn more at Insure.com)

Photographer: Marcin Robert Balcerzak

Bonus video

See how many of these celebrities and oddball guests you can recognize as the entire universe turns out to say goodbye to Stephen Colbert as he ends The Colbert Report.

 

Let us read 11 Things We Didn't Know to you

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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.

Images — Northern White Rhino: Heather Paul/Flickr; Herring: Chris/Flickr ; Volunteer T.A. Johnson: Vadim Lavrusik//Flickr; Brewpub: Bill Dickinson/Flickr; Carp in tub: Andrij Bulba/Flickr; Japanese bride: Ryan King999/iStock; Airport rocker: sebastian-julian/iStock; Santa: Endopack/iStock

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

• Military Humvees for Sale, and Other Things We Didn't Know Last Week
• 7 Things You Should Never Say to Customer Service
• Get Involved: Learn How You Can Give Back
• Join AARP: Savings, resources and news for your well-being

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