Fancy That!

Facts to make you go“WOW!”

◆ The Romans named August in 8BC after the first Roman Emperor Augustus. Before that it was Sextilis, the sixth of 10 months in the Roman calendar.

◆ VENUS ROTATES SO SLOWLY ON ITS AXIS THAT ITS DAY IS LONGER THAN ITS YEAR!

◆ Milky Way bars aren’t named after the galaxy; they’re named after the malted milkshakes the bars were supposed to taste like. ◆ EXPERTS SUGGEST WALKING 6,000 STEPS A DAY TO IMPROVE HEALTH AND 10,000 STEPS A DAY TO LOSE WEIGHT.

◆ The Anglo-Saxons called August “Weodmonath” meaning “weed month”. ◆ 10 Downing Street used to be Number 5 – its original owner, Sir George Downing, kept building new houses and number 10 was three houses that were knocked together.

◆ The strongest winds in the solar system are on Saturn with speeds of over 1,000mph.

◆ The colour pink takes its name from the flower called a pink, which may be linked to the use of “pink” for a small, half-closed eye.

◆ BY ADDING A ONE ATOM THICK LAYER OF GRAPHENE TO SOLAR PANELS, CHINESE SCIENTISTS HAVE SHOWN THAT ELECTRICITY CAN BE GENERATED FROM

RAINDROPS. ◆ There is a verb “to pink” dating back to the 14th century which means “to decorate with a perforated pattern” – hence today’s pinking shears. ◆ Always forgetting your password? Forget retinal scans! “Brainprint”, a type of biometric record, could soon be the ultimate security solution.

◆ IN DEATH VALLEY, HUGE ROCKS SLIDE ACROSS THE DESERT FLOOR LEAVING TRAILS IN THEIR WAKE. SCIENTISTS BELIEVE WIND AND ICE ARE THE CULPRITS. ◆ We blink on average 5.2 million times a year. You blink less when staring at a computer screen, which is why your eyes get tired.

Cheese production can be dated back to 8,000BC when sheep were first domesticated Ants use smell to distinguish friend from foe