Illustration by Arnie Bermudez

· In 1400 B.C., it was the fashion among rich Egyptian women to place a large cone of scented grease on top of their heads and keep it there all day. As the day wore on, the grease melted and dripped down over their bodies, covering their skin with an oily glistening sheen and bathing their clothes in fragrance.

· In the Middle Ages, chicken soup was believed to be an aphrodisiac.

· It is estimated that millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.

· A simple, moderately severe sunburn damages the blood vessels to such an extent that it takes four to 15 months for them to return to their normal condition.

· Human lips have a reddish color because of the great concentration of tiny capillaries just below the skin. The blood in these capillaries is normally highly oxygenated and therefore quite red. That explains why the lips appear pale when a person is anemic or has lost a great deal of blood. It also explains why the lips turn blue in very cold weather; cold causes the capillaries to constrict, and the blood loses oxygen and changes to a darker color.

· Of all the world's peoples, the only ones known not to use fire are the Andaman islanders and the Pygmies.

· Saint Lucy is depicted in paintings as carrying her eyes on a dish. When still a young and beautiful maiden, Lucy supposedly looked at and fell in love with an equally young and handsome man. Feeling this passionate glance to be a betrayal of her vows of chastity, Lucy plucked out the eyes that had offended her so that she might never again look with lust. Her prospective lover was so impressed with Lucy's piety, the story says, that he converted to Christianity.

· Females learn to talk earlier, use sentences earlier and learn to read more quickly than males. Males have a greater incidence of reading disabilities, stutter more, read with less speed and accuracy, and by the time they reach maturity, have a smaller vocabulary than females.