If you're a fussy eater, you may have a new reason to loathe eggplant or be sensitive to the smallest scent of onion. You might be a supertaster—one of the 25% of persons with additional papillae on their tongue. This implies you have more taste buds and consequently more specialized taste receptors.

Folklore has evolved in every society throughout human history, and the majority of these tales serve to allay anxieties about the unknown. For instance, while the majority of Americans today are convinced that Bigfoot does not exist, some still do. The Qallupilluk was the name of the mythical being that the ancient Inuit people feared and revered. This word means "monster," and stories about its horrifying deeds were used to discourage kids from becoming lost. Early tales claimed that Qallupilluk was an aquatic creature that tore children away from their parents and dragged them to an icy tomb.

Pigeons have been kept as pets for a very long time. Pigeons are seen in Mesopotamian art dating back to 4500 BCE! Scientists believe these works of art are the first photos of birds ever recorded. Pigeons have also been a key food source for thousands of years. These findings have led to the hypothesis that pigeons were the first birds mankind domesticated.

No, not an elaborate April Fool. Many cats have lived at the Museum over the years. Perhaps the most famous was Mike, who guarded the main gate between 1909 and 1929. When he died, his obituary appeared in the Evening Standard and TIME magazine. The picture above shows Mike in action.

 

Spirits are everywhere in Bali, and they keep the zen balance. And there are numerous methods for keeping evil at bay. An aling aling is a screen installed behind compound gateways to keep them out. (Also, Aling Aling is the name of one of Bali's most powerful waterfalls.) Balinese residents put food and incense wrapped in banana leaves outside their homes and shops every morning to satisfy the ghosts. There are also loud processions and terrifying stone carvings on walls to scare them away.

Lobsters have historically consumed one another while housed in the same cage, as if in a submerged Thunderdome, but they are now also reportedly doing it in the wild. In typical situations, adults will eat their young.

In 2002, a man who believes the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing was staged by the government contacted astronaut Buzz Aldrin about it. As Aldrin walked outside a Beverly Hills hotel, a man thrust a Bible at him and demanded that the septuagenarian spaceman swear on it that he had gone to the moon. Aldrin was reasonably irritated after risking his life and making significant sacrifices to complete his mission. He was doing fine until the stranger labelled him a coward, a liar, and a thief. At that time, Aldrin, then 72, punched his sidewalk interrogator in the face. The District Attorney's Office in Los Angeles declined to file charges against Aldrin.

Popcorn has long been linked with the cinema, or more recently, the microwave, but while many of us may have questioned why popcorn pops, few of us have inquired where popcorn comes from. Thousands of years ago, the ancient peoples of the Americas cultivated the variety of maize that produces popcorn. Popcorn relics going back 6.700 years have been unearthed in Peru. So, the next time you grab a handful of your favourite food, remember to thank someone other than Orville Redenbacher.

While there have been nine mainline Assassin's Creed games so far – if you count 2014's Rogue but exclude the Ezio trilogy remaster – there have been an additional 11 spin-off games, ranging from 2D sidescrollers to isometric adventure titles, released on a whopping 15 different platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, DS, PSP, PS Vita, iOS, Android, Symbian,

Brazil's people, culture, and cuisine are really global melting pots, since it is mostly made up of immigrants from nations as different as Japan, Italy, Syria, Germany, Korea, Lebanon, and China. Sao Paulo is believed to have the largest Japanese population outside of Japan. Brazilians nowadays are said to be descended from three ethnic groups: Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians. All of this comes together nicely to give Brazil's culture a distinct liveliness.

Shimla's name is gotten from the Goddess Shyamala Devi, a manifestation of Hindu Goddess Kali.

The R2-D2 that we all know and love only talks in beeps and whistles, a mechanical language that most of his companions comprehend. However, in the first draught of Star Wars, written in 1974, R2-D2 talked in whole words. Even more concerning, he was not the endearing wuss he would eventually become. He was a bit of a bully, berating his friend C-3PO with taunts such as, "You're a stupid, useless philosopher," and "You're nothing more than a dimwitted, emotion-filled academic." My reasoning systems cannot explain why you were formed." Sheesh, can you please tone it down a notch?

According to E. Bruce Goldstein's Sensation and Perception, pirates would patch one eye so it was always adjusted for the darkness to help their eyes adjust more quickly between the bright ship deck and the dark belowdecks.

There are basically three types of termites: the king or queen, the soldiers, and the workers, while we're talking about the social lives of termites. Every colony of termites contains these various termites, and no colony could survive without all three. Despite their natural rivalry, they are strikingly similar to ants in this respect.

Tatum O'Neal, an actress, became the youngest-ever Oscar winner when she won Best Supporting Actress for the movie "Paper Moon" at the age of just 10.

Do you believe the Ark of the Covenant is hidden away in a government warehouse? Wrong. It's in Lara Croft's foyer, to be precise. Hey, it's a great way to evict lingering partygoers.

In 2010, a Southern California school district temporarily removed all copies of Merriam-10th Webster's Collegiate Edition from elementary school classrooms. Why get rid of the dictionary? The school district decided to remove the books after a parent informed the principal of Oak Meadows Elementary School that the dictionary contained an explicit definition of a sex act. The dictionary was deemed age-appropriate by a committee of teachers, administrators, and parents, and the copies of Merriam-Webster were returned to the classroom. Let's hope that parent never finds out about Urban Dictionary!

Brazil is the world's ninth largest economy. The country is a member of the BRICS group, which also comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Because the moon lacks an atmosphere, there is no wind or water to erode or wash away the Apollo astronauts' imprint. That implies their footprints, roverprints, spacecraft prints, and waste stuff will be maintained for a very long period on the moon. They will not, however, remain there indefinitely. The moon is still a changing environment. It is regularly pummelling with "micrometeorites," which indicates that erosion is still occurring on the moon, although slowly.

Because rattlesnakes are ovoviviparous, they don't produce eggs. Instead, before giving birth to live offspring, female rattlesnakes carry and incubate their eggs inside of their bodies for about 90 days. A juvenile rattlesnake is born fully formed and enclosed in a membrane that it must pierce in order to inhale its first breath of air. The majority of species' breeding season is in the spring, and females only have offspring every two years.

Do you start your day with coffee? Unfortunately, I have some bad news. Caffeine can inhibit the production of cortisol, which your body produces in the morning. It is said that two to three hours after waking up, between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. for most people, is the best time to drink coffee because your body's cortisol levels begin to drop and require a boost.