10 things we didn't know last week

Image copyright ALAMY

1. Marvel Comics stipulates that Peter Parker must be white and straight but Spider-Man can be of any ethnicity or sexual orientation.

Find out more (Washington Post)

2. Rats dream about the places they want to go.

Find out more (New Scientist)

3. The more politically conservative you are, the easier you'll find it to lose weight because you're likely to have more self-control.

Find out more (Telegraph)

4. Listening to heavy metal may make you calmer.

Find out more (Huffington Post)

5. Mustard is the by-product of millions of years of evolutionary "warfare" between plants and butterflies.

Find out more (Smithsonian Magazine)

6. Only 83 black women have ever received a PhD in physics in the US.

Find out more (Huffington Post)

7. Indians - most of them Sikhs - currently make up about 60% of Italy's Parmesan-producing workforce.

Find out more

8. The word "twerk" dates back to 1820.

Find out more

9. Asda might not process your photos if they look too good.

Find out more (Standard)

10. William Hague used to only reveal the subject of his questions to Tony Blair with the final word of the sentence - so that the then-PM didn't have time to find his place in an alphabetical folder full of topics.

Find out more (Total Politics)

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