An Interesting Fact I Know

This week's Long And Short Reviews prompt is "Share one interesting fact you know."

An interesting fact about the way my mind works is that, although I usually know more than 20 of the 30 correct questions for a round of "Jeopardy," once I know a fact I don't think of it as being in the "interesting" category any more--it's no longer new to me.  So this is a week when I look forward to reading other people's fun facts.

An interesting fact I remember from the last "Nova" episode I (sort of) watched: Domestic cats have evolved slightly longer digestive tracts than wild cats have. They're still obligate carnivores but they've been somewhat accidentally selected for an ability to tolerate vegetables in the diet. 

A fun fact from Physiological Psychology class in college that's relevant to most of my e-friends: After age 70 or 80 a brain scan will usually find some damage. People with Alzheimer's Disease show brain damage in proportion to their memory loss. But people who remember all of their great-grandchildren's names and when each one last visited, at or after age 100, show the same kind of damage Alzheimer's Disease patients do. The difference is that people who keep their memories keep using their brains to absorb and synthesize new information. 

I'll update this post as other bloggers share their fun facts at L&SR. Meanwhile I think it would be fun if readers shared fun facts in the comment section. 

(Please note: If you are a parent, aunt, uncle, grandparent, or great-grandparent, the number and ages of children and further generations in your family is an interesting and important fact to keep updated, and I'm interested in knowing the numbers. But, although the names of the little ones, their pictures, where they go to school, etc., are interesting to e-friends like me, they don't belong on the Internet. That information could be used by evildoers for evil purposes...such as punishing your children if they can't punish you for telling the truth about a profitable corporate product. So if you want to share, say, pictures of children, please wait until the pictures are at least 25 years old.)