Each year, 28 million tonnes of dust is picked up by wind from the Sahara desert, carried across the Atlantic and dropped on the Amazon basin.

Some of the dust, from an ancient lake bed in Chad, is loaded with phosphorus, a crucial nutrient for the trees in the Amazon rainforest.

Facebook employs a dozen people to delete abuse and spam from Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page.

Boogie at the Bar is a dementia-friendly afternoon disco at The Foundry pub in Aberdeen. It was founded by Anne Duncan, whose husband Bill was diagnosed with dementia in 2011. “Dancing transports Bill into a place where he was before his illness, so for us it is especially poignant. It is an enjoyable feeling when we dance — there is nothing to worry about in the whole world. It is amazing.”

Adwaita, the longest living animal ever, was a giant tortoise given to Clive of India. He was born around 1750 and died in 2006. He existed longer than the United States has.

Afghanistan produces 90% of the world’s opium.

Men traveling first class tend to weigh more than those in economy class, while for women the reverse is true.

In 1980, there were 50,000 cases of polio worldwide. In 2016 there were 42. But there are still a handful of people relying on iron lungs built in the 1960s.

A fifth of all the Google searches handled via the mobile app and Android devices are voice searches.

Giving money to the poor reduces consumption of tobacco and alcohol.

In 1990, more than a third of people on Earth lived on less than $1.90 a day, adjusted for local prices. By 2013, barely 10 percent of people did.

Ratchair is a Korean research project creating autonomous furniture that can move by itself. It could result in self-tidying rooms.

Bristol, Tennessee is closer to Canada than it is to Memphis, Tennessee.

Hedge fund managers who own powerful sports cars take on more investment risk but do not deliver a higher return.