Theresa Worrell: 25 interesting things readers of the New York Times learned in 2016

What did you learn last year?

I know I learned a lot – maybe that’s the topic for another blog – but today here’s a list of some of the most interesting things readers of the New York Times learned in 2016:

The world’s most-used natural resource (apart from water and air) is sand — and it’s disappearing.
Farc rebels in Colombia were not allowed to marry because they were married to the revolution.
One minute of all-out exercise may provide the benefits of 45 minutes of moderate exertion.
In 1838, Georgetown University sold 272 slaves — for a sum of about $3.3 million, adjusted for inflation — to help fund the struggling college.
Deep in our solar system’s outer reaches, there could be a hidden planet. If it’s there, it could explain why our solar system is tilted.
About 70 percent of Americans think granola bars are healthy. Less than 30 percent of nutritionists agree.
People in small counties are 50 percent more likely to go to prison than people in populous counties. (That’s new in the last 10 years.)
Urban environments can speed up the process of evolution.
Plants can “learn” long-lasting behaviors, sort of like memories.
A team’s success (at work) isn’t driven by the IQ or talent of its individuals, but its culture and interpersonal relationships.
It’s a myth that closing unused apps on your smartphone will prolong battery life. And turning off Wi-Fi doesn’t always help, either.
Death from gun homicide in the United States is as common as dying a car accident. In Japan, it’s as rare as a fatal lightning strike.
Long-distance running may be the best exercise for your brain.
American men in the top 1 percent in income live 15 years longer than the poorest 1 percent; for women, the gap is 10 years.
Deaths from overdoses are reaching levels similar to the H.I.V. epidemic at its peak.
Thousands of dogs are slaughtered and served in restaurants in Yulin, China, for the annual dog meat festival.
Giraffes have been keeping a secret from us for a long time: They’re really four different species, not one.
The Greenland shark lives at least 272 years and it could live as long as 512 years. That makes it the oldest living thing with a backbone on Earth.
Earth is old. The sun is old. But do you know what may be even older than both? The water we drink.
In 1940, a child born into the average American household had a 92 percent chance of making more money than his or her parents. For Americans born in 1980 – today’s 36-year-olds – that figure dropped to 50 percent.
There were more than 700,000 Google searches looking into self-induced abortions in 2015.
Terrorism deaths have increased in the West. But, worldwide, they’re declining.
Nearly 40 percent of millennials say they don’t eat cereal for breakfast because “they have to clean up after eating it.”
In the Rio Olympics, women won more total medals than men in 29 countries.
After steady declines over the last four decades, highway deaths last year recorded the largest annual percentage increase in 50 years. Blame Snapchat and other apps.