Society 75% of Brits pay little or no attention to the goings on at political party conferences. Only 3% pay them a lot of attention. Source: YouGov.
20% of mums believe that they had their child/children too late and would have coped better as a parent at a younger age. The 'perfect age' to have a child is thought to be 26 years old. Source: MTV.
A third of children in Scotland suffer from dental decay due to poor diets. Source: Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.
When people from 17 countries were asked to prioritise things that they want in life, broad differences were found between Western and Eastern cultures. The top five priorities, in order of importance, for those in the West were 'love', 'better health,' 'money', 'my own family,' and 'free time.' For the East, the top five were 'better health,' 'money', 'my own family,' 'career success,’ and 'spiritual progress.’ Source: YouGov.
The myth of the 'Cinderella effect,' – which claims that stepparents are more likely to kill a child in their care than biological parents are – has been proved to be untrue. Instead, scientists found that age is a better predictor of a person’s likeliehood to abuse a child, with young men showing higher rates than older parents. Source: University of East Anglia.
Economy Free-to-use cash machines are being closed down at a rate of around 250 each month, with 53,200 having been put out of service to date. Source: Link.
Fuel prices have increased for 10 weeks in a row and are now at their highest level in four years. A litre of unleaded petrol in the UK currently costs an average of £1.30, with the same amount of diesel now exceeding £1.34. Source: RAC Foundation.
Cash Isas are performing worse than that of fixed-rate bonds. An average fixed-rate Isa generates 1.96% in interest, while a similar bond makes 2.21% interest. MoneyFacts.
Property prices in Scotland have continued to rise this year, unlike other parts of the UK which have experienced dips in price. Source: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Thomas Cook has forecasted a fall in end-of-year annual profits to £280m, some £43m less than that forecasted in July. Its shares plummeted by 25% when the company blamed the poor figures on the summer heatwave. Source: BBC.
Education The number of hours that teachers in Scotland work for each year is higher than the OECD average of 656-784 hours, with some teachers working up to 855 hours. Teaching time exceeds 800 hours each year in only seven countries: Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Latvia, Mexico, the US, and Scotland. Source: OECD.
Although UK tuition fees are the highest of all OECD countries, with the exception of the US, it remains the third popular destination for international study. The average age for graduation – 23 years old – is also the lowest. Source: OECD.
Science The world's oldest drawing has been found in Blombos Cave in South Africa. It dates back 73,000 years and consists of cross-hatched red lines. Source: Witwatersrand University.
Japan’s space agency (JAXA) has successfully landed two robotic explorers on the surface of an asteroid. The robots took over three years to reach the asteroid – which is known as 'Ryugu' – and are the first to land on such a celestial body. Source: JAXA.
Scientists have identified the earliest known animal on the geological record. The creature is 558m years old, oval shaped and called 'Dickinsonia'. It is thought to have looked like a jellyfish. Source: Australian National University.
Satellite data has shown that the Swiss Alps have lost 20% of their snow over the past 22 years due to global warming. In the past 12 years, more than 1,930 square miles of snow has melted. Source: Geneva University.
Health The demand for specialist mental health services for children and young people in Scotland has increased by 22% since 2013/14. Source: Accounts Commission.
Obesity will overtake smoking as the biggest preventable cause of cancer in UK women by 2043. At the moment, 12% of cancers in women are due to smoking and 7% due to obesity. Source: Cancer Research UK.
Only 4% of smokers who quit cold turkey remain smoke-free after a year. Those looking to quit as part of the Stoptober campaign should use e-cigarettes or follow official NHS advice. Source: UK Government.
Recreation The recent TV series, 'Bodyguard', was the BBC's most watched drama of the year so far, with 11m viewers in its final five minutes. Source: BBC.
68% of Brits believe that Saturday night is the best point of the week. Monday morning is considered to be the worst point of the week. Source: YouGov.
300 new words have been added to the Scrabble dictionary, including 'twerk', 'emoji', 'yowza', 'sheeple', and 'frowny'. Source: American Scrabble Association.
The new V&A Dundee Museum of Design attracted more than 27,000 visitors in its first week. Source: BBC.
Oddities Goosebumps are beneficial to our mental health. Researchers found that 88% of people at a music festival who got goosebumps felt happier as a result. 66% said that they felt in good emotional and physical health. Source: Oxford/ Harvard universities.
23% of Brits never get goosebumps. Source: Barclaycard.
