1. Falling out - Women
lose more hair in Autumn: they hold on to it in summer to protect their scalps
against the midday sun.
2. Take heart - Heart attacks decrease after the Autumn
equinox: researchers at the University of Michigan believe it is because we get
an extra hour of sleep and are therefore less stressed.
3. Northern Lights - The aurora borealis is visible in
Autumn because geomagnetic storms are twice as likely.
4. The word "Autumn" is believed to come from the
Etruscan word "autu", meaning change of season. Until 1500, Autumn
was called "harvest" in Britain. After that it was ‘Fall’. Britons
only adopted the French word "automne" in the 18th century.
5. Making a century - Babies born during the Autumn months
are more likely to live to 100 than those born during the rest of the year.
6. And the winner is...No film with Autumn in its title has
ever won an Oscar; all the other seasons have
7. Shine on...The full moon closest to the Autumn equinox is
a "harvest moon" [this year it was 16th September] . In
China, the Autumn equinox is a moon festival. Chinese families eat moon cakes
and round foods like watermelons, oranges and green soybeans.
8. Changing face of Autumn. Tree leaf colours have been
arriving later across Europe since the 1980s, and in Britain oak leaves are
falling a week later than 30 years ago. Red and purple leaves are caused by the
presence of sugars in sap trapped inside leaves.
9. The longest journey - In Autumn, birds prepare for winter
migration. One of the longest migrations is the 11,000 mile journey by the
Arctic Tern.
10. "Mists and mellow fruitfulness" - The famous
Keats quotation from his poem "To Autumn", was inspired by a walk in
the water meadows behind Winchester College – a walk he only took to escape the
racket of his landlady’s daughter practising her violin.
I wish my hair knew that! I lose a handful a week from washing alone, let alone all the brushing!x
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