I did not know that yesterday!

It's possible the lion in the famous MGM production logo may be more fatigued than ferocious. Hollywood thrives on illusion, after all. MGM has reportedly used five different kings of the jungle as its mascot.

The first was the aptly named Leo. I found reference to Leo and his trainer Volney Phifer, who taught Leo to roar on cue. If either Leo or Phifer earned their bread, butter, and raw meat, that classic cat is indeed roaring. Of course, when he debuted in 1928, movies weren't yet talkies, so audiences had to recoil in fear from a roar on a phonograph record.

New lions followed in Leo's footsteps, and the logo changed, but the MGM tradition has stood the test of time. Come to think of it, if any of the lions had yawned, that would seriously affect the third roar theory. Besides, whatever may have occurred with any of the onscreen jungle cats, I've always thought MGM title screens look better with a Tom cat anyway.

While no cockroach could survive an actual blast, some experts believe a cockroach could withstand the fallout. Others, however, aren't so sure.
Cockroaches can absorb a lot of radiation compared to humans. Over the course of a lifetime, an average person is exposed to around 16 rems of radiation (a lethal dose is around 800 rems).

Cockroaches, on the other hand, can handle a helluva lot more, between 67,500 and 105,000 rems that is. For some reason, German cockroaches are particularly resilient.

Ah, but this opinion isn't shared by everyone. An article from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation argues cockroaches are only marginally better than humans at withstanding radiation. Citing the research of two German scientists, it states that cockroaches are only about "six to fifteen times tougher than we frail humans."

So, there ya have it. Some say cockroaches will inherit the Earth after World War III, while others think they'll be toast. Hopefully we'll never have occasion to find out.

Unlike my sorry collection of beer cans, Stradivarius violins have a lot more than just sentimental value. In fact, one was recently auctioned for $3.5 million. Such a large sum begs the question -- what makes Stradivarius violins so special? As far as we can tell, there are three main reasons.

One, they're rare. If our time in Economics 101 taught us anything, it's that often, the rarer something is, the more valuable it becomes. According to several sources, there are less than 700 Stradivarius violins in existence today (considerably less than the number of beer cans even in Wallis and Futuna!!).

Two, they're old. Each violin was constructed by Antonio Stradivari, whose work was commissioned by both England's King James II and King Charles III of Spain. Stradivari, who unlike many great artists, was actually appreciated in his lifetime, died in 1737. Going with him was his method of construction.

Which brings us to three: A Stradivarius violin sounds much better than anything else. Some say the glue Stradivari used is responsible. Others believe it's the density of the wood. In 2001, a biochemist named Joseph Nagyvary attempted to "emulate" the sound. He concluded the chemical borax is the secret ingredient. According to Nagyvary, borax not only protected the wood, it also "bound the molecules of wood together, altering the sound."

Nagyvary sells "authentic recreations" with a focus on tone and material. They're not cheap, but we're guessing you can pick one up for less than $3.5 million.

The Origin of AIDS and HIV are pretty unclear, and clearly have puzzled the scientists for a while. For over twenty years it has been the subject of fierce debate and the cause of countless arguments, with everything from a promiscuous flight attendant to a suspect vaccine programme being blamed. So what is the truth? Just where did AIDS come from?

The first recognised cases of AIDS occurred in the USA in the early 1980s (more about this period can be found on our history page). A number of gay men in New York and San Francisco suddenly began to develop rare opportunistic infections and cancers that seemed stubbornly resistant to any treatment. At this time, AIDS did not yet have a name, but it quickly became obvious that all the men were suffering from a common syndrome. The discovery of HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that causes AIDS was made soon after. While some were initially resistant to the connection (and indeed remain so today), there is now clear evidence to prove that HIV does cause AIDS. So, in order to find the source of AIDS, it is necessary to look for the origin of HIV, and find out How, When and Where HIV first began to cause disease in humans.

Three of the earliest known instances of HIV infection are as follows:

- A plasma sample taken in 1959 from an adult male living in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- HIV found in tissue samples from an American teenager who died in St. Louis in 1969.
- HIV found in tissue samples from a Norwegian sailor who died around 1976.

A 1998 analysis of the plasma sample from 1959 has suggested7 that HIV-1 was introduced into humans around the 1940s or the early 1950s; much earlier than previously thought. Other scientists have dated the sample to an even earlier period - perhaps as far back as the end of the 19th century.

In January 2000 however, the results of a new study presented at the 7th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, suggested that the first case of HIV-1 infection occurred around 1930 in West Africa . The study was carried out by Dr Bette Korber of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The estimate of 1930 (which does have a 15 year margin of error) was based on a complicated computer model of HIV's evolution. If accurate, it means that HIV was in existence before many scenarios suggest.

One thing to remember, is as we are not quite sure where AIDS and HIV come from, there is one thing that is certain today, AIDS is still deadly...so protect yourself EVERYTIME!