100 things we didn't know this time last year. Not all of them are truly new facts, but here are some of the better ones:

11. One in 10 Europeans is allegedly conceived in an Ikea bed.

14. It's possible for a human to blow up balloons via the ear. A 55-year-old factory worker from China reportedly discovered 20 years ago that air leaked from his ears, and he can now inflate balloons and blow out candles.

19. The = sign was invented by 16th Century Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde, who was fed up with writing "is equal to" in his equations. He chose the two lines because "noe 2 thynges can be moare equalle".

29. When faced with danger, the octopus can wrap six of its legs around its head to disguise itself as a fallen coconut shell and escape by walking backwards on the other two legs, scientists discovered.

32. "Restaurant" is the most mis-spelled word in search engines.

87. Pulling your foot out of quicksand takes a force equivalent to that needed to lift a medium-sized car.