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  • Ten things you wish you didn't know.

  • BEAVER ANUS

  • We could be eating food flavored with beaver butt, without even knowing it.

  • Taken from a sac inside the beaver's anus, Castoreum is a slimy brown substance used by the animal to mark its territory.

  • Used in the food industry to enhance the taste of vanilla in foods such as ice cream.

  • Castoreum is hidden under the unassuming title, "natural flavoring".

  • EYELASH MITES

  • For at least 50% of us, millions of microscopic mites are living undetected in the hair follicles all over our body.

  • Called demodex mites, their 2 week life span consists of them mating on our skin, before the female buries deep into a hair follicle to lay her eggs.

  • With no anus, the mite's life ends in a dramatic explosion, where it releases its feces all over our skin.

  • BRAZILIAN WANDERING SPIDER

  • Native to Central and South America, the Brazilian Wandering Spider is the world's most deadliest spider!

  • However, they are on occasion found hiding in groceries around the world.

  • Its venomous bite can kill victims in just two hours or cause painful 4 hour-long erections.

  • Last year, a man in Britain was driven out of his home when he found the spider hiding in a bunch of bananas he'd ordered from the supermarket.

  • FECAL MATTER

  • Fecal matter just seems to get everywhere.

  • A microbiologist has found that some men's beards contain so much fecal matter that they are as dirty as toilets.

  • A study by MythBusters found that the spray from a flushed toilet can contaminate toothbrushes kept in a bathroom with fecal matter.

  • But interestingly, fecal matter was also found on the two toothbrushes kept as a control, in another room.

  • How'd it get there!?

  • OBESITY VIRUS

  • The common virus Ad-36 is thought to be able to cause obesity, by encouraging the body to grow more fat cells.

  • Caught like the common cold, one study found that ten years after having been exposed to the virus.

  • volunteers had a higher body mass index and body fat percentage than those who hadn't been infected.

  • BELLY BUTTON BACTERIA

  • A recent study found 1458 new species of bacteria living in participants' belly buttons.

  • We are taught to have an average of 67 species of bacteria living in our belly buttons alone.

  • One man had bacteria in his belly button which had previously only ever been found in Japanese soil, despite having never been to Japan.

  • Another participant was harboring bacterium that had only ever been known to thrive within ice caps and thermal vents.

  • SHELLAC

  • Ever wondered how they get apples so shinny?

  • Made from the secretion of the kerria Iacca insect, it's used as a food additive.

  • Sprayed on everything from pills to jelly beans to give them an extra shine.

  • Inevitably the bugs themselves get crushed up in the shellac making process, giving our food that extra bite.

  • TREE MAN

  • Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is a common infection that usually causes small warts to develop on sufferers.

  • Transmitted through sex or infected blood, one man in Indonesia caught the virus after accidentally cutting his knee.

  • Due to his weak immune system the warts sprouted over his body as tree-like growths, known as cutaneous horns.

  • Transforming his hands into yellow branches, 1 meter long.

  • TOXOPLASMA GONDII

  • 1/3 of the world's population is unknowingly infected by the personality-altering parasite, toxoplasma gondii.

  • The parasite is commonly caught from household cats or by eating undercooked meat.

  • And is thought to make men more aggressive and suspicious, while making women more intelligent.

  • However, the parasite is also linked to OCD, schizophrenia and even suicidal behavior.

  • LOTTERY OF LIFE

  • You are more likely be hit by a car, struck by lightning, hit by an asteroid, or killed by flesh-eating bacteria on your way to buying a lottery ticket.

  • than you are to actually win the jackpot in the Mega Millions lottery---the odds of which are 1/176 million.

  • The Euromillions odds are slightly more favorable at 1/116531800.

Ten things you wish you didn't know.

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