A list of curious facts

One: The Grand Egyptian Museum will finally open its doors in Giza in July. Spread across 5.2 million sq. feet, it is the largest archaeological museum on the planet—and the largest dedicated to a single civilisation. The museum also boasts the world’s first hanging obelisk:

As you can see in the lead image, the vibe is very ‘Great Pyramid’—which is right next door. For perspective: the 4,600-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza was built in just 25 years. This one took 20. Below is the star attraction—a colossal 30-foot statue of King Ramesses II. More dazzling photos over at Essential Magazine. (CN Traveller)

Two: Researchers in Sweden have developed a battery with the consistency of toothpaste—made primarily of plastic capable of conducting electricity. See?

The best bit about this battery is that it can be shaped to fit any device–and can be recharged over 500 times. The hitch: its current voltage is only 0.9 volts—compared to 1.2 and 1.5 volts for AA batteries. That said, scientists have managed the hardest part—making a battery fluid. Gizmodo explains why this is an amazing achievement. 

Three: Did you know that we don’t know the origin of some of the most common words in English—like dog, pig, frog or boy. There aren’t any cognates either—that’s the same word but in a related language (mater, madre mother). These words popped up out of seemingly nowhere—and even changed their meaning. For example, in the 13th century, a boie was a servant—and was used to denote a male child just a century later. Yet in the 14th century, another mystery word ‘girle’ was used to describe a child—of either gender. The Conversation has more fun examples.

Bonus fact: We usually offer something pretty or fun—but given all the fuss over fake paneer’ in restaurants, we thought you might want to know how it's made: 

They make paneer or khoya from skimmed milk. One portion of poor quality skimmed milk powder and three portions of starch are mixed, and refined or hydrogenated oil is added for fat content to meet the FSSAI standards. Toilet cleaning sulphuric acid is used instead of citric acid to coagulate milk while making paneer,” said an official, adding that soy milk coagulated with chemicals was also passed off as paneer.

As Bangaloreans would say, enjoy maadi!