WHO ARE THE FOUR KINGS IN A DECK OF CARDS?

Playing cards arrived in Europe in the late 14th century, and decks differed greatly depending on where they were produced. There were inconsistent numbers of cards and design, although all decks had suits made up of court cards (now usually called face cards) and numbered cards. Eventually, as card-playing in Europe became more widespread, the decks were mass-produced with stencils and always included 52 cards, the same number a deck includes now.

It was the French card-makers in the late 16th century who standardized the suits of spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs and designated the four kings as David, Alexander, Charlemagne, and Caesar. But this designation ended in the late 18th century and from then on, the kings in decks of cards have represented no specific person, any more than the kings on a chessboard stand for illustrious royals of the past.

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WAS THE PAINTING OF THE MONA LISA DONE WITHOUT EYEBROWS?

A Parisian engineer who has dedicated 3,000 hours to examining Leonardo Da Vinci's famous portrait the Mona Lisa claims to have the answer to the above question. Pascal Cotte says that ultra detailed digital scans of the 16th-century picture allow him to see traces of a left eyebrow long obscured from the naked eye by the efforts of the restorers. His conclusion is that Mona Lisa once had both eyebrows and eyelashes, but that these have been gradually eroded to the point that they are no longer visible.

"If you look closely at Mona Lisa's eye you can clearly see that the cracks around the eye have slightly disappeared, and that may be explained that one day a curator or restorer cleaned the eye, and cleaning the eye removed, probably removed the eyelashes and eyebrow," he said.

Mr Cotte said his study of the painting also revealed that Da Vinci originally painted Mona Lisa with a wider face and a more expressive smile than in the final work.

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DOES HOT WATER TURN INTO ICE FASTER THAN COLD WATER?

The Mpemba effect is the theory that warmer water can freeze faster than colder water. The effect has been noted since ancient times but scientists have struggled to explain why it occurs. Hydrogen bonds bring individual water molecules into close contact, which triggers natural repulsion between the water molecules and causes the bonds between oxygen and hydrogen atoms to stretch as well as store energy.
So as the liquid warms, it makes the water molecules sit further apart from each other as the hydrogen bonds stretch. When the molecules shrink again and give up their energy, this results in it cooling, which the scientists say means that warm water cools faster than cold water and explains the Mpemba effect.

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