Ten Things: Did You Know...?

Rihanna has received praise for her Fenty Beauty line/GETTY.

Nature news nuggets picked from the press.

1. The "supermoon" phenomenon is when the Moon appears larger and brighter in the sky. It happens when the Moon reaches its closest point to Earth, known as a perigee Moon.
2. A widespread covering of snow in the UK (defined as 40% or more of UK stations reporting lying snow) at Christmas is very rare, with a "White Christmas" happening just four times in the last 51 years.
3. A batch of Christmas elf toys brought into the UK through Heathrow Airport have failed safety tests.
4. Driving is not allowed for sumo wrestlers, but the best fighters have drivers. A status symbol and a necessity, because their stomachs make it hard to reach the steering wheel.
5. Police in India say they have arrested a man whose smelly socks caused a dispute between him and fellow passengers on a bus.
6. When Richard Gere dressed up as a homeless person on the streets of New York, he wasn't trying to avoid being spotted - it was for a film role. But a kind passer-by thought he really was destitute and gave him pizza, forcing the cameras to stop rolling.
7. The world's largest lithium ion battery has begun dispensing power into an electricity grid in South Australia, which began as a Twitter bet with Elon Musk.
8. Rihanna refuses to test her products on animals, meaning her Fenty range will not be available in China where animal testing is required by law, while on the status of using transgender models, she has been widely praised on social media for her criticism of firms who hire models from minority groups as a "token" gesture.
9. A senior Anglican minister has been criticised for saying people should pray for Prince George to be gay to help the Church of England recognise same-sex marriage.
10. The extinct Dodo had a little-known relative on another island known as the Rodrigues solitaire, which used its wings as clubs.

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