Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime.

Van Gogh was a struggling artist his entire life. Though he painted almost 900 paintings, he didn’t sell any until The Red Vineyard in Brussels for 400 francs. This was just months before he died. It was after his death that he became much more popular and recognized for his work.
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Everyone knows Van Gogh cut off his ear, but do you know how he died?

Most people know the story about artist Vincent Van Gogh chopping off his own ear. However, this is not the only time he caused himself bodily harm. In fact, he actually died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.

Suffering from mental illness, the 37-year-old artist shot himself in a wheat field in Auvers, France in 1890. He died two days later from the injury, leaving behind over 900 works of art, only one of which sold during his lifetime!

Van Gogh is not the only artist, living or dead, who has suffered from mental illness. Today, comic book artist Sam Kascewicz keeps his own mental illness in check by creating great art. You can view his work at www.deathormadness.com, which is part of Egmont UK and their network of sites found at www.gobzrk.com.

There is a condition called ‘Maple Syrup Urine Disease’.

This congenital disorder is found in infants, and despite its entertaining name, it can lead to death if left untreated...seriously though, don’t laugh, that’s how my Aunt Jemima kicked the bucket. As you can probably infer for yourself, the disease was named for the distinctive sweet scent it causes in the pee of affected newborns. The scent comes about because the condition does not allow an infant’s body to properly break down the amino acids that are found in all proteins. About one in 185,000 children worldwide are born with this disorder, but it is far more common among babies born in the Old Order Mennonite population, where it affects around one in 380 births.
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Oregon’s state flag is the only state flag to carry two separate designs, with a beaver on its reverse side.

Neanderthal brains were larger than modern humans’ brains.

Despite this, modern human babies’ brains are the same size as baby Neanderthal brains were. Scientists have discovered that Neanderthals had to grow a lot faster than Homo sapiens, and they may have also spent an even longer part of their lives growing to their brains’ top size. This means that they might have spent an even longer time before reaching sexual maturity and may have have lived longer lives as well.

One of the benefits of having smaller brains than Neanderthals is that our our brains are more energy efficient. We can also reproduce at higher rates than the Neanderthals did.
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