Carl Sagan - the same Carl Sagan who persuaded NASA scientists to turn Voyager around and take the 'Pale Blue Dot' photo we mentioned earlier, gave a number of lectures in the early 1980s, during which he stated that human beings are composed of elements that originated within the stars themselves. And he's mostly right.
Originally, the universe was composed only of hydrogen and helium. Carbon - the base material which humans are made of- as well as nitrogen and oxygen - were created much later, in the hearts of stars. As these stars died, they exploded, expelling debris across space as a gas. Among these gases are element that eventually settled and became planets, and the building blocks of life itself. Without the birth and death of those early stars some 4.6 billion years ago, the conditions necessary for life to begin would never have been created, and you wouldn't be here right now to read this article. As Sagan himself said, "We're all made of star stuff".
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.