Animals & Nature
Creatures, oceans, weather and the planet doing its own thing. 23 stories, a few minutes each.
- Why Honey Never SpoilsWhen archaeologists opened tombs in Egypt, they found jars of honey sealed thousands of years ago that were still perfectly edible.
- The Tunguska EventOn the morning of June 30, 1908, something exploded in the sky above a remote stretch of Siberian forest.
- Australia's Great Emu WarIn 1932, the Australian government deployed soldiers with machine guns against a population of emus. The emus won.
- How Velcro Was Inspired by BurrsIn 1941, Swiss engineer George de Mestral took his Irish pointer for a walk through the woods near the Alps. When they returned home, both man and…
- The Exploding Whale of Florence, OregonOn November 9, 1970, a 45-foot sperm whale washed ashore near Florence, Oregon. The carcass weighed eight tons and was already decomposing. The…
- The Immortal JellyfishA jellyfish smaller than a pinky fingernail has figured out how to cheat death. Turritopsis dohrnii, found in temperate and tropical oceans…
- Whale FallsWhen a whale dies in the open ocean, its carcass eventually sinks to the seafloor. In the deep sea, where food is scarce and life clings to…
- Ball LightningIn 1638, a "great ball of fire" reportedly came through the window of a church in Devon, England, injuring about sixty people.
- Why Wombat Poop Is Cube-ShapedOf all the animals on Earth, only the wombat produces cube-shaped feces. Each day, a bare-nosed wombat deposits roughly a hundred six-sided…
- The Mary CelesteOn December 4, 1872, the British ship Dei Gratia was sailing about 400 miles east of the Azores when her crew spotted another vessel drifting in…
- Why Cats PurrThe assumption is that a purring cat is a happy cat. And that's often true—cats purr when they're content, when they're being petted, when they're…
- The Lake That Turns Animals to StoneIn northern Tanzania, near the Kenyan border, there's a shallow salt lake that preserves dead animals like fossils.
- The Year Without a SummerIn April 1815, Mount Tambora on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa erupted with a force roughly four times that of Krakatoa.
- The BloopIn the summer of 1997, hydrophones operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration picked up an unusual sound in the South Pacific.
- The Corpse FlowerThe titan arum blooms so rarely and smells so terrible that botanic gardens issue public alerts when one is about to open. Visitors line up,…
- Why Bananas Are RadioactiveEvery banana you eat exposes you to a tiny amount of radiation. This isn't a concern—it's barely measurable—but it's real enough that nuclear…
- The Sailing Stones of Death ValleyIn a remote corner of Death Valley, rocks move by themselves.
- Why the Sea Is SaltyRivers carry salt to the ocean. They've been doing it for billions of years.
- Why Flamingos Stand on One LegFlamingos spend hours standing on one leg, often while sleeping. The behavior is so consistent and so seemingly uncomfortable that it has attracted…
- Cher AmiIn October 1918, during the final weeks of World War I, a battalion of the U.S. 77th Infantry Division advanced into the Argonne Forest in…
- The Hermitage CatsThe Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, is one of the largest art museums in the world. It houses over three million items, including works…
- Bobbie the Wonder DogIn August 1923, a family from Silverton, Oregon, lost their dog while traveling in Wolcott, Indiana—roughly 2,500 miles from home. Six months…
- The Woman Who Paid Kenya to Plant TreesIn 1977, Wangari Maathai planted seven trees in her backyard in Nairobi. It was World Environment Day, and the seedlings were the start of…