Stories

Odd facts from science, engineering, nature and the body, with the sources at the bottom of each one.

An illustrated crowd leaning on a swaying footbridge over the Thames, with one man in the middle wearing the number 165.

Engineering

The bridge that closed because people walked on it

London's Millennium Bridge opened in June 2000 and shut two days later. Nobody marched, nobody jumped. A crowd simply walked across it, and that was enough.

A cartoon man lies rigid in bed at night while a tall shadow in a wide-brimmed hat leans over him in a blue-lit bedroom.

The mind

You wake up, you can't move, and someone is in the room

Sleep paralysis is common, frightening and harmless. It happens when your mind wakes up before your body gets the message.

A cartoon man strokes his chin next to a thermal camera pointed at a metal cage shaped like a pear, with a red apple inside, in a white laboratory.

Science & tech

The real invisibility cloak only fools one kind of camera

Engineers have built a solid block that steers heat around whatever is inside it. It is impressive, and nothing like the cloak you're picturing.

A cartoon man asleep on a pillow in a dark room, with a small black bat sitting on his face and glasses.

The body

The bat bite you never feel is the dangerous one

An 11-year-old woke up with a bat on his face, found no mark and felt fine for three weeks. By the time symptoms appeared, rabies could no longer be stopped.

A cartoon man with bright orange skin, wearing glasses and a dark green jacket, holds a half-eaten carrot.

The body

Yes, carrots can turn you orange. Here's how many it takes

It has a medical name, it's harmless, and it works in much the same way as a flamingo's colour. You would need to eat around ten carrots a day for weeks.

A cartoon man in a park with a nest and a pigeon on his head, while a large flock of pigeons flies past under a blue sky.

Nature

City birds flee from women sooner than men, and nobody knows why

Across five European countries, birds took off about a metre earlier when a woman approached. The researchers matched height and clothing, and still have no explanation.

A cartoon man in a sunny field, frowning at a metallic green fly with orange eyes that has landed on his nose.

Nature

Why planes are dropping millions of flies over Texas on purpose

A parasite whose maggots eat living flesh is back in the US. The best weapon against it depends on one odd fact about how the female mates.

A giant tube squeezes white cream over a planet covered in cracked, glowing lava, against a dark starry sky.

Science & tech

This lava planet appears to wear sunscreen

A rocky world this close to its star should have lost its air long ago. It seems to have kept it, and the best explanation so far is a layer of clouds made from vaporised rock.

A cartoon man yawning enormously with both arms in the air inside a lift, with a blue ice pack on his arm, next to a man in a suit.

The mind

Contagious yawning: what the science has and hasn't worked out

Two out of three people caught a yawn in one large study. The popular explanation turned out not to hold up, and a good replacement is still missing.

Close-up of a cartoon man's expressionless face with a tiny elf-like figure standing near his mouth.

Nature

The mushroom that makes people see tiny elves

Sold as food in Chinese markets, this wild mushroom can cause detailed visions of tiny people if eaten undercooked. Scientists still can't identify the chemical responsible.

A cartoon man inside a small yellow submersible with a dark eel passing the glass dome, surrounded by a dense swarm of eels in deep blue water.

Nature

2.8 million eels, one tiny underwater mountain, and no explanation

Every year, deep-sea eels pile onto a single small seamount off Tasmania to spawn. There are more than a hundred others nearby, and nobody knows why they chose this one.

A cartoon man with glasses drinks a glass of water on a beach, with the sea behind him.

The body

Why drinking seawater makes you thirstier

One glass holds nearly double the salt you should eat in a day, and your kidneys have to spend more water getting rid of it than the glass gave you.

A jumping spider hangs from a thread inside a clear box while a cartoon man with glasses watches it from behind the glass.

Nature

Jumping spiders twitch in their sleep, and catch up after a bad night

A new study found a phase of spider sleep that looks a lot like our REM. Disturb a spider all night and it makes up for it the night after. Whether it dreams is another matter.