Flattest toad
In Suriname there is a species of toad that looks like it has been flattened under a rock: it grows up to twenty centimetres long, but only reaches a couple of centimetres high.
Category: Sciences
Hogg wild in New Haven
Two men were tried and one was executed for bestiality in early New Haven. The evidence: the birth of piglets that looked suspiciously like the accused.
Twelve days
Is Christmas Day the twelfth day of Christmas or the first? And why does it cost US$170,298.03?
Flapdragon
A Christmas Eve parlour game played in Victorian England involved grabbing burning raisins with your hands and eating them while they were still alight.
Endless lightning
There is a storm above the mouth of the Catatumbo River in Venezuela that produces endless lightning – and has been doing so consistently, year-round, for hundreds of years.
Simultaneity
This is the 300th regular post on this site. Time to talk about simultaneous scientific discovery, starring Edison, Newton, Darwin, and many many others.
Human hamster
What does the golden hamster have to do with human fertility tests?
Lunar quarantine
When the Apollo 11 astronauts arrived back on Earth, no-one knew whether they were contaminated with secret space viruses or not – so the astronauts stayed in an Airstream trailer under quarantine for three weeks.
Decimal time
1000 metres in a kilometre, 1000 grams in a kilogram, and 1000 minutes in a day?
The Microsoft Sound
“We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, […] optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional […] and it must be 3 ¼ seconds long.”
Electric speed
Up until 1902, every fastest car in the world was electric.
European rainforest
The largest national park in the European Union is in South America.
Cat-in-chief
Who rules the cats of England? Since at least the 1920s, 10 Downing Street has had an official cat: the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office.
Worst tank
In World War II, New Zealand wanted a tank, but none of their allies had any to spare. So they made their own, with a tractor, corrugated iron, a mattress, and a postcard.
Creeper vs. reaper
The first computer programme to replicate itself over the proto-Internet was made in 1971. And the second one was made to destroy it.
Largest number
What’s the largest number? If you said the googolplex, you’re off… by a lot. A lot.
The Generalist Academy 