They Hang Nazar Beads On Beehives, Of Course
In Anatolia they strap blue evil eye beads to beehives to stop envy, bad luck and nosy neighbours from ruining the honey - and yes, it works as village theatre.Read More 
The Shrimp That Sees Too Much and Hits Like a Sledge
A tiny crustacean with a private physics lab in its fist, an eye that lectures your camera and the temper of a disgruntled civil servant.Read More 
That Daft Pig That Nearly Started A War
A pig on a tiny island in 1859 had Britain and America glaring across the water until a Kaiser politely sorted it out.Read More 
The Animal That's Actually a Team of Freeloaders
Meet the siphonophore: a single thing to the untrained eye, but in truth a long, organised mob of specialised clones that hunt, swim and reproduce together.Read More 
You Didn't Make the Mother Bird Ghost Her Baby
That old rule about human scent dooming baby birds is mostly dramatic nonsense - except when nature actually uses smell, in which case you're politely doomed.Read More 
The Gmbc: A Little Stone That Refuses To Stay Down
A Hungarian maths trick turned into a real pebble that always rights itself - and yes, it is as smug as it sounds.Read More 
When Languages Refuse Your Nouns And Verbs
Some tongues simply refuse to file words into 'nouns' or 'verbs' and English grammar tutors are having panic attacks in orderly queues.Read More 
That Bridge Where Dogs Keep Jumping and Nobody's Decided Why
There is a real Victorian bridge in Scotland that repeatedly sends perfectly ordinary dogs over the edge and the explanations are deliciously unconvincing.Read More 
They Brought Bombers To Cut A Tree
In 1976 the United States and South Korea staged a full-on military production just to saw down a poplar in the DMZ - and honestly, it was magnificent theatre.Read More 
They Felt Your Skull And Called You Lazy
Victorians genuinely paid folk to run fingers round your head, read the bumps and then tell you whether you were fit to marry or run a factory.Read More 