The Dead Bloke, a Rubaiyat and a Code No One Can Crack
Found on a beach in 1948: a dead fella, a torn bit of poetry and a string of letters like someone tried to hide a crossword answer.Read More 
They Almost Floated an Aircraft Carrier Made of Ice and I Love It
In WWII Britain briefly tried to build unsinkable floating airbases from 'pykrete'-a frozen mix of ice and wood pulp-because history enjoys a laugh.Read More 
My Gut Secretly Became a Brewery
Picture getting blackout drunk without a drink because your own gut microbes threw a fermentation party - and yes, that is an actual medical thing.Read More 
Point Nemo: Middle Of Nowhere Where Astronauts Are Your Neighbours
There is a spot in the South Pacific so lonely the closest people are the ones circling overhead, and even ships treat it like a skip for dead satellites.Read More 
Never Toast With Water Unless You Want To Be Morbidly Polite
In Japan, clinking a glass of water at a party is the social equivalent of applauding a eulogy.Read More 
Colombia's Giant Roasted Ants Are Deliciously Unruly
In Santander they toast hormigas culonas - nutty, bacony courting snacks that make polite dinner talk evaporate.Read More 
Cadaver Synod: They Put a Pope on Trial
In 897 Rome literally dug up Pope Formosus, sat his corpse on a throne, and humiliated him in the most bureaucratic of ways.Read More 
Djenne's Mosque Gets Smothered In Mud
Once a year the whole town dresses down, mixes a ridiculous amount of adobe, and plaster-bakes the world's largest mudbrick building.Read More 
That Time Space Whispered 'Wow' and Ghosted Us
August 15, 1977: a radio dish heard something so rude it earned a single-word reaction and never explained itself.Read More 
133 Days Adrift, Ate Seagulls, Still Sound
Proper mad: a fella floated for 133 days, drank rain, ate birds and turned a bit of canvas into a wardrobe and kept his humour.Read More 