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 
Victorians Bought Coffins With Alarm Bells
In top hat days they built coffins with air tubes, glass windows and panic bells for anyone regretting the whole dying business.Read More 
Lake Natron Turns Birds Into Stone And Nature Cheers
There is a lake in Tanzania that bakes and salts unlucky animals into eerie statues while flamingos act like it's a spa day.Read More 
Some Git Named An Asteroid After His Cat Mr Spock
Proper daft: there really is an asteroid called 2309 Mr Spock, and no, it wasn't christened for Captain Kirk - it was named after a moggy.Read More 
That Tiny Fold In Your Eye Is A Third Eyelid Imposter
Nestled in the inner corner of your eye is the plica semilunaris, a vestigial third eyelid - evolution's polite, bureaucratic footnote.Read More 