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Oddities & Curiosities

A collection of 103 issues

The 53-Month Death Watch of a Deep-Sea Mother

In the perpetual darkness of the deep sea, a mother octopus guarded her eggs for an unprecedented four and a half years. She never ate, slowly wasting away in a solitary vigil that represents the longest act of parental sacrifice ever observed.

Science & Nature Inventions & Discoveries Oddities & Curiosities

The Chemical Scream of Summer: Decoding the Secret Language of Cut Grass

That nostalgic scent of a freshly mown lawn isn't a perfume; it's a chemical scream. Plants release these airborne compounds as a distress call to warn neighbors of danger and to summon predatory insects to attack their enemies, revealing a hidden world of botanical warfare.

Science & Nature Oddities & Curiosities

Earth's Largest Organism Is a Glowing, Forest-Killing Predator

Beneath an Oregon forest, a single fungus spans nearly four square miles, making it the largest and one of the oldest living things on Earth. This ancient, parasitic giant kills trees from below and haunts the woods with a ghostly, bioluminescent glow.

Science & Nature Oddities & Curiosities Geography & Places

Disney's Secret Code for a Macabre Theme Park Ritual

While many see Disney parks as the 'Happiest Place on Earth,' this morbid trend is so common that Disney has an official protocol, a 'white powder alert,' to dispatch specialized cleanup crews for human ashes scattered on its most iconic rides.

Death & Rituals Culture & Design Oddities & Curiosities

The Colossal Log Cabin That Vanished in a Night of Fire

For nearly 60 years, Portland's Forestry Building stood as the world's largest log cabin, a temple built from colossal old-growth trees. But the very material that made it magnificent also made it vulnerable, leading to its destruction in one spectacular night.

History Geography & Places Oddities & Curiosities

Iceland's Immortal Burger: The Meal That Outlived an Era

On the day McDonald's left Iceland in 2009, one man bought the last cheeseburger as a historical artifact. More than a decade later, the eerily preserved meal is a national icon, streaming its unending existence to a curious global audience from a hostel.

Oddities & Curiosities Food & Lifestyle History

The Public Safety Warning That Powered a Hip-Hop Classic

The menacing hook and infectious beat of Busta Rhymes' 1997 hit 'Dangerous' have an unlikely origin: a 1980s public service announcement. A stark warning about household poisons was ingeniously flipped into the foundation for a platinum-selling party anthem.

Music Entertainment & Media Oddities & Curiosities

The Colossal Wurlitzer Hidden Inside the Carmex Plant

Inside a nondescript Wisconsin factory that produces Carmex lip balm lies an extraordinary secret: the world's largest Wurlitzer theater pipe organ. The personal passion of the founder's grandson, this colossal instrument is played daily, filling the industrial space with music.

Oddities & Curiosities Music Biography & Personal Stories

The Secret Society of Arachnids Living on Your Face

Nearly every human hosts microscopic, eight-legged arachnids that live and die in their pores. For most, they are harmless passengers, but a population boom can turn these unseen tenants into the surprising culprits behind common skin conditions like rosacea.

Science & Nature Medicine, Psychology & Health Oddities & Curiosities

The Wood Wide Web Is Real, and It’s Changing Everything We Know About Forests

Beneath every forest lies a hidden kingdom: a sprawling, intelligent network of fungal threads that connects trees, moves resources, and forms the largest living organism on Earth. The mushroom is just the tip of the iceberg.

Science & Nature Environment & Climate Oddities & Curiosities

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