A 1,000-year-old onion-and-garlic eye remedy worked against MRSA in lab tests
History
A medieval Anglo-Saxon eye salve recipe killed antibiotic-resistant bacteria in a 2015 laboratory test.
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Weird Facts
Blood Falls pours red water in Antarctica
Science
Iron-rich salty water oxidizes when it reaches the air, staining the ice red.
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Weird Facts
Bromine is a liquid element at room temperature
Science
Bromine is one of the few elements that is liquid under ordinary room conditions.
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Weird Facts
Glass is not a slow-flowing liquid
Science
Old window panes are thicker at the bottom because they were made that way, not because glass flowed. Glass is an amorphous solid; at room temperature it does not creep.
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Weird Facts
Pumice can float on water
Science
Gas bubbles trapped during eruption make pumice light enough to float until it becomes waterlogged.
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Weird Facts
Pink lakes get color from salt-loving microbes
Science
Some salty lakes turn pink when algae or bacteria produce colorful pigments.
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Weird Facts
Strangler figs grow around host trees
Science
Strangler figs start high in another tree, send roots downward, and can eventually surround the host.
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Weird Facts
Some orchids imitate female insects
Science
Certain orchids attract male insects by mimicking the look or scent of potential mates.
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Weird Facts
Baobab trees store water in swollen trunks
Science
Baobabs survive dry seasons partly by holding water in massive, spongy trunks.
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Weird Facts
Some mushrooms glow in the dark
Science
Bioluminescent fungi emit a soft greenish light through chemical reactions.
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Weird Facts
Some sand dunes can sing
Science
Under the right grain size and dryness, sliding sand can produce low booming or humming sounds.
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Weird Facts
Sun dogs flank the Sun with false lights
Science
Sun dogs appear when ice crystals in the atmosphere bend sunlight into bright side spots.
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Weird Facts
Glaciers can flow visibly fast under certain conditions
Science
Some glaciers surge episodes can advance tens of meters in a single day under specific conditions.
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Weird Facts
Death Valley stones move on thin ice
Science
Sailing stones slide when wind pushes them across slick sheets of thin ice and wet mud.
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Weird Facts
Brinicles are underwater icicles
Science
Cold salty brine can sink beneath sea ice and freeze seawater into a hollow icy tube.
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Weird Facts
Slime molds can solve mazes
Science
Slime molds have found efficient paths through mazes despite having no brain.
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Weird Facts
Zombie-ant fungi steer insects before sprouting
Science
Ophiocordyceps fungi can alter ant behavior, then grow from the insect after it dies.
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Weird Facts
Ball lightning is a real but rare phenomenon
Phenomena
Glowing spheres of light occasionally appear during thunderstorms, and laboratory plasma experiments have replicated similar effects.
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Weird Facts
Helium can become a superfluid
Science
Near absolute zero, liquid helium can flow with almost no viscosity and creep along surfaces.
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Weird Facts
Welwitschia grows only two leaves for life
Science
The desert plant Welwitschia keeps the same two leaves growing and fraying for centuries.
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Weird Facts
Quaking aspen groves can be one organism
Science
Many aspen trunks can sprout from one shared root system, making a grove a single clone.
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Weird Facts
Dry ice skips the liquid phase at room pressure
Science
Frozen carbon dioxide sublimates straight from solid to gas under normal air pressure.
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Weird FactsNo ratings yet
Rafflesia flowers smell like carrion
Science
Rafflesia produces enormous flowers that smell like rotting meat to attract flies.
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The Mpemba effect has hot water sometimes freezing faster
Phenomena
Under certain conditions, warmer water can freeze faster than cooler water, named after a Tanzanian student who noticed it.
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