All stories — Page 7

Every story in the Unbubly reading feed.

• Sophie Blanchard carried celebration into the skyWhen Napoleon’s son was born, Sophie Blanchard flew over Paris and dropped leaflets announcing the birth. She…
• Aquatic bladderwort uses a tiny triggered doorActive traps of aquatic Utricularia hold lower pressure than the surrounding water. Contact with trigger hair…
• Crossing sweepers cleared a pedestrian’s wayNineteenth-century crossing sweepers cleared a path through dirty urban streets in exchange for gratuities. H…
• Eszett also acquired an official capital optionGerman ß is a distinct letter, not a form of B. It was traditionally capitalized as SS. In 2017, the Council…
• An egg cream’s name does not list its ingredientsAn egg cream combines milk, carbonated water and flavoured syrup. Despite its name, it contains neither eggs…
• Giffard’s airship faced a limit imposed by windIn September 1852, Henri Giffard flew his steam-powered airship about twenty-seven kilometres from Paris. It…
• Nepenthes lowii gets nutrients without catching the guestMature Nepenthes lowii plants in Borneo obtain substantial nitrogen from tree-shrew droppings. Visitors feed…
• Breeching marked a change in boys’ clothingIn parts of the Western world, young boys wore gowns or dresses before being put into breeches or trousers. T…
• Long s belongs to older forms of printingThe character ſ, called long s, is an archaic form of lowercase s. In some typefaces it closely resembles f,…
• Welsh rarebit serves cheese on toastWelsh rarebit, also called Welsh rabbit, is hot cheese sauce on toasted bread. It contains no rabbit. The nam…
• Markham’s westward flight ended in CanadaBeryl Markham left England alone for North America in September 1936, intending to reach New York. Fuel starv…
• Ginkgo’s fleshy exterior can mislead the eyeFemale ginkgo trees produce seed structures with a soft, fleshy outer section. Though they resemble small fru…
• An iron plate could pass heat through the wallIn parts of southern Belgium and adjacent France and Luxembourg, iron plates behind kitchen fireplaces radiat…
• Spanish 1.ª abbreviates a feminine formSpanish primera can be abbreviated as 1.ª. The raised a helps represent the feminine ordinal form, with a per…
• Baked Alaska combines opposing temperaturesBaked Alaska covers cake and ice cream with meringue. Brief heating browns the exterior without giving the ic…
• Nancy Wake recalled a long ride for communicationsAfter her wartime team lost its radio and codes, Nancy Wake recalled borrowing a bicycle to reach another rad…
• Wolffia has flowers despite having no rootsWolffia plants float like small specks and have no roots. Their rarely seen flowers arise in a cavity on the…
• Fire marks do not prove the familiar abandonment mythBritish fire insurance plaques identified buildings for company fire brigades. Yet the claim that every unmar…
• Ditto marks repeat the words or figures aboveA ditto mark signals that words or figures from the line above are to be repeated. It is a shorthand rather t…
• Canelé builds its contrast into a small shapeBordeaux’s canelé is a small fluted cylindrical pastry flavoured with rum and vanilla. It has a dark, thick c…
• Lilian Bland’s aircraft needed another attemptEager to test the engine of her Mayfly aircraft before its tank was ready, Lilian Bland improvised with an em…
• Drosophyllum differs from the usual wetland imageDrosophyllum grows in the western Mediterranean, including Portugal, southwestern Spain and northern Morocco.…
• A house’s pull cords carried information mechanicallyVictorian domestic bell systems connected pulls in different rooms to a central bank of labelled bells where…
• Coöperate displays a pronunciation reminderIn the spelling coöperate, the diaeresis signals separate vowels and the division co-op-er-ate. The unmarked…
• Poutine keeps the curds’ texture in the experienceQuébécois poutine combines fries, cheese curds and gravy. Hot gravy warms the curds without necessarily melti…
• Dutrieu’s bicycle acts already left the groundBelgian cyclist Hélène Dutrieu moved from racing to stunt performance. In 1903 she rode a vertical loop and d…
• Secretarybirds use their legs during the huntSecretarybirds mainly hunt on the ground, flushing prey from vegetation and striking with rapid blows of the…
• A puzzle jug makes drinking into a challengePuzzle jugs have perforated necks that prevent a conventional drink without spilling. A hidden tube supplies…
• An old dictionary gives apricity a seasonal senseThe old English word apricity concerns sunlight or solar warmth. A 1626 dictionary explained it as the sun’s…
• Diabolo moves between sticks, string and airA diabolo spins on a string stretched between two handsticks. Performers can toss it into the air and catch i…
• Quimby worked across aviation, journalism and filmHarriet Quimby obtained a US pilot’s licence in 1911 and also wrote films directed by D. W. Griffith that yea…
• The greater lophorina presents a different frontal shapeIn courtship, the male greater lophorina of New Guinea spreads its black cape feathers and blue-green breast…
• Fuddling cups join several vessels internallyA fuddling cup connects three or more cups or jugs through holes and tubes. Liquid entering one can reappear…
• Absquatulate means to leave in a hurryAmerican English absquatulate is slang for departing quickly or fleeing. Attested since the 1830s, it is a jo…
• Devil-stick manipulation controls one baton indirectlyDevil-stick performance uses two handsticks to lift, strike or stroke a central baton. The main visible prop…
• Ruth Law’s engine stopped over ManhattanAfter a nonstop flight from Chicago to New York State in November 1916, Ruth Law continued to New York City t…
• An okapi can use its tongue for groomingThe okapi uses a long tongue to browse suitable vegetation. The same organ also grooms its ears and eyes. Len…
• A whist marker records two sorts of progressA typical wooden short-whist marker has five broad flaps for points and three narrow ones for games won. Chan…
• Snollygoster describes an unprincipled, shrewd personThe old English slang term snollygoster describes a shrewd person not guided by principles, especially a poli…
• Māori poi combines objects, movement and songTraditional Māori poi in New Zealand can combine choreographed routines with singing and storytelling. In Māo…
• Scott’s early hop complicates a first-flight claimBlanche Scott’s training aircraft had a throttle limiter intended to keep it on the ground. A shift in that l…
• Bat-eared foxes have an unusual dietary emphasisBat-eared foxes specialize in insect feeding, with harvester termites sometimes making up most of their diet.…
• Tygs were built with three or more handlesAn English pottery tyg has at least three handles, dividing its rim into sections for several drinkers. Some…
• Sesquipedalian demonstrates its own subjectEnglish sesquipedalian can describe long, polysyllabic words or a style given to using them. The term itself…
• Contact manipulation rolls objects over the bodyContact juggling focuses on objects such as balls moving while in contact with the body. They roll over hands…
• Fountaine’s diaries waited until 1978After Margaret Fountaine died in 1940, her butterfly collection and a box containing diaries were deposited a…
• The pink fairy armadillo’s armour has a limited attachmentArgentina’s pink fairy armadillo has a dorsal shield connected to the body along a central ridge. Continuous…
• A Toby Jug turns costume into a functionA Toby Jug takes the form of a seated person. In the typical design, a tricorn hat forms the pouring spout an…
• Floccinaucinihilipilification names an act of dismissalThe twenty-nine-letter English word floccinaucinihilipilification describes treating something as unimportant…
• A Cyr wheel uses one large circleA Cyr wheel is a single large metal ring slightly taller than its performer. Standing inside and holding the…
• Rescued children stood up decades laterThe BBC presented Nicholas Winton’s work helping rescue children in 1988. In a subsequent programme, more tha…
• The aardwolf’s tongue does more work than a huntThe African aardwolf belongs to the hyena family but mainly eats termites rather than hunting large prey. It…
• Box-beds enclose the sleeping spaceA box-bed surrounds a sleeping place with a wooden enclosure, sometimes closed by a door or curtain. Such bed…
• Aotagai buys the harvest before the rice is ripeJapanese aotagai refers to reserving a rice harvest while the crop is still green. It also describes securing…
• The hairdresser’s regular order became a nameKapsalon layers fries, meat, cheese, salad and sauces. Its Dutch name means hairdressing salon. In Rotterdam…
• Payeng kept planting after the first small attemptIn 1979, Jadav Payeng saw dead snakes on a treeless sandbar in Assam, India. He planted twenty bamboo seedlin…
• Aardvark teeth have an unusual internal structureAn aardvark tooth consists of numerous thin tubes held together by cementum, each with an internal canal. The…
• The modern crumber shrank table cleaningBaltimore restaurateur John Henry Miller invented the modern crumber in 1939. The pocket-sized tool removes c…
• The Japanese expression names more than one sightJapanese kitsune no yomeiri can mean rain falling during sunshine. A dictionary also records a sense involvin…
• Bunny chow puts curry inside hollowed breadBunny chow originated in Durban, South Africa. A hollowed loaf of white bread holds curry. Despite the Englis…
• A storm destroyed Neale’s rebuilt pier the next dayTom Neale began living on Suwarrow in the Cook Islands in 1952. Visitors suggested rebuilding a ruined pier.…
• A fennec’s ears serve more than hearingThe fennec fox lives in North African desert regions. Its large ears help detect prey, but they also dissipat…
• Toast racks come with a trade-offBritish toast racks date from the late eighteenth century. Holding slices apart lets water vapour escape inst…
• Dokusenjō and dokudanjō have different charactersJapanese 独擅場 is read dokusenjō and describes a field someone can dominate. Confusion between 擅 and the stage-…
• Currywurst puts the flavour in the sauceGerman currywurst serves sausage with curry-flavoured sauce, commonly involving curry powder and tomato sauce…
• Tabei’s Everest ascent followed an avalancheAn avalanche buried Junko Tabei and others on Everest on 4 May 1975. Sherpa guides dug them out without fatal…
• Desert rain frogs develop into froglets in their eggsThe desert rain frog of Namibia and South Africa lays eggs in a burrow. They hatch into froglets without a fr…
• Mechanical banks animate the act of savingMechanical banks developed in the mid-nineteenth century. Putting in a coin or operating a lever can set figu…
• Hatenkō also concerns an unprecedented achievementThe first Japanese dictionary sense of hatenkō is accomplishing what nobody had achieved before. It also reco…
• Francesinha is associated with PortoThe francesinha is a Porto-associated Portuguese sandwich with meats, cheese and a sauce involving tomato and…
• Goethe admired Howard’s cloud classificationBritish meteorologist Luke Howard proposed a cloud classification in 1802, naming types including cumulus, st…
• Galagos mark their pathways with urineGalagos are small African primates that leave urine scent along routes they use through branches. A pathway i…
• A jacquemart makes the clock’s action visibleA jacquemart is a mechanised wooden or metal figure that strikes a bell with a hammer. Often positioned on a…
• Yakubusoku can mean the role is too smallJapanese yakubusoku describes a part beneath an actor’s ability, and more generally a role too light for the…
• Uruguayan chivito is made with beefUruguay’s chivito is a beef sandwich, commonly accompanied by cheese, ham and egg. The name means a young goa…
• Bell also climbed in the AlpsGertrude Bell, known for Middle Eastern travel and archaeology, was also a mountaineer. After she and guides…
• Some ants steer back towards their treeSome canopy-dwelling ants control the direction of a fall and glide towards their tree trunk. Gliding behavio…
• A gateleg table folds both surface and supportGateleg tables appeared in sixteenth-century England. Hinged leaves fold down when unused; pivoting legs swin…
• The geki in the phrase is a proclamationJapanese geki o tobasu concerns circulating a message to gather supporters. The dictionary distinguishes usag…
• Koshary does not choose one starchEgyptian koshary combines ingredients including rice, pasta and lentils, topped with tomato sauce and fried o…
• A hundred beads helped count a survey journeyNineteenth-century surveyor Nain Singh and colleagues trained for British expeditions to Tibet. A prayer-bead…
• Young Issus synchronise their jumping legs mechanicallyNymphs of Issus coleoptratus have intermeshing gear-like teeth at the bases of their hind legs. They keep the…
• A canterbury separates papers uprightA canterbury is a low stand divided into upright compartments, used for objects including sheet music. Exampl…
• Buzen can describe disappointment or surpriseJapanese buzen has dictionary senses of disappointment and surprise. Usage concerning displeasure has also sp…
• Poultry pastilla combines sweet and savoury layersNorth African poultry pastilla layers seasoned meat with thin pastry, almonds, cinnamon and sugar. Powdered s…
• Doris Self competed long after an airline careerFormer flight attendant Doris Self set a Q*bert world record under tournament settings in 1984, aged fifty-ei…
• Treehoppers expand their pronotum into unusual formsTreehoppers can have ornate projections resembling plant thorns or other organisms. These develop from the pr…
• A tantalus leaves the decanters visibleA tantalus holds decanters while a lock prevents their unauthorised removal or use. John Betjemann patented t…
• Ugatsu has physical and figurative sensesJapanese ugatsu can mean making a hole or penetrating something. It can also describe accurately identifying…
• Lángos retains a trace of an older cooking methodHungarian lángos is familiar as fried flatbread. Its name comes from láng, meaning flame. Historically, lefto…
• Marchand wished he had noticed the warning cardIn January 2017, 105-year-old Robert Marchand cycled 22.547 kilometres in an hour. Afterwards he said he coul…
• Male orchid bees store volatile compounds in their legsMale orchid bees collect volatile compounds from orchids and other sources. Special leg structures transfer t…
• A Davenport desk hides more than its top suggestsThe English Davenport desk has a sloping hinged top that opens over space for papers and writing tools. A sta…
• Classical wokashi has a broad rangeClassical Japanese wokashi can describe humour, interest, aesthetic charm or beauty, as well as strangeness.…
• Lomo saltado brings rice alongside potatoesPeruvian lomo saltado stir-fries beef, onions, tomatoes and french fries, and is commonly served with rice. I…
• Kowalski sprinted and threw in the same meetIn 2015, Polish athlete Stanisław Kowalski competed at age 105. He ran the hundred metres, put the shot and t…
• Mole crickets shape an acoustic chamberMale mole crickets sing underground. In species such as Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa, a specially shaped burrow ac…
• A bergère became a wheeled study chairThe French bergère is an upholstered armchair with enclosed sides. Charles Darwin modified one with wheels to…
• Yabusaka de nai need not mean reluctanceJapanese yabusaka can mean stingy. In the negative expression yabusaka de nai, it can convey sparing no effor…
• Murtabak wraps its filling in thin doughMurtabak folds thin dough around fillings such as egg, minced meat and onion before pan-frying. Found in plac…
• She could run, but could not crouchA plane crash injured Betty Robinson in 1931. She eventually ran again, but could not kneel for a sprint star…
• An ant that hangs up as a food supplySome honeypot ants become living food stores. These workers develop enormously swollen abdomens and hang from…
• The photographer had feathersGerman pharmacist Julius Neubronner developed pigeon photography in 1907. A small camera travelled on a pigeo…
• A puppet, and a person treated like oneQuockerwodger names a jointed toy moved by pulling a string. Figuratively, it can describe a person controlle…
• Slice the cake, find a sandwichSwedish smörgåstårta layers bread and savoury fillings, then decorates them like a cake. Eggs, fish or meat m…
• From dirt roads to Olympic goldRacial segregation denied Alice Coachman access to proper sports facilities. She ran barefoot on dirt roads a…
• A snail with iron minerals on the outsideScaly-foot gastropods live around Indian Ocean hydrothermal vents. Some populations incorporate iron sulphide…
• The horses outnumbered the soldiersDuring Operation Cowboy in 1945, US troops moved horses from Hostau in what is now Czechia. The horses outnum…
• Crooked things and imaginary creaturesIn American colloquial English, catawampus can mean crooked or out of alignment. As a noun, it can also name…
• Chicken breast in a sweet milk puddingTurkey’s tavukgöğsü is a sweet milk dessert made with finely shredded chicken breast. Milk and sugar turn an…
• She waited for the start in the bushesDenied entry to the 1966 Boston Marathon, Bobbi Gibb hid near the start and joined the runners. She finished…
• An 86-centimetre fish inside a 19-centimetre fishA black swallower found off Grand Cayman in 2007 measured 19 centimetres. Its stomach contained an 86-centime…
• A horse entered a locomotive trialThe 1829 Rainhill trials tested potential railway motive power. One contender, Cycloped, used a horse walking…
• A word for letting time drift awayTo lollygag is to dawdle or spend time idly. It puts a playful-sounding label on the familiar business of get…
• A sausage with a connection to mining ropesOx hides supplied ropes for the copper mine at Falun, Sweden. Preserving the remaining meat by salting and sm…
• Someone tried to remove her race numberKathrine Switzer registered for Boston in 1967 using her usual signature, K. V. Switzer. During the race, an…
• That fluffy ant is actually a waspVelvet ants are wasps in the family Mutillidae. Their hairy, wingless females walk around looking remarkably…
• Steam could spin a sphere two millennia agoAround the first century CE, Hero of Alexandria described a sphere rotated by jets of steam from bent tubes.…
• A strange word against confusing writingGobbledygook describes language made confusing by excessive complexity. Maury Maverick used it in a 1944 memo…
• A traditional meal with a recognisable shapeIcelandic svið uses a sheep’s head, split in half and boiled after the brain is removed. It can appear among…
• Rejected by the race, she crossed the ChannelA Channel swimming competition rejected Florence Chadwick in 1950 because she was not well known. She organis…
• A tiny worm with a very memorable nicknameChaetopterus pugaporcinus has a rounded, swollen middle. Its appearance earned it nicknames including pigbutt…
• A water organ that sounded with airThe ancient hydraulis is attributed to Ctesibius of Alexandria in the third century BCE. Hand pumps supplied…
• A long name for a stomach rumbleBorborygmus names a rumbling sound caused by gas moving in the intestines. Its Greek ancestor is itself onoma…
• Long, skinless and deep-friedFrikandel is a long meat snack popular in the Netherlands and Belgium. It resembles a sausage but has no casi…
• He reached the line, but did not officially finishDerek Redmond injured his hamstring during the 1992 Olympic 400-metre semi-final. He continued, supported by…
• The case can identify the caterpillarBagworm larvae combine silk with local materials such as plant fragments or sand. They extend their front end…
• A Bible misprint reversed a commandmentA 1631 London Bible edition omitted not from the commandment forbidding adultery. The missing negative revers…
• An opinion beyond the speaker’s expertiseUltracrepidarian describes someone offering judgments beyond their knowledge or expertise. It is uncommon and…
• An imposing name for a potato dishRumbledethumps comes from the Scottish Borders. Its main ingredients are potatoes, cabbage and onions, and it…
• Barefoot gold, then gold with shoesAbebe Bikila won the 1960 Olympic marathon in Rome barefoot. Four years later in Tokyo, he wore shoes and won…
• Looking dirty can be camouflageSome assassin bug nymphs cover themselves with dust or debris. Reduvius personatus is known as the masked hun…
• The people waiting for 22 October 1844In the United States, Millerites awaited Christ’s return. The movement adopted 22 October 1844 as the expecte…
• A comic sound with an insulting meaningNincompoop means a foolish or silly person. Its unusual sound does not make it a compliment. Several origins…
• The dessert packaging remembers birch barkFinnish mämmi is an Easter dessert made with rye flour and malted rye. It is served cold, often with milk or…
• From a leg brace to three Olympic goldsChildhood polio weakened Wilma Rudolph’s left leg. After treatment, she learned to walk without a brace by ab…
• These spiders stretch a net onto their preyNet-casting spiders hold a web between their front legs. They stretch it and move forward to entangle prey. T…
• The fighting lasted less than an hourBritain and Zanzibar fought on 27 August 1896 amid a dispute over the sultan’s succession. British forces bom…
• A chatterer, and an old word for an impFlibbertigibbet can describe a flighty, chattering person. An archaic sense refers to an imp or fiend. A rest…
• Ice cream that can need a knife and forkMaraş dondurma from Turkey uses extra salep and has a tough, sticky texture. It is sometimes eaten with a kni…
• He arrived for running in a three-piece suitFauja Singh turned up for his initial coaching dressed in a three-piece suit. His coach had to start with the…
• This cricket-like insect drums with its abdomenJerusalem crickets are neither true crickets nor native to Jerusalem. During courtship, they beat their abdom…
• A two-hundred-tonne bell that never rangThe Tsar Bell at Moscow’s Kremlin stands about six metres tall and weighs roughly two hundred tonnes. Cast in…
• An umbrella word that sounds misleadingly BritishBumbershoot is a humorous slang word for an umbrella, originally and chiefly American. It is sometimes mistak…
• A lamprey-like name for a cattle stomach dishFlorentine lampredotto uses cattle’s fourth stomach, the abomasum. It is also served in a bread roll as stree…
• A letter addressed simply to Terry Fox, CanadaIn 1980, Terry Fox attempted a cross-Canada run on a prosthetic leg to raise money for cancer research. His i…
• A crab can redecorate after movingDecorator crabs attach material such as seaweed to their bodies. In a reported observation, great spider crab…
• The strange shape below the portraits becomes a skullHolbein’s 1533 painting The Ambassadors includes a stretched shape below its two figures. An anamorphic disto…
• Counterclockwise, with an old-fashioned atmosphereWiddershins means counterclockwise. The dictionary marks this sense as archaic and now chiefly associated wit…
• Welsh laverbread is a seaweed pasteLaverbread is a Welsh food made from seaweed cooked into a soft paste. Despite its name, it is not bread. It…
• The actress’s award went to the wrong person on stageAt the 1985 Emmy Awards, Barry Bremen reached the stage before winner Betty Thomas. He said he thought she wa…
• Its seeds leave with a burst of liquidWhen an Ecballium fruit ripens and separates from its stalk, internal pressure ejects liquid and seeds. Its c…
• The fake tanks were only partly hiddenIn World War II, the US Ghost Army used inflatable vehicles to suggest the presence of troops. Some concealme…
• A cat’s tongue can describe a personThe Japanese word nekojita literally combines cat and tongue. It describes sensitivity to hot food or drink,…
• Artificial islands linked by canalsNan Madol, beside Pohnpei in Micronesia, consists of stone-and-coral artificial islets separated by canals. A…
• A chicken decides the bingo numberFruita, Colorado, celebrates Mike, a chicken that survived for about eighteen months after losing most of its…
• Some seed cases open after the heatSome Australian Banksias retain seeds in woody follicles that open after fire. Seeds can start a new generati…
• The victory vase was too heavy for the galleryA marble urn originally intended for Napoleon passed to Britain after his defeat and was carved to celebrate…
• The fifth month follows an older calendarSamidare refers to prolonged rain around the fifth month of the traditional lunar calendar, rather than simpl…
• Plants covered the homes people leftHoutouwan on China’s Shengshan Island was a fishing village. Its population declined from the 1990s, and vege…
• A tiny forklift retrieves the stockAstronomer Clifford Stoll sells glass Klein bottles online. He stores stock in the crawlspace beneath his Oak…
• White berries with a doll-eye lookActaea pachypoda, native to eastern North America, has white fruit marked by a dark stigma scar. The combinat…
• 518 shells, but no enemy fleetIn July 1943, US ships west of Kiska fired at radar contacts believed to be enemy vessels. Two battleships fi…
• An iridescent colour can describe an answerTamamushi-iro names an iridescent colour like a jewel beetle’s wing covering. Figuratively, it describes ambi…
• The awnings retreat when a train arrivesA section of Thailand’s Maeklong Railway runs through a market. Vendors pull back awnings and goods beside th…
• The obituary appeared while he was in AustraliaBritish politician John Stonehouse disappeared from a Miami beach in November 1974, leaving clothes behind. H…
• Trying to carry it away moves the flowerWestern Australia’s hammer orchids attract male wasps with a flower part resembling a female wasp in form and…
• A coffee habit became a cantataBach’s Coffee Cantata, written in the 1730s, is a secular comic work. Its fictional father tries to make his…
• A two-thousand-year snake suggests worldly cunningUmisen-yamasen describes a worldly, difficult-to-outwit person. Its traditional explanation involves a snake…
• The expedition could not find its mountainGangkhar Puensum in Bhutan rises to 7,570 metres. An account of the 1980s expeditions describes the first tea…
• A gorilla who made his bed and drank teaJohn Daniel lived with humans in Uley, England, from 1918 to 1921. Accounts describe him making his bed, drin…
• The bursting fruit sends seeds out with backspinRipe sandbox tree fruit splits explosively and scatters its seeds. High-speed recording has shown the seeds l…
• Mozart wrote a memorial verse for his petMozart bought a starling in 1784. After its death about three years later, biographical accounts describe a f…
• An opinion passes like wind by a horse’s earBaji-tōfū describes hearing advice or criticism without taking notice. The image of spring wind at a horse’s…
• One doorway has an address in each countryBaarle’s Belgian and Dutch territories interlock, and some borders cross buildings. A border-straddling doorw…
• Newspapers competed over two stray dogsIn 1860s San Francisco, Bummer and Lazarus became celebrated canine companions. Newspapers dramatized their r…
• No photosynthesis, but not a mushroomMonotropa uniflora, known as ghost pipe, is a pale flowering plant without chlorophyll. It obtains nutrients…
• At five in the morning, traffic used the other sideOn 3 September 1967, Sweden switched from left-hand to right-hand traffic. Vehicles permitted on the roads du…
• A made-up word for being acceptableCromulent means acceptable or satisfactory, with a humorous flavour. It was coined for a 1996 episode of The…
• In this hot town, homes go below groundCoober Pedy in South Australia is known for opal mining and underground homes called dugouts. Excavated into…
• The cat’s salary came as cat foodTama became stationmaster at Kishi Station in Wakayama in 2007, with passenger greetings as her main duty. In…
• The flower imitates an injured beeSouthern Africa’s Ceropegia sandersonii has umbrella-shaped flowers. It attracts certain flies by imitating t…
• New York once demonstrated an air-powered subwayOpened in 1870, Beach Pneumatic Transit ran a single shuttle through a short underground tunnel. A large blow…
• A humorous word for running out of readingAbibliophobia names a fear of running out of things to read. The dictionary labels it humorous. It is about l…
• Homes are built into the town’s rock formationsSetenil de las Bodegas in Spain’s Cádiz province is known for dwellings built into rock formations. The natur…
• The space cat received her name after returningA cat designated C341 survived a French suborbital flight from Algeria on 18 October 1963. The media named he…
• A snake-like amphibian with no lungsAtretochoana is a long, limbless amphibian rather than a snake. It entirely lacks lungs. Capillaries in its s…
• Old parchment, still-unread writingThe Voynich manuscript combines illustrations with writing that lacks an established decipherment. Its parchm…
• That disturbance can be a kerfuffleKerfuffle is an informal word for a disturbance or disorderly commotion, used chiefly in Commonwealth English…
• The leaning tower stands on timber foundationsSuurhusen’s church tower in Germany leans noticeably. A local historian explains that groundwater preserved i…
• A dog found the stolen World Cup trophyThe World Cup trophy was stolen from a London display in March 1966. A week later, Pickles found the newspape…
• The rooms form before the ants move inMyrmecodia plants naturally form cavities in swollen stems, including when ants cannot reach them. Ants occup…
• An encyclopedia in writing without encoded meaningLuigi Serafini’s Codex Seraphinianus, first published in 1981, presents an imaginary world in strange illustr…
• Enjoyment of someone else’s misfortune has a nameEnglish borrowed schadenfreude from German. It describes malicious enjoyment of another person’s misfortune,…
• Two arms lift the roadway out of a boat’s wayLeeuwarden’s Slauerhoffbrug in the Netherlands uses two arms to swing a fifteen-metre-square road section out…
• A department-store lion met his former owners in KenyaChristian was bought from Harrods in London in 1969. As he grew, his owners sought expert help to return him…
• The spiders were known as fossils firstPelican spiders have elongated jaws and neck-like structures and prey on other spiders. European amber fossil…
• Opened in July, collapsed in NovemberWashington’s first Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened on 1 July 1940. Its wind-driven movement had already earned i…
• Wanting something, but making no move toward itVelleity can mean a slight wish unaccompanied by effort to obtain it. It distinguishes weak wanting from a re…
• A rotating lift carries boats between canal levelsScotland’s Falkirk Wheel opened in 2002 as a rotating boat lift. Boats remain afloat in water-filled containe…