Billy A

Humans fancy ourselves the smartest creatures on Earth thanks to superior intellect and advanced communication. But science increasingly shows we share the planet with animal masterminds in their own right. Beyond captivating pets, the animal kingdom harbors genius rivaling our own across metrics like analytical skill, social smarts and technical innovation.

Concealed in the stormy North Atlantic lies Earth’s greatest waterfall, an underwater giant hidden from view in the darkness between Iceland and Greenland. Here, where warm subtropical waters collide with a frigid Arctic cataract, the largest waterfall on the planet plunges silently into the abyss.

These days, few sights seem as innocuous as a freshly sharpened pencil poking from a child’s “Frozen” backpack, pink wedge of eraser crowning its tip. Yet that handy little erasing appendage only became standard over the last century or so.

As the calendar turns to September, maternity wards across America brace for their busiest month. More babies will be born in the next 30 days than any other month, peaking in mid-September. This annual phenomenon reveals intriguing insights about human behavior, holidays, and even biology.

For Fredric Baur, creating the perfect potato crisp wasn't just his vocation - it became his eternity. As the inventor entombed in his ingenious Pringles can design could attest, obsession with one's work can follow us anywhere. Even the grave.

Scanning arid African or Indian savannas today reveals an improbable invader - the spindly spaghetti cactus dangling stringy arms covered in sharp spines amid acacia trees and drifting sands. This zany, zippy succulent belongs to the exclusively New World Cactaceae family, yet thrives across three distant continents baffling botanists for over a century through improbable oceanic crossings somehow overcome.