So, the internet is not entirely about dog videos and arguing with strangers. There’s also just plain interesting stuff out there! I’m old enough to remember when people spoke about the internet’s ability to educate folks, and it’s true, there is some real, fascinating stuff hiding between the influencers and the silliness.
Here, we dug some up for you!
Spotted in the bathroom at a B&B in Britain’s Lake District, a bathroom featuring a cliff face.
It must be easier to just build around the cliff face than to knock it down to make room for a house. And you definitely end up with something unique — but you still have to wonder how difficult that would have been to build around.
Speaking of building around things, this heritage structure was preserved inside a shopping mall.
Located in Melbourne, Australia, Coop’s Shot Tower was originally built in 1889 was slated to be demolished in the ’70s, but instead, it was saved and swallowed up by the shopping mall.
This handful of weirdness is actually a great reminder to check your pockets when you’re doing laundry.
These seeds went through the wash, and now they’re sprouting. Not what you want in your new jeans!
As part of a global push to reduce the amount of plastics that get used daily, this grocery store in Asia is wrapping its produce in banana leaves.
As a bonus, banana leaves make great wraps when steaming vegetables, too. Less waste, more use!
There’s a kind of frog with skin so clear you can see its internal organs.
The aptly named glass frog is a tree-dweller native to Central and South America — some even have their hearts exposed to the world, which doesn’t seem like a great survival strategy. And yet, here they are.
Rarely do you ever get to see what a slow leak looks like in such detail.
But this can of expanding foam developed a slow leak and this crazy stream built up over the course of a week, providing a nice visualization.
It’s not often I would do a double-take at poop, but this pile of wolf leavings is worth a second glance.
Those white things are chunks of bone, which is a testament to the sturdiness of a wolf’s digestive system.
ENIAC was the world’s first general-purpose computer, and this is what one byte of its RAM looked like.
Even though it’s obviously antiquated now, it’s important to remember what a huge leap ENIAC represented. In its decade of operation until a lightning strike in 1955, it’s estimated that ENIAC completed “more calculations than all mankind had done up to that point.”
Before being shipped off to America, parts of the Statue of Liberty were put on display to raise money for its construction.
Here’s the head on display at the [1878 World’s Fair]( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_Universelle_(1878) in Paris. The statue’s torch arm went on display in Philadelphia in 1876. The whole thing finally made its way to America and was unveiled in 1886.
The amazing thing about this photo is how the wet pavement shows off all the spots where this kid has dribbled.
Now there’s a map you don’t see very often. Probably a basketball coach’s dream, actually.
This just goes to show that those cages they put around saplings to protect them can work.
In fact, they can work so well that they become part of the tree. Guess that city isn’t getting its cage back — and they should be mindful of what happened if they ever need to cut it down.
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Trees can apparently swallow even more than just little cages, as this banyan tree has taken over an abandoned house.
This supposedly represents about a century’s worth of growth, which does explain a lot.
And then there’s this tree, that turned out to be two trees that grew together.
It’s been known to happen in a process called inosculation , which is similar to grafting, and it’s more common among trees with thin bark.
One of the more unexpected things to see in nature is a conga line of caterpillars.
It seems odd that they would line up like they’re waiting for their turn on Splash Mountain, but it’s a thing some of them do, following the leader on the way to bury themselves and form cocoons.
Square donuts!
I know, almost sacreligious, right? But there’s a method to this madness, and the math is actually on the side of donut lovers — you get more donut goodness this way, without the donuts taking up any more space in the display.
These kids are getting a lesson in teamwork.
It’s hard to imagine a more graphic demonstration of how many hands make light work than this. Also, it’s so much better than dodgeball, amirite?
This is a blue jay that hasn’t quite finished growing into its feathers just yet.
I would have thought its feathers would grow in more uniformly rather than giving it a gray helmet. But aren’t the teenage years awkward for us all?
These petroglyphs were spotted in Petrified Forest National Park.
Ancient Puebloan people most likely drew these petroglyphs — what they mean is a mystery.
It’s not often you see so many fires dotting a landscape, and it has nothing to do with Boy Scouts.
This is wine country in France. All those little fires are protecting the vineyards from frost damage.
Princeton students were given a water bottle with a map of campus on it.
And, handily, each of the drops represents a station where they can fill the water bottle. For once, college kids get useful swag!
