Not long ago, a peculiar package arrived at the manuscript department of the Saltykov-Shchedrin Public Library in Leningrad from Central Asia. It was too small and too heavy to be…

The woman gasped and dropped the knife, which was covered in shimmering scales. The fish thrashed its tail, hit the table, and flopped onto the floor. — Oh, for heaven’s…

The potato tuber is a living organism. It breathes and, importantly, is very sensitive. Potatoes lie in a dark cellar, but as soon as the sun warms up and a…

Steel vs. Synthetic Fibers: A New Era of Strength Steel is one of the most common and durable metals. When people say that even steel couldn’t withstand something, it’s hard…

If long-distance television reception is a happy accident for enthusiasts, specialists can confidently receive images transmitted from distances of up to 1,200 miles (approximately 2,000 kilometers) from time to time.…

In the times of Gogol, the flower believed to indicate buried treasure was the mythical midnight fire flower of the fern. To be fair, ferns don’t actually bloom; they reproduce…

Remember the Russian fairy tale about the crafty peasant and the trusting bear, who ended up with nothing but leaves—worthless tops—and useless roots? The peasant always came out ahead! But…

Was the air on Earth millions of years ago the same as it is today? Only eyewitnesses could answer that question. And, believe it or not, they’ve been found. These…

In the world, there are countless edible plants. Some bear fruits, others have roots, and some produce young, tender shoots. Interestingly, some plants boast massive edible parts. For instance, eating…

Diamonds are nearly 1,000 times harder than quartz and 150 times harder than corundum, its closest counterpart. When sandwiched between two steel plates, a small diamond crystal can easily cut…

Much has been written about the largest slave uprising in ancient Rome two thousand years ago, famously led by Spartacus. In honor of this remarkable figure from history, mass sporting…

Engineering Marvels: The Future of Power Generation In our age, we are creating mechanisms and installations so grand that even the legendary Gulliver would seem like a mere dwarf in…

A patient is about to undergo a complex surgery. He is laid on a white operating table, covered with a sheet, and the medical team begins to prep the incision…

These crested chickens were under special observation and received an enhanced diet—just like true donors! From time to time, they would have their blood drawn and transfused into other chickens.…

Have you ever wondered why our eyes are structured the way they are? Take bees, for example; they can perceive ultraviolet radiation and see it. In contrast, human eyes and…

Chemists have calculated that it takes no more than 11 pounds of potatoes to make a pair of galoshes. From these tubers, they extract alcohol, process it accordingly, and turn…

Scientists are usually hard to surprise. But when a skin of a killed platypus was first sent from Australia to England, British zoologists thought the residents of that distant and…

On one of the international competitions, spectators held their breath as they watched a narrow, long boat racing across the water, leaving its competitors far behind. The crowd erupted in…

How can you determine the age of a caught fish? You can do it by examining its scales. As soon as a fish hatches from its egg, it has the…

Have you ever seen a light-colored beer bottle? Apparently, they don’t exist: dark glass protects beer from the effects of light. And what about a dark milk bottle? Probably no…

Camels thrive in some of the hottest places on Earth, yet they sweat very little. The body temperature of these “ships of the desert” can rise to 104 degrees Fahrenheit…

It’s hard to imagine organisms smaller than yeast bacteria. There are about 40 billion of them in just one gram! These tiny fungi are essential to cities with millions of…

Canned Goods In the world, there are truly astonishing discoveries… Half a century ago, while digging a tunnel in the American states of Arizona and Nevada, workers encountered a layer…

Tilapia In 1938, the scientific community was shaken by an extraordinary event: a one-and-a-half-meter-long coelacanth was caught off the coast of South Africa. Until then, it was believed that this…

For centuries, the slender stalk of grain has fascinated humanity. Delicate yet capable of supporting the weight of an ear of grain, it holds its bounty high above the ground.…

In China, bamboo is used to make plumbing pipes and even woven cushions. On Sumatra, it’s crafted into snuff boxes, mats, and hats, while Malaysians use it to floor their…

This incident took place in 1929, when researchers around the world were on high alert: the Italian explorer Nobile had gone missing after taking off in a dirigible toward the…

tin plague In his time, Scott, the renowned polar explorer, prepared meticulously for his expedition to the South Pole. He accounted for everything: the icy silence of Antarctica, hurricane-force winds,…

There was a time when prospectors searched for hidden minerals in the ground armed only with a slingshot carved from a hazelnut bush and treated with a secret technique. Holding…

There’s nothing worse than biting into an apple only to find a worm inside! It may look rosy and fragrant on the outside, but inside, it’s just a mushy mess.…

Near Trostyanets in the Sumy region, visitors to the dendrological park can marvel at the “13 sisters”—a group of linden trees that all grow from a single root. These “sisters”…

It has been estimated that a liter of seawater contains as much thermonuclear energy as the chemical energy found in 350 liters of gasoline. Once science harnesses this truly inexhaustible…

Nature presents humanity with countless mysteries, and we tirelessly work to unravel them one by one. The otter, which inhabits rivers, primarily feeds on fish. Interestingly, there are no recorded…

Of the seven wonders of the world, only one has survived to this day—the Great Pyramid of Giza, the most magnificent structure of antiquity. When scientists studied this monument of…

In Argentina, the weather is warm, and sheep roam freely outdoors all year round. However, there have been instances where shepherds discovered their flocks dead overnight. These sheep appeared perfectly…

Every autumn, millions of little orange suns emerge from the dark green foliage of small trees along the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. These are the ripening citrus fruits.…

Two Czechoslovak chemists were engaged in a challenging task—analyzing how the chemical composition of corn kernels varied from different ears of corn. When the samples were burned and the ash…

In textbooks, you can read about the water cycle in nature. The sun heats the surfaces of rivers and oceans, tiny water particles rise into the atmosphere, condense into clouds,…

Archaeology boasts a variety of methods for dating ancient artifacts. Items made from organic materials—like wooden utensils, canvases, and leather goods—can be analyzed using carbon-14 dating. But what about a…

Piglets have every right to be upset with Her Majesty—nature. She seems to have forgotten to provide sows’ milk with enough vitamins and essential minerals like iron and copper, which…

Have you ever seen a microscope designed for multiple users at once? Probably not. Such microscopes are rare. Yet, in some universities, entire groups of students are now able to…

Have you heard about a communication device that existed over a thousand years ago? The truth is, this ancient “phone” had nothing in common with the modern version. It consisted…

It’s easy to measure a runner’s speed: just time the moment they start and when they break the finish line tape. But how do you measure a bird’s flight speed?…

One of the most fascinating fish is the eel. It lives for about twenty years in rivers that flow into the Baltic Sea and in the lakes connected to those…

A rocket powered by conventional chemical fuel, which currently launches our satellites into orbit around the Earth, would need to weigh as much as the Moon to reach the nearest…

How much water does an adult need each day? Scientists have calculated that it’s about two and a half liters. One liter of the necessary fluids comes from the food…