A thousand and one
Unusual stories.

An orange flower hatched in space... and it wasn’t decoration.

In January 2016, a zinnia bloomed on board the International Space Station.

To fix the space station, they took out... a toothbrush.

A modified toilet object participated in an external repair of the ISS.

This frog raised its young in its stomach

An Australian species has turned a digestive organ into a shelter for its offspring.

The "vampire of hell" had a regime much less terrifying than expected

Researchers have discovered that this inhabitant of the depths collects mostly debris.

This mole explores the world with a star at the tip of her nose

Twenty-two appendages turn a strange muzzle into a precision instrument.

They were looking for shells... they found worms that ate bones

A whale carcass revealed an unexpected feeding pattern.

This little worm drops bombs... shining instead of exploding

In the depths, bright pockets are detached from the body of a worm.

His eyes are not what you think.

The Macropinna fish has long hidden the mobility of its eyes from researchers.

This little sea monster who lives in a bubble of mucus to digest its prey

The researchers used lasers to understand an extremely fragile living filter.

Snoopy and Charlie Brown really got around the moon

The names of a comic book became the indicia of the two ships of Apollo 10.

This capsule returned to Earth with dust from a comet

Stardust has captured fast particles in a surprisingly light material.

Our whole planet is in a tiny spot

Voyager 1 turned to photograph Earth on February 14, 1990.

Kastav - Croatia

In these Croatian villages, the carnival arrives with bells at the waist

The sounders of Kastav carry the rhythm from one village to another.

Austria, Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia

To draw on this blue fabric, we start by preventing the color from passing

Blaudruck uses reserves applied before dyeing with indigo.

Rjukan Norway

This city has installed mirrors to bring the Sun back to its place

In Rjukan, mountains hide the direct sun for part of the year.

This Indian Lake Has Turned Pink... Satellites Have Recorded Change

In June 2020, Lake Lonar suddenly changed its appearance.

Breeder Communities Mongolia

In Mongolia, we sing to help a camel accept a little one.

A pastoral ritual combines music, observation and animal skills.

Before the Blanche House, Lincoln had patented an idea for ships.

The future US president was interested in a navigation problem.

This comet had a chemical signature that evoked rotten eggs.

Rosetta has identified familiar molecules in an environment inaccessible to our nose.

Scotland Island of Gruinard

This island has been banned for almost half a century.

Military tests with anthrax have left a Scottish island contaminated for decades.

India Mysore

This wooden tiger hides an organ... and a political message

An automaton of the Mysore court mingled noises and symbol of power.

United Kingdom Leeds

This royal helmet wears horns... whose origin the museum still doesn’t know

A diplomatic gift from Henry VIII preserves an enigma in its present form.

Egypt ancient objects

To understand these ancient false toes, volunteers tried them.

One experiment tested the possible function of two Egyptian objects.

United Kingdom Barnard Castle

This swan fishes in a river that is not made of water

At the Bowes Museum, an 18th-century automaton animates a landscape of glass and silver.

United States Washington

She was supposed to finish dinner... she became a Blanche House animal.

In 1926, the Coolidge received a raccoon whose fate changed radically.

This photo of the Moon recorded the shock suffered by its own camera

Distorted lines allowed the engineers to reconstruct an impact.

United States Delaware

The danger of this old book was not hidden in its pages.

In Winterthur, analysis of a green blanket revealed an arsenic-based pigment.

United Kingdom Cambridge

This bridge draws an arch with straight pieces of wood

In Cambridge, an ingenious framework ended up attracting a false attribution to Newton.

South Korea

On this thread, keeping the balance is not enough: we must also make laugh

In Korea, the jultagi combines acrobatics and exchanges with a character left on the ground.

Saudi Arabia Asir

In these houses, the guest room becomes a collective work

The al-Qatt al-Asiri transmits a wall art by bringing together several generations.

Kazakhstan

This wooden goat dances with the fingers of the musician

In Kazakhstan, the music animates a puppet without a second performer.

Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan, these small bones are used to play

Assyks become game pieces whose position matters.

Japan regional traditions

These masked visitors come knocking on doors for the New Year

In Japan, raiho-shin take different forms depending on the community.

Indonesia Aceh

For this dance, the performers stay in a tight row

The gayo saman unfolds its rhythm with the hands, voice and body.

Bulgaria - Bulgari

In this Bulgarian village, the party ends in the middle of the embers

Nestinarstvo belongs to a ritual documented in the village of Bulgari.

Kyrgyzstan

This horse game did not compete with a ball

The kok boru combines equestrian competition and Kyrgyz traditions.

Switzerland Basel

In Basel, the carnival begins at four o’clock... in the dark

The Morgenstreich leaves the lanterns to light the beginning of the party.

Pacific California

This harp does not play music: it captures crustaceans

A sponge of great depths turns its branches into traps.

Eastern Pacific

This squid has two eyes... that don't look the same

A large eye facing up and a small one facing down share the hunt.

North Pacific Monterey Canyon

This large bag attached to the rock can close its mouth on a prey

A deep tunicate doesn’t just feed like its filtering cousins.

Pacific Ocean

This small gelatinous balloon is actually a worm

Poeobius floats away from the bottom and collects matter that comes down from the surface.

Pacific Northeast

This gelatinous animal fishes with luminous lures

Erenna sirena attracts fish to her tentacles.

Tropical and temperate waters

This Crustacean Turns His Meal Into a House

Phronima digs a gelatinous animal, then keeps its envelope.

Oceans full water

This almost transparent crustacean still has huge eyes.

Cystisoma combines camouflage and vision in the darkness of the ocean.

Oceans great depths

This jellyfish unrolls four ribbons that can exceed ten meters

The giant ghost jellyfish remains difficult to observe despite its size.

Indonesia

This Octopus Takes Its Shelter Before It Needs It

Coconut shells become transportable tools.

Oceans surface waters

This octopus makes its “shell” with its arms

Female argonaute produces an envelope that is also used for its buoyancy.

Solar System Ida

They were photographing an asteroid... its little moon was also on the image

Ida’s companion was identified several months after Galileo’s passage.

Space Deep Space 1 probe

To save this probe, the engineers gave a new job to his camera

Deep Space 1 continued its journey after the loss of its star sensor.

Pacific Northeast

This marine slug was first nicknamed “mystery mollusk”

A water animal has long resisted its classification.

Pacific Northeast

This squid can give up a piece of arm that keeps shining

Octopoteuthis uses luminous ends to divert the danger.

Oceans full water

This worm swims while rowing with his whole body

Tomopteris combines ripple and synchronized appendages.

Oceans Deep Seas

This Marine “Spider” Takes His Meal With a Trunk

Giant pycnogonids do not weave a web to hunt.

Oceans Abyssal Plains

This "sea pig" sometimes carries a small crab

An observed association remains difficult to fully explain.

Oceans full water

Some transparent squid can be filled with ink

Cranchiids have several ways to change their visibility.

United States Nevada

The natural habitat of this fish lies in a single cave

Cyprinodon diabolis depends on warm water in the middle of the desert.

United States California

These dunes can make a serious note

Eureka sand produces a sound under certain conditions.

United States Yosemite

This waterfall looks like lava... thanks to the Sun

In Yosemite, Horsetail Fall can turn orange at sunset.

United States Great Smoky Mountains

These fireflies make the forest blink at almost the same rate

Photinus carolinus coordinates its light flashes during reproduction.

United States Wallops

A frog was found in the photo of the takeoff

NASA confirmed an unexpected detail in an image of LADEE.

United Kingdom Hereford

In this library, books are attached by chains.

In Hereford, the protection of structures has also changed their storage.

United States Harvard

Harvard removed the cover of this book after confirming the material.

A human binding led the library to review its preservation.

United States

This small model shows an invention that we use without thinking about it

Margaret Knight has mechanized the folding of flat-bottom paper bags.

Europe World War II

These soldiers were moving tanks... inflatables

The Ghost Army used images, sounds and false signals to deceive the opponent.

United States Dearborn

Ford's "Soy Car" Hides a Lost Formula

The 1941 prototype had plastic panels on a metal structure.

Switzerland Neuchâtel

This mechanical writer can compose a text of forty signs

An 18th-century automaton records a message without a computer.

Indonesia Papua

This fiber bag can carry a crop... or a baby

The noken papou connects artisanal manufacturing and everyday life.

China Rui’an

To tell a family, these printers carry wooden characters.

In Rui’an, a traditional printing house accompanies local genealogies.

Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Turkey

For this strategy game, holes in the ground may be enough

Related traditions employ pieces distributed among cavities.

Mongolia

This flutist can inspire without interrupting the music

The circular breathing accompanies the Mongolian long song.

Portugal Bisalhes

To smooth this pottery, we use pebbles

The black ceramic of Bisalhes retains a chain of handcrafted gestures.

South Korea

This fighting art sometimes looks like a dance

Korean taekkyeon uses fluid and circular movements.

Japan Kitahiroshima

Here, we start planting rice again after the end of the plantations

The Mibu no Hana Taue features agricultural work.

Estonia Kihnu and Manija

On these islands, clothes also transmit stories.

In Kihnu and Manija, women played a major role in the local culture.

Oceans great depths

This squid spreads long filaments as if it had elbows

Magnapinna remains difficult to study despite spectacular images.

North Pacific

His red belly hides the light of his meal

The Lampocteis ctenophore avoids being illuminated from the inside.

Eastern Pacific hydrothermal sources

This giant worm depends on bacteria for food

Riftia lives around hydrothermal sources on the ocean floor.

Pacific hydrothermal vents

This worm lives on a hydrothermal fireplace

Alvinella lives in contact with strong temperature differences.

North Pacific

This anemone can roll on the bottom

Liponema changes shape and lets itself be moved by the currents.

Oceans depths

This jellyfish triggers a light that looks like an alarm

Atolla can produce blue splinters when threatened.

Oceans deep waters

This ogre-looking fish measures less than you think

Anoplogaster cornuta doesn’t have to be giant to look impressive.

Oceans seabed

This Fish Spots Hidden Prey With Their Electrical Signals

The chimeras of the genus Hydrolagus explore the background with several senses.

Atlantic and Pacific abyss

This fish of the abyss is nicknamed "nose swimmer"

Spectrunculus uses large olfactory organs to find its meal.

Oceans full water

The seven-armed octopus actually has eight.

In the male Haliphron, a specialized arm can remain hidden.

Earth orbit

This satellite was silent for twelve years... an amateur found his signal

Scott Tilley spotted IMAGE, but finding a signal wasn't enough to restore the mission.

United States observations2020

This ‘Asteroid’ Was an Old Rocket Returning to Earth

The 2020 SO object changed its identity after examining its trajectory and light.

United States Yellowstone

The colors of this burning source are partly alive.

Grand Prismatic Spring houses microscopic communities adapted to heat.

United States Arizona

These trunks look sawn... but they broke like glass

Arizona’s petrified forest retains trees that have become mostly quartz.

Mongolia

In this Mongolian game, we aim for bones... by singing

The ossicle shot combines precision, personal equipment and melodies.

East and South-East Asia

Why pull a rope if winning isn’t the main thing?

Traction games accompany the agricultural cycle of Asian communities.

Belgium and France

These giants dance in the streets... but someone has to keep them going all year round

The great effigies of Belgium and France are collective works.

Italy Sardinia

Four men in a circle can produce this amazing mix of voices

The canto a tenore sarde brings together stamps with different functions.

Armenia

This bread can be eaten... but is also placed on the shoulders of the bride and groom.

Armenian lavash combines an amazing cooking gesture with ritual uses.

Korea

Why do these five dancers wear five different colors?

In the cheoyongmu, the costumes represent the directions and the center.

China Jiangsu

These weavers sing to remember the gestures to be performed

The Yunjin brocade combines a complex profession with working songs.

Buganda, Southern Uganda

In Uganda, this stuff starts on a tree

In Baganda, mallets transform a bark into a soft cloth.

Highlands of South-East Madagascar

Zafimaniry: these houses hold without nails

At the Zafimaniry, assemblages and sculptures make wood speak.

External Islands of Yap, Federated States of Micronesia

In the Carolinas, the road is read without a map

Carolinian navigators learn to interpret the landmarks of the ocean.

Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Pinisi: the secret of the boat is in its name

The word pinisi first designates a rig, behind which live trades.

Wine Communities of Georgia

Qvevri: why these jars disappear underground

In Georgia, a clay jar can become a buried cellar.

Communities of the Arabian Peninsula and Jordan

Arabic coffee: this little cup knows how to say “enough”

A gesture from the cup can complete the service without a word.

hawker restaurants in Singapore

Singapore: heritage can be ordered at the counter

Hawker centres tell the story of a city through shared meals.

Inuit communities in Greenland

In Greenland, a duel could be won by singing

The singing duels give the drum an unexpected story.

Mongolia, including the Altai region

Khmemei: Where does this second voice come from?

The same singer can bring out a melody above a drone.

Mauritius, communities of the sega tipik

In Mauritius, sega sometimes starts near the fire

Before the dance, the ravine receives a sound preparation.

Sicily, traditions of Palermo and Catania

In Sicily, these wooden knights played in a soap opera

The Opera dei Pupi brought the audience back for the rest of the adventures.

Valencia and communities falleras, Spain

In Valencia, we build these giants to burn them

The Fallas give a flamboyant end to satirical creations.

Vevey and Vaud vineyards, Switzerland

Vevey: a party can wait for a generation

The Fête des Vignerons is measured differently than in annual appointments.

Ashikari-yama District, Kyoto, Japan

In Kyoto, Ashikari’s tank goes up without nails

Gion Matsuri begins with an often invisible neighborhood work.

Recife and Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil

In Recife, this little umbrella enters the dance

The frevo makes the sombrinha a movement accessory.

Mito, Province of Concepcin, Central Andes of Peru

In Mito, these masks recall the authority of the ancients.

The Huaconada gives a special place to the elders in the dance.

Archipelago of Chiloé, southern Chile

In Chiloé, you can move with your whole house

The tiradura minga moves the building thanks to the collective work.

Puebla and Tlaxcala, Mexico; Talavera de la Reina and El Puente del Arzobispo, Spain

Talavera: a ceramic kinship crosses the Atlantic

Remote workshops share a heritage, without making identical parts.

China; Origin in the Yellow River Basin

In China, the year has twenty-four solar landmarks

This calendar names both the dew and the awakening of insects.

Ptuj and Drava Plains, Haloze and Slovenske gorice, Slovenia

Near Ptuj, spring comes with bells

The tours of the Kurenti resonate a desire for renewal.

This Asteroid Has Changed Time After a Voluntary Collision

DART shortened the turn of Dimorphos around Didymos.

The colors of this Martian parachute hid a message

Perseverance's drawing mixed technical control and binary code.

On Mars, the wheels of Curiosity write three letters.

Their walrus footprints also serve as moving markers.

This space sail was pushed by the light

The Japanese probe IKAROS measured the effect of photons.

To understand this asteroid, the probe made it a crater.

Hayabusa2 observed Ryugu's reaction to a known impact.

This probe missed Venus... and returned five years later.

Akatsuki managed his second insertion with other thrusters.

The capsule crashed... yet its samples spoke

Genesis reported solar wind in broken collectors.

An improvised “letter box” helped Apollo 13 breathe

The cartridges of the control module had to be adapted to the lunar module.

This landscape was photographed on the ground... on Venus

Venera 13 transmitted a panorama from the surface of the planet.

The probe was coming to Mars... a mistake of units lost it

Mars Climate Orbiter also reveals a control failure.

Prince Rupert's Drop: Solid at the head, fragile at the tail

Why does Prince Rupert’s drop resist shocks, then fragment when its tail breaks? Discover the tensions hidden in the glass.

Why does coffee leave a circle instead of a uniform spot?

The shape of the particles can change the result of drying.

This drop advances on its own steam cushion

The Leidenfrost effect even allows a rise on certain surfaces.

On a plate of Chladni, the sand draws what does not move

The vibration makes geometric figures appear without a pencil.

Sound is enough to hang a drop... and move it

At ETH Zurich, researchers handled liquids without containers.

Superfluid helium can come out of a container along its walls

An almost invisible film can pass over the edge.

This black coating almost makes the facets of a diamond disappear

The nanotubes studied at MIT return extremely little light.

The aerogel looks like a smoke... yet it is a solid

Some JPL aerogels contain up to 99.8% vacuum.

In a quartz watch, a stone really gives the rhythm

The deformation of the crystal and the electricity respond.

Why do we see through the door of a microwave?

The metal grid does not behave the same for all waves.

This transparent plastic reveals its tensions in color

Polarized light makes otherwise discrete constraints appear.

A CD does not hide a rainbow painted under its plastic

Its tiny reliefs redistribute the colors of light.

Theremin is played without the hands touching it

The body of the musician changes the properties of an electrical circuit.

A packet of chewing gum inaugurated this gesture become banal

The first purchase of the UPC scanner took place in Troy in 1974.

This electronic page can remain visible without power

The electronic ink retains the image thanks to the position of its pigments.

A damaged QR code can still deliver its message

Error correction adds information that can be used to repair data.

How does the light stay in a glass wire?

Fiber optics combine two lenses with different properties.

Water can expand while it is still being cooled.

Near 4 °C, fresh water reaches a maximum density.

Starch resists shock... then an oscillation causes it to yield

At Cornell, researchers changed the reaction of a suspension.

On the Mbius ribbon, the other side is never separated

A half turn is enough to upset the geometry of a loop.

Six small dots opened up a huge reading space

Louis Braille transforms a handwriting that the fingers can go through.

His garden was hiding a telescope that didn’t need to be seen.

Grote Reber built a large antenna in his home in 1937.

Sequoyah: how he created writing for the Cherokee language

Sequoyah designed a syllabary to write Cherokee. Discover how its signs have helped transmit a language that is already alive.

Janaki Ammal: the botanist who explored the secret of chromosomes

Discover Janaki Ammal, botanist and cytogeneticist: his research on chromosomes illuminates the diversity and transformation of plants.

She was a teacher, but mostly she had to teach at home.

The honors received by Laura Bassi did not erase the restrictions.

This murky liquid seemed bad... it hid extraordinary fibers

Stephanie Kwolek talks about the test she wanted to continue.

In an ordinary fishery, it recognizes a fish that disturbs the past

Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer drew attention to a coelacanth in 1938.

He photographed his models before they disappeared in water.

Wilson Bentley has dedicated decades to snow crystals.

His butterflies did not pose alone: the plant told the story

Maria Sibylla Merian represented insects as they were transformed.

This little stain on glass hid the Horsehead

Williamina Fleming spots a nebula in an 1888 photograph.

This beetle uses the Milky Way to save its meal

Scarabaeus satyrus uses a light far more distant than its destination.

In reindeer, a hidden mirror turns blue in winter

The color change occurs behind the retina.

The ice fish has lost what makes our blood red

Channichthyidae live without hemoglobin, but always with oxygen.

These penguins sleep for a few seconds... and start over a thousand times.

The penguin to jugular fragments its sleep during reproduction.

The frigate can sleep without interrupting her flight.

Electrodes revealed an almost invisible rest over the ocean.

The monarch makes a journey that several generations share.

The migratory cycle in eastern North America is more than one life.

A tag followed the eel to his long-invisible appointment

Since the Azores, European eels have reached the Sargasso Sea.

The gecko holds to the wall thanks to almost invisible hairs

His fingers can also rearrange their supports when the surface changes.

The platypus closes its eyes to hunt... its beak takes over

Under water, its beak detects more than just contacts.

The narwhal’s “horn” hides an anatomical surprise

This long spiral comes out of his jaw: it is a tooth.

The lazy man's coat harbors a world that does not hold in place

Algae and small butterflies share this living support.

Myxin turns water into an obstacle with almost nothing

Its mucus also works thanks to long protein fibers.

In the manatee, the molars advance as on a treadmill

New teeth appear in the back all his life.

The archer fish adjusts its jet before it hits its target

Water is concentrated close to impact, even when the distance changes.

This parrotfish spends the night in a cocoon of mucus

In Chlorurus sordidus, this envelope reduces certain parasitic attacks.

This Crab Splits an Anemone to Find Two

At Lybia leptochelis, each clamp can carry a living partner.

Bomber beetle hides a valve in its abdomen

His defensive jet starts in pulsations regulated by pressure.

These cockatoos carry two tools before they even start

Goffin cockatoos adapted their equipment to the task.

A lyre bird can make a crowd hear that is not there

The superb male menure imitates the alarms of several species.

In the hippocampus, the father does not only carry the eggs

His pocket participates in the exchanges necessary for the development of the little ones.

Germany Immendingen and Aach

Where does the water go when the Danube disappears under the pebbles?

The underground detour of the Danube leads to another basin.

Romania Near Mangalia

In Movile, the first link of the meal is without sun

A cave houses a food network fed by chemistry.

Australia Purnululu

These striped mountains hide microscopic inhabitants

The bands of the Bungle Bungle mix rock and living.

Brazil - Maranho

These white dunes are filled with lagoons

Lenisis Maranhenses looks like a desert, until the rainy season.

Canada Ontario

In Saint John, the rapids change direction with the tide

Reversing Falls responds to the tides of the Bay of Fundy.

Zimbabwe Near Masvingo

In Greater Zimbabwe, stones hold without mortar

Monumental walls testify to a medieval African know-how.

Turkey Cappadocia

In Derinkuyu, the city continues under your feet

Galleries and excavated rooms organized an underground refuge.

Norway Svalbard

Seeds from the Arctic found fields

The world seed reserve has been used to replenish collections.

Central Asia Aral Sea

In 2014, part of the Aral Sea disappeared from view.

Satellites have documented the drying up of its southern eastern basin.

Mexico Chihuahua

Under Naica, the crystals have exceeded the size of men

The gigantism of these gypsum crystals is based on slow growth.

United Kingdom Vindolanda

In Vindolanda, an invitation has been waiting for almost two millennia

Claudia Severa just wanted to see her friend again for her birthday.

Iraq Ur

Ea-Nasir: This Disgruntled Customer Left a Clay Claim

The quality of copper is at the heart of a very old trade dispute.

Roman Empire 4th century

The cup of Lycurgus turns red when the light crosses it

Its secret lies in tiny amounts of metals in the glass.

Egypt Abu Simbel

To save Abu Simbel, we had to cut out the temples

The monuments were reassembled in an artificial cliff.

Germany Nebra

The sky of Nebra has been retouched several times

This bronze disc retains the traces of several versions of its decoration.

Norway Oseberg

Oseberg: the famous Viking tomb housed two women

The wealth of the tomb did not give their names.

Peru Andes

Inca khipus kept accounts in nodes

The cords were a real medium of information.

Antarctica Cape Evans

The ice made George Murray Levick's photo book

An object reappeared in 2012 has regained its place in the archives.

Byzantine manuscript 13th century

Archimedes was hiding under the lines of a prayer book

Reused scrolls have preserved older mathematical texts.

Italy - Pompeii

In Pompeii, a few words with coal shook the calendar

An inscription mentions October 17, before the burial of the house.

Micronesia Yap

In Yap, a fortune can change owners without moving

Rai stones do not work as pocket pieces.

Scotland Isle of Lewis

Lewis warriors bite their shield on the chessboard

These small medieval figures evoke the fearsome berserkers of Scandinavian narratives.

United Kingdom - Lincolnshire

Norton Disney: twelve faces, and still no instructions

This Roman dodecahedron retains an uncertain function.

Turkey Off Ka

Uluburun: A sunken ship carried much more than metal

Its cargo reveals the trades of the Bronze Age.

Italy Herculaneum

Herculaneum: read a charred roller without opening it

X-rays and computation make characters accessible.

China - Dunhuang

The Diamond Sutra displays its date: May 11, 868

A short mention gives a name and date to this printed scroll.

Iraq Mesopotamia

The royal game of Ur had left its rules on a tablet

A written discovery illuminates a much older family of games.

Alps South Tyrol

tzi kept an arrowhead hidden in his shoulder

The 2001 exam changed the understanding of his death.

Japan Average Jmonmon Period

Jmonmon pottery brings flames to the edge of the vase

These spectacular shapes were modeled in clay.

Peru Churunga Valley

Wari panels hid tropical colors in the desert

Aras feathers make up blue and yellow surfaces.

He explores a canyon and discovers a tree unknown to science.

Wollemi pine, discovered in 1994.

This plant seems to carry a bunch of leaves... yet it only makes two main ones.

Welwitschia spends her life in the desert.

This forest seems filled with different trees... DNA tells another story

Pando, the great aspen clone of Utah.

Meghalaya, India

To build these bridges, we guide roots... then we wait for them to grow

In Meghalaya, a living know-how.

On this giant tree, not all leaves do the same work

Coastal redwood also absorbs water through its foliage.

Why does this palm make such a huge seed?

The coco de mer poses a question of evolution.

This plant is waiting for a second signal before closing its trap

The dionea keeps a short trace of the first contact.

Under the sea, these meadows can also produce flowers

Seagrass beds are not carpets of algae.

This cave sometimes blows out... then seems to take back its air

At Wind Cave, the wind follows an invisible difference.

Who cut this stone tower into huge columns?

Devils Tower keeps track of a cooling.

These algae have illustrated a book... without going under the pencil

Anna Atkins and the Blue Pages of 1843.

This Almanac Hiding an Embarrassing Question for Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Banneker wrote in 1791.

To protect her plates, she changed the way she washed them.

Josephine Cochran and her dishwasher.

His calculations revealed the stars... but the conclusion seemed too strange

Cecilia Payne and her thesis of 1925.

How could a watch tell a ship where it was?

John Harrison and the H4 Trial.

She revealed a heart hidden in the Earth... without descending

Inge Lehmann reads earthquakes differently.

This experiment showed that nature could distinguish its right from its left.

Chien-Shiung Wu puts symmetry to the test.

Her name had disappeared behind a treatment she had made possible.

Alice Ball and a chemistry breakthrough.

She was looking for comets... and ended up getting a royal salary.

Caroline Herschel earns her place in astronomy.

What is the hidden link between energy and the fact that the laws do not change tomorrow?

Emmy Noether connects two fundamental ideas.

Peru Taquile Island

On this island, you can wear a calendar around the waist

A belt tells the rhythm of collective activities.

Vanuatu Central and North Islands

A single finger, a line... and much more than a drawing

These paths can preserve knowledge and accompany stories.

Mexico Totonac communities of Veracruz

They go down turning in the void... but it’s not just a feat

The Voladores ceremony gives a ritual sense to the movement.

Turkey Edirne

These wrestlers are coated with oil before they face off

In Krkpnar, the encounter begins long before the first catches.

Mongolia Know-how of ger

How do you take your house home without ceasing to be home?

Moving this home depends on collective learning.

Japan Artisan Communities of Washi

This paper is not just for writing: it goes into the house

Vegetable fibres also become elements of internal separation.

Indonesia Tradition of Angklung

This instrument gives a note... the melody awaits the others

With these bamboos, playing together is part of the musical process.

Italy Cremona

A violin seems in one piece... how many pieces does it hide?

The familiar silhouette conceals a patient artisanal assembly.

Croatia Northern regions

Why does this gingerbread heart carry a small mirror?

This creation can convey a message as much as a flavor.

Spain Catalonia

The child reaches the top... but this tower has not yet succeeded in its challenge

In a castell, the descent also belongs to success.

Azerbaijan - Weaving communities

This carpet is finished... why are we still waiting for a solemn gesture?

The separation of the profession marks a special step.

Netherlands Communities of corsos

These flower giants parade one day... their story begins months before

An ephemeral decor can require a very long-lasting commitment.

Southern Africa Lesotho

In this country, going down at the bottom still leaves you almost 1400 meters

The astonishment comes from the minimum altitude, not just the summits.

Iceland Surtsey

This island was born before the eyes of the researchers... who was going to come first?

A recent land has made it possible to follow the installation of the living.

Yemen Archipelago of Socotra

On these islands, many species have no other home

The world map can be reduced to a small archipelago.

Madagascar - Tsingy de Bemaraha

This Madagascar forest has... stone needles

The landscape evokes trees, but its tips are limestone.

Turkey Pamukkale

This white landscape looks like snow... it comes from hot springs

The water gradually removes the contours of the basins.

Seychelles Aldabra Atoll

On this atoll, part of the ancient reef is in the open air

The landscape keeps track of a marine past.

United States South Florida

This expanse of grass hides a river that spreads almost everywhere

In the Everglades, the flow can take the form of a tablecloth.

Croatia Plitvice Lakes

These lakes owe their dams to almost invisible builders

Water, minerals and organisms together shape the obstacles.

On Mercury, the Sun can rise... then turn back

In some places in the morning there is a strange false start.

This planet seems to be rolling around the Sun: who laid it down?

The inclination of Uranus radically transforms the alternation of the seasons.

Why can the red planet offer a blue sunset?

A surprise in the dust.

Who drew this huge hexagon at the pole of Saturn?

Six almost regular sides appear in a moving atmosphere.

The probe hit this asteroid... and the ground gave way almost without resistance

Bennu: The appearance of the ground was wrong.

He had finally reached the comet... but his journey was not over.

Philae’s first contact was the beginning of an unexpected trajectory.

This probe was not designed to land... it still survived.

On Eros, NEAR becomes a lander.

On the Moon, which one touches the ground first: the feather or the hammer?

David Scott is testing the fall to the Moon.

Lightning strikes the rocket twice... and the mission continues to the Moon

Apollo 12 finds the indications of its instruments.

How to study a hidden ocean without crossing its pack ice?

Enceladus itself sends some of its material above its surface.

Why does this great moon turn in the “wrong” direction?

Triton’s trajectory resembles the index of an old capture.

This moon has a strange "stitching" of mountains

On Japet, a chain follows a very particular line of the globe.

On this moon, the tides move the ground itself

Io’s volcanism is linked to a permanent gravitational struggle.

The star flashed too early: this little world hid two rings

Chariklo is not alone in front of the star.

This probe has "seen" pebbles with its radio

Huygens probes Titan by radio.

Why has a landscape almost without details trapped this Martian helicopter?

Ingenuity no longer recognized the terrain.

After thirty-one months of silence, this probe had to wake up by itself.

Rosetta had to remind the Earth.

Do you need a telescope to discover a comet? These volunteers have another method.

SOHO observes; volunteers discover.

They discovered a comet... and realized it was going to hit Jupiter.

Shoemaker-Levy 9 met Jupiter in 1994.

How to repair the sight of a telescope already in space?

Hubble needed new eyes.

He left Hiroshima injured... to return to Nagasaki

Tsutomu Yamaguchi’s journey connects two disasters just a few days away.

On the Isles of Scilly, a peace has been signed for a war whose existence is being discussed.

The 1986 ceremony is more certain than the legal status of the conflict it closed.

This former soldier still linked the 20th century to the American Civil War

In Gettysburg, a monument shows a sitting veteran, far from a battle scene.

Massif du Mont Rose Switzerland and Italy

This border reaches a peak... which is not the highest point in Switzerland

In the Mont Rose massif, neighboring peaks have very different roles.

Mont-Saint-Michel France

At Mont-Saint-Michel, the landscape can change even before the end of the day

An expanse discovered becomes again a surface of water at the rhythm of the tides.

How did a severed ear give its name to a war?

Behind an almost absurd name are maritime violence, trade and political pressure.

In London, this flood came neither from the rain nor from the Thames.

In 1814, the rupture of a vat turns a brewery into a source of disaster.

He stayed on the cliff to bring down the wounded

The quote from Desmond Doss tells of a succession of rescues under fire in Okinawa.

Even when you do nothing, your brain keeps a big energy bill

Its relatively low weight hides an activity that does not stop with your visible efforts.

You make a liquid every day that you notice especially when it is missing

Saliva accompanies almost all ordinary gestures of the mouth.

Your bones seem motionless... but their construction never closes

The skeleton combines strength and renewal rather than definitive rigidity.

Why doesn’t your stomach digest like your meal?

A protection is played in a thin layer, just in contact with the cells.

The surface of your skin changes without waiting for a spectacular moult

A visible part of your body is renewed by an almost invisible movement.

This heart continues to beat during the journey to its receiver

A machine can hold an organ in very different conditions from a simple cold transport.

Your nose recognizes more smells than it has types of receptors

The secret is more like combinations than a single label for each fragrance.

You looked at the same dress... and you didn't see the same colors

A viral photograph has provided researchers with a real question of perception.

Can an absent hand still hurt?

The word “ghost” does not mean that pain is invented.

This quantum bit delivers only one answer... after having exploited several possibilities

The overlay is more subtle than a computer that would display all the answers at once.

This microscope reveals surfaces through a current that crosses a tiny vacuum

The tunnel effect has left the equations to become an instrument of observation.

Even in a vacuum, these tiny pieces can still attract

At a very small distance, the absence of air does not mean the absence of any interaction.

This shrimp snaps a bubble... that even produces light

The spectacular noise doesn’t just come from the shock of its two clamps.

This snail was exposed as dead... until it started moving again.

An old museum chronicle tells of an awakening almost four years after the showcase.

Why do these otters float while holding their paws?

A group at rest can take on the look of a small living raft.

To reach food, these octopuses sometimes had to stop shooting.

An L-shaped box turned a meal into a manipulation problem.

In a herd, not all neighbors count in the same way

The links between cows have been studied beyond the pretty formula of “best friends”.

These crows found a nutcracker passing through the street

Detailed observations show how birds use the passage of cars.

These ants leave a trace that slows down their small "herd"

The relationship with aphids is not just about harvesting a sweet substance.

These ants are robbing young... who will grow up in another colony.

Social parasitism can go through raids against the brood of a neighboring species.

Why Do Some Octopus Mothers Stop Eating?

Their end of life after reproduction reveals the surprising role of glands located near the eyes.

To understand the methane of cows, you have to look at the side of the burps

The formula on cow farts forgets much of the mechanism.

This tiny bird lives at full speed... then slows down to spend the night

The spectacular flapping of the wings tells only half of his strategy.

This elephant saw a mark in the mirror... and touched her own head

A trompe gesture made an experiment on self-recognition famous.

Can a fish use its reflection to spot a mark on it?

The labre cleanseur forces researchers to think about what a mirror measures.

This jellyfish was swimming long before the first dinosaurs

A very fragile body has left a trace in a rock about 505 million years old.

Your body emits a light that your eyes cannot see

A very sensitive camera reveals a tiny emission related to the activity of the living.

Do we really have ten times more bacteria than human cells?

A long-repeated figure was re-examined by returning to the estimates that supported it.

Why can a few seconds of fear seem much longer?

An experience distinguishes the speed of perception from the memory of an event.

How can you donate part of your liver and maintain a functioning liver?

A capacity for tissue growth makes a particular form of graft possible.

The iron in your body is not a tiny nail hidden in your blood.

A few grams of a chemical element play essential roles without forming a piece of metal.

China

A huge country, a single official hour: how does China do?

The administrative clock does not follow every movement of the Sun through the territory.

Russia Kaliningrad and Kamchatka

Eleven time zones... but how many hours between the two ends?

A small subtraction corrects a big idea received on the map.

South America Guyana and Brazil

Did you know that France has a land border with Brazil?

The answer appears as soon as the map is unfolded beyond Europe.

North Atlantic Saint Pierre and Miquelon

These French islands are very close to Canada

The nationality of a territory cannot be deduced from the nearest capital.

River Landscapes

How can a river give up its own loop?

The water path can change until it leaves an old curve behind.

New Zealand North Island / Te Ika-a-Mui

This island has two official names... without being cut in two

The same place can be recognized in several linguistic traditions.

South Africa Cape of Needles

Where do the Atlantic and Indian Ocean officially meet?

A landmark on the coast marks a boundary that water does not draw as a land boundary.

Australia Canberra

Why is the Australian capital neither Sydney nor Melbourne?

The answer is a city created to hold a place that two others coveted.

Sweden Kiruna

This church has traveled five kilometers... without being dismantled

In August 2025, an entire building accompanies the relocation of an urban center.

North America San Juan

How did a pig trigger a crisis between two powers?

In 1859, a vegetable garden became the starting point for a military escalation.

United Kingdom

A witchcraft law used in 1944: what was Helen Duncan blamed for?

The name of the law gives a misleading impression of the trial.

Logic and history of mathematics

A letter shook a math book just before it was published

In June 1902, Bertrand Russell reported to Gottlob Frege a contradiction in his system.

Italy Rome

The accused was dead... we still organized his trial

In 897, the enemies of Pope Formosa attacked him.

Italy Modena and Bologna

Did a single bucket really start a war?

The trophy exists, but its history has become bigger than it.

China Shaanxi

Why did an entire army wait underground?

Thousands of figures accompanied an emperor in an immense funeral universe.

Former Czechoslovakia 1972

She Survived the Fall of a Plane: What Vesna’s Record Really Means

An extraordinary survival record, often told with one essential detail less.

Cameroon Lake Nyos

This lake has released a deadly cloud without flowing lava

In 1986, the danger came from a gas accumulated in deep waters.

United Kingdom

Why did the trains force the clocks to agree?

A schedule quickly becomes confusing when each city follows its own time.

Metrology

Can ice, water and steam coexist in equilibrium?

The triple dot gives a less spectacular response in appearance, but very precise.

Space Propulsion

How can a rocket burn its fuel in a vacuum?

It carries away part of what an aircraft engine finds in the atmosphere.

Where does this starfish hide its eyes?

To find them, you have to look at the ends of his arms.

Can you hear a metal “scream” when it deforms?

The expression seems poetic, but it designates a very real sound phenomenon.

An ant breathes... without having lungs

Oxygen borrows small openings that are not noticed at this scale.

This fungus changes the behavior of an ant... without invading its brain

The term “zombie ant” hides an even stranger biological interaction than its nickname.

The shell of this turtle helps it survive without oxygen

It also serves as a chemical reserve during a long wait for the cold.

The periophthalm: this fish that comes out of the water and “walks”

How does the periophthalm breathe out of the water? Discover this amphibious fish that moves on the vase, provided you stay wet.

Three kilometers underground, the rock is not necessarily a living desert

Mining has revealed a world that daylight never reaches.

Can a volcano make its own storm?

The flashes of an eruptive plume are not necessarily those of a thunderstorm that happened by chance.

Near East Dead Sea

This “sea” is locked in the land... well below the ocean level.

Its name hides a lake, a deep depression and a life that is not noticed at first glance.

United Kingdom and Mexico

They were already teaching at Oxford before the foundation of Tenochtitlan.

Two landmarks that our imagination rarely places on the same line of time.

United States Virginia

Lightning struck him seven times: Roy Sullivan’s incredible case

The record for this ranger is a succession of accidents, not extraordinary power.

Australia Campion

Why were Australian soldiers sent against birds?

The "war of the emus" tells of an agricultural operation that has become an embarrassing episode.

Experimental research

These rats emit something that sounds like a laugh...inaudible to us

To study their reaction to the game, researchers need to listen beyond our ears.

United States University of Missouri

This plant has no ears... but the vibrations of a caterpillar change its response

An experience separates the bite from the vibration it produces.

Japan Microbiological research

This bacterium uses plastic as a resource: where is the trap?

A real discovery, but much more precise than the promise of a clean ocean on its own.

Evolution of vertebrates

Why is the crocodile closer to birds than lizards?

Crocodiles and birds are close relatives: discover why their common ancestor tells a story other than their appearances.

Belgium and the Netherlands Baarle

A border cuts that door... what's his address?

A Dutch number, a Belgian number: this threshold raises a very concrete question.

Ecuador Chimborazo

Which summit exceeds Everest... when you change the rules?

To separate two mountains, it is still necessary to decide where the measurement begins.

Norway Svalbard

Is it really forbidden to die in Longyearbyen?

The rumor seems perfect for an Arctic city. An essential detail brings it down.

France Paris

What invention helped save the Eiffel Tower?

His silhouette seems eternal. At first, his future was far from certain.

Africa

Did you know that your neck and that of a giraffe have something unexpected in common?

The length suggests a difference in number. The skeleton has another answer.

Earth's atmosphere

This cloud contains hundreds of tons of water... why does it hold in the air?

Its apparent lightness hides a question of droplets and movement.

Neptune and Uranus Earth experiences

Researchers Made Tiny Diamonds From Bottle Plastic

In 2022, an experiment at SLAC observed the formation of nanodiamonds in PET.

Natural radioactivity

Did you know that a banana is naturally a little radioactive?

The word worries. Quantity and origin tell a more ordinary story.

United States NIST and JILA

Does a clock go faster if it is lifted?

Thirty-three centimetres is enough to reveal an Einstein effect.

Earth's atmosphere

Can the air of a flash be warmer than the surface of the Sun?

The flash lasts very little. The upheaval it causes in the air is considerable.

United States Four Corners

Can we be in four states at the same time?

On this map, four angles meet at the same point.

United Kingdom Bristol Experience

How can a spider take off without wings or wind?

Silk threads, an electric field... and the animal leaves its support.

United States Great Basin

These trees lived four thousand years ago... what do their trunks tell us?

A knotty pine can be much more than a silent witness.

Marine environments

What do the extraordinary eyes of the mantle shrimp see?

Counting her receivers is not enough to imagine the world she perceives.

United Kingdom

What if these goats had taken the accent of their friends?

Their cries do not depend only on their birth: their surroundings also seem to leave an imprint.

Scotland

How to call a dolphin... without giving it a first name?

Under water, some whistles allow to address a particular individual.

United States

Does this crow recognize you... or does it recognize your mask?

Two artificial faces allowed the researchers to distinguish memory and simple reaction to an expression.

North Africa

Snow in the Sahara: Is the image really impossible?

The white on the desert surprises. It is above all our image of an ever-burning desert that deserves to be revisited.

Tonga

This land was born in 2015... why did it disappear seven years later?

The satellites followed a piece of land that the volcano had created and then destroyed.

Oceans

Did the ancestors of sharks swim before the first forests?

Their lineage goes through a dizzying time, but the sharks of today have not remained frozen in the past.

Louisiana, United States

Did the Mississippi really sink backwards?

During Hurricane Isaac, the sea momentarily thwarted the usual meaning of the river.

Chile Atacama

Why look for traces of Martian life in a desert in Chile?

A landscape helps prepare research on another planet, without being its perfect copy.

Asia Himalaya

The Himalayas look still, but their birth is not over yet.

An encounter between plates continues to transform this immense mountain range.

Polar regions

How can the sun stay up when it is midnight?

The Earth continues to turn. It is his inclination that changes the show.

Colombia - Sierra de la Macarena

Who put red at the bottom of this Colombian river?

In Caoo Cristales, an aquatic plant participates in the show that made the river famous.

Italy Campione d’Italia

This village surrounded by Switzerland belongs to Italy

A political border and a customs border do not always tell the same story.

Harvard, United States

Can light travel faster than a car?

In a carefully prepared medium, a light pulse can be significantly slowed down.

Research in materials

This metal has been deformed... a little heat reminds it of its shape

The “memory” of certain alloys belongs to their structure, not to a hidden brain.

Vatican and Italy

In the middle of Rome, a few steps are enough to change state

An international border crosses a landscape that is spontaneously associated with a single city.

Zanzibar, Tanzania

A war ended before the end of an hour: what happened in Zanzibar?

The conflict of August 27, 1896 is often told with a timer too precise.

Mexico

This animal can make a new paw... why can’t we imitate it?

The axolotl does not just close an injury: it can rebuild complex structures.

International research

A new head can grow back... but not in all these worms

A comparison between species makes the famous power of the planar even more interesting.

Oxford, United Kingdom

We take away the right tool... this crow makes another one

At the bottom of a tube, a reward remains inaccessible with a straight wire. Betty is changing the problem.

Venezuela

Who gives their “first name” to small parrots?

To separate learning from heredity, the researchers exchanged eggs between nests.

Tropical reefs

In this fish, becoming female can be part of adult life

Behind its familiar colors, the clownfish has a surprising reproductive cycle.

Earth orbit

These Tiny Passengers Survived Space Void Exposure

A 2007 experiment sent tardigrades in conditions very far from their usual environment.

Peru Andes

Why do we need to rebuild this bridge to preserve it?

To preserve this bridge, communities do not seek to preserve its ropes forever.

Turkey Mountain communities

Did you know that we can hold a conversation while whistling?

A word can change shape to cross the distance.

Spain La Gomera, Canary

On this island, students learn to whistle in class

On this island, orally transmitted knowledge also entered the classrooms.

South Korea

In Korea, what really hides a pot of kimchi?

The kimjang tells as much a collective organization as a food preparation.

Finland

Why is the Finnish sauna a heritage to protect?

Why protect a practice as daily as the sauna?

Morocco Marrakech

In Marrakech, this treasure escapes the photographs

The heritage of Jemaa el-Fna is not just about what you can photograph.

Arabian Peninsula Bedouin Communities

What secrets are being passed on in these desert tissues?

A job on the ground can carry a collective memory.

Belgium Oostduinkerke

Did you know that in Belgium, we fish on horseback?

On this coastline, a draft horse can also be a fishing partner.

United States and Canada Point Roberts

Why do these Americans go through Canada to go home?

A straight line on a map is sometimes enough to complicate all journeys.

Bering Strait Russia and United States

Did you know that these neighboring islands can live on different dates?

Two nearby islands are separated by more than one body of water.

Bolivia Salar de Uyuni

Why are scientists interested in this salt mirror?

This expanse of salt fascinates photographers, but also those who measure the Earth.

Russia Lake Baikal

What do the huge ice rings of Lake Baikal hide?

On the ice, huge rings signal activity hidden beneath the surface.

Mauritania Plateau de l’Adrar

Who drew this huge eye in the Sahara?

A spectacular circular shape has long suggested the wrong explanation.

Canada Victoria Island, Nunavut

An island in a lake on an island... how far does this nesting go?

The card can be read as a set of nested dolls.

Canada Quebec, Manicouagan

Why does this Quebec reservoir form a ring?

An old impact and a recent development have drawn together this landscape.

Botswana Okavango Delta

How can a flood prepare the ground for fire?

In this wetland, water and fire are not always simple opposites.

Did you know that this jellyfish can come back to childhood?

Its amazing power is not to resist everything: it is to change the course of its development.

Why are wombat droppings cubic?

The riddle of wombat droppings leads to an unexpected factory: its intestine.

How did a dog become the postman?

In Albany, a four-legged regular becomes the companion of itinerant postal workers.

Where does this frog hide its blood to become transparent?

To become more transparent at rest, this frog changes the circulation of its red blood cells.

Her heart stops in winter... how does this frog survive?

The Wood Frog is going through a state that many other animals would not survive.

Did you know that sharks can live for centuries?

In the cold waters, the Greenland shark blurs our idea of a long life.

Did you know that an octopus has three hearts?

The circulatory system of the octopus divides the work between several pumps.

These bumblebees are rolling balls... are they playing?

In an experiment, insects choose to handle objects without food reward.

Why did Jeanne Baret have to hide her identity at sea?

Jeanne Baret embarks on a maritime world that prohibits her presence as a woman.

Did you know that Hollywood star was also an inventor?

Behind a Hollywood career, Hedy Lamarr also leads a work of invention.

She wants to beat Phileas Fogg... and really goes around the world

Nellie Bly turns the challenge of a novel into a real journey.

She imagined a machine that composed... in the 19th century

Ada Lovelace foresees uses of calculation that exceed numbers.

How did flashing stars help measure the Universe?

Henrietta Swan Leavitt finds a decisive link in stars that change their radiance.

How to hide two Nobel medals in the eyes of the Nazis?

To subtract two gold medals from the Nazis, a chemist makes them lose their shape.

Why did this powerful ship sink on its first voyage?

The Vasa had to embody power. His first trip became a disaster.

Did you know that a king of England was found under a parking lot?

Archaeological research joins a forgotten tomb in the heart of Leicester.

What was this calculating machine doing in an ancient shipwreck?

A corroded object reveals an unexpected mechanical sophistication.

A boat, a treasure... but where did the deceased go?

In Sutton Hoo, the absence of a skeleton was not the last word of the investigation.

How did a wave of molasses ravage a Boston neighborhood?

In Boston, a familiar liquid reveals the violence that can take an immense amount of material.

A real insect in a computer: is this the origin of the word “bug”?

A 1947 incident gives a literal illustration of a word already in use.

A day longer than a year on Venus... really?

An amazing formula hides two different ways to measure a day.

Did you know that seeds went around the moon before they grew?

Some terrestrial trees began their story by a detour around the Moon.

Why did a clandestine sandwich make a fuss about him in space?

A snack bar on board in 1965 reminds us that weightlessness changes the simplest gestures.

What did we put on this disc sent to the unknown?

Voyager probes take a sound and visual portrait of the Earth.

On Titan, it rains... but it’s not water

Titan has familiar landscapes whose chemistry changes everything.

Who moves the stones of Death Valley?

In the Valley of Death, furrows have long betrayed movements without witnesses.

Why did it take eight years to see that drop?

An experiment launched in 1927 puts our patience to the test.

Did you know that nature created nuclear reactors before us?

In Oklo, Gabon, geology has created the conditions for a natural nuclear reaction.

Why was this Mary Anning fossil suspected to be fake?

Mary Anning’s discovery seems at first too strange to be authentic.

How did a broken stone help decipher hieroglyphics?

Rosetta stone is precious because its text responds to itself.

Who grows these strange ice hair on the wood?

On some dead branches, the ice grows in filaments of surprising finesse.

Why does this Antarctic glacier seem to bleed?

In Antarctica, a red flow owes its color to a transformation of matter.

Did you know that an astronaut played golf on the moon?

Alan Shepard takes to the Moon a surprisingly terrestrial gesture.

A contaminated experiment... what if the accident hid a discovery?

A contaminated crop becomes interesting because of what no longer grows.

Lituya Bay, Alaska, USA

This bay bears the scar of water rising to 524 meters

A landslide threw water from a fjord onto a ridge. The forest keeps track of it.

Vajont and Longarone, Italy

The dam held. The wave has passed over

In 1963, a slope collapses in a restraint. The dam remains standing, but the valley is devastated.

Armero, Colombia

This town far from the crater was buried by the melted ice of the volcano

The Nevado del Ruiz did not send lava to Armero: mudslides followed the valleys.

Yungay, Peru

A mountain avalanche has reached this city below

In 1970, an earthquake triggered on the Huascarn an avalanche of rock and ice that destroyed Yungay.

Mount Saint Helens, Washington, USA

This volcano exploded on its side after losing its flank

In 1980, the collapse of the northern flank released a lateral explosion before the large ash column.

Katmai and Novarupta, Alaska, United States

The mountain collapsed... but the eruption came out ten kilometers further.

In 1912, the giant eruption of Novarupta emptied a magmatic system linked to Mount Katmai.

Laki, Iceland, and Europe, 1783

An Icelandic volcano has spread a strange fog over Europe

A persistent dry haze accompanies a very distant eruption and leaves traces in the observations of the time.

Strait of the Sunda, Indonesia

The explosion was just the beginning: the sea ended the disaster

In 1883, the collapse of much of Krakatau produced deadly tsunamis.

Tangiwai, New Zealand

A flow from a volcano ripped this bridge just before the train

At Christmas 1953, a Ruapehu lahar weakened a railway bridge a few minutes before the passage of an express.

Aberfan, Wales

This heap of mine waste was hiding water that could drag it

In 1966, a water-saturated slurry turns into a flow and reaches the village and its school.

Frank, AB, Canada

The mountain buried the entrance to their mine: they had to dig to get out

In 1903, the collapse of Turtle Mountain buried part of Frank and shut down a mine.

Oso, WA, United States

A 180-meter slope sent its debris across the valley

The slide of 2014 covers an exceptionally large distance for this slope.

Vatnajkkull and Skeiarrsandur, Iceland

Under the ice, a volcano prepared a flood that swept away the bridges

In 1996, water from a subglacial eruption suddenly released towards the coastal plain.

Flannan Islands, Scotland

The lighthouse was ready to light. His three guards were gone.

In December 1900, the new generation discovered an empty lighthouse. The archives distinguish real clues from invented narratives.

Atlantic, near the Azores, 1872

The ship was still drifting. On board, no one

The Mary Celeste is found without her ten occupants and without her boat. Their fate remains unknown.

Canadian Arctic, King William Island

These two missing ships were also found thanks to Inuit memory

The Erebus and Terror, left in 1845, are found in 2014 and 2016 after an expedition without return.

Weddell Sea and Elephant Island, Antarctica

The ice crushed their ship. His 28 men returned.

Shackleton's expedition lost the Endurance, but the men of that ship survived a long wait.

Mississippi, near Memphis, United States

They survived the captivity. The return boat exploded.

In 1865, former prisoners of war climbed on an overloaded steam whose boilers exploded.

Lake Superior, USA and Canada

This cargo ship disappeared on a lake, no distress call

The sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald reminds us that a large lake can produce a deadly storm.

Sierra Nevada, CA, United States

A shortcut delayed them until winter: the Sierra Nevada trap

In 1846, families en route to California were stranded in the snow after an ill-advised route.

Tambora, Indonesia, and Northern Hemisphere

Summer was turned upside down by a volcano on the other side of the world

The eruption of 1815 contributed to the cold and poor harvests of 1816, the “year without summer”.

Thistle, Utah, USA

The mountain barred the river: this city found itself under a lake

In 1983, a slide created a natural restraint that engulfed a locality.

Hope, British Columbia, Canada

This slope collapsed after a very slow deformation

The collapse of 1965 abruptly ended a mountain movement that had begun long before.

Saint-Pierre, Martinique, France

This volcanic cloud destroyed Saint-Pierre in a few minutes

On May 8, 1902, a fiery cloud descended Mount Pelee and reached the city.

Mount Rainier and Puget Sound, USA

The mud of this mountain has gone to the arm of the sea

About 5,600 years ago, part of the Rainier turned into a flow that covered more than a hundred kilometers.

Goiânia, Brazil

This blue powder fascinated its discoverers... it contaminated their neighborhood

In 1987, an abandoned medical source caused an urban radiological accident.

New Jersey, USA

To prove the poisoning of these workers, a scientist analyzed their breath.

The luminous paint on the dials hid radium exposure.

United States and Canada

This machine was supposed to treat cancers... its failures have seriously irradiated patients

Six radiotherapy accidents make Therac-25 a major case of computer safety.

Windscale, United Kingdom

We laughed at these filters... they retained dust during a nuclear fire

Windscale’s chimney had a late protection that proved essential.

Seveso, Italy

This white cloud has left a name that is still used to talk about industrial risks

In July 1976, a toxic release affected the surroundings of the Icmesa plant.

Flixborough, United Kingdom

A temporary modification preceded the explosion of this plant.

In 1974, a bypass between reactors became a critical point of the installation.

Schweizerhalle, Switzerland

To extinguish this fire, the water carried a pollution in the Rhine

The fire of 1 November 1986 produced an ecological disaster beyond Basel.

Minamata, Japan

These fish looked normal... they carried invisible contamination

Methylmercury pollution enters the diet and reaches the nervous system.

Donora, PA, United States

The air of this city has remained prisoner... with its pollution

In October 1948, an atmospheric inversion suddenly worsened industrial pollution.

London, United Kingdom

In London, this fog didn’t just hide the streets

The Grand Smog of December 1952 imprisons smoke and gas above the capital.

Hartford, CT, United States

This marquee had been protected from rain... with a flammable treatment

In July 1944, a fire devastated the big tent of the circus.

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

The revolving door of this club became a trap during the fire.

In November 1942, the fire revealed insufficient or unusable exits.

New York, United States

The rescue workers saw the workers... but their ladders did not reach the floors

The Triangle fire of 1911 exposed the failures of the exits of a factory.

Texas City, Texas, USA

This cargo ship was carrying fertilizer... its explosion ravaged a port

The Grandcamp exploded on 16 April 1947 while loading an industrial cargo.

Feyzin, France

Before the explosion, the danger had already left the tanks.

A propane leak preceded the refinery disaster in January 1966.

Tacoma, WA, United States

This bridge started to turn on itself under the effect of the wind

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed a few months after it opened in 1940.

Kansas City, Missouri, USA

In this large hotel, the weak point was hidden in the fixing of the footbridges

Two suspended walkways collapsed in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency in 1981.

Chicago, Illinois, USA

The security curtain of this theater did not stop the disaster.

A fire struck the Iroquois Theatre a few weeks after it opened in 1903.

Halifax, Canada

They watched the ship burn... without knowing its cargo

The collision of two ships preceded the explosion of the port in December 1917.

Bhopal, India

That night, the danger came out of the factory while the city was sleeping.

A toxic release hit the neighborhood of a pesticide factory in December 1984.

Tokaimura, Japan

This nuclear accident did not occur in a nuclear reactor.

In September 1999, a criticality reaction occurred at a fuel conversion facility.

Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

His gloves seemed protective... the product went through them

A Dartmouth researcher was fatally exposed in 1996 despite her usual protections.

United States

The taste of the drug had been tested... not its safety.

A liquid drug distributed in 1937 caused more than 100 deaths.

Philadelphia, PA, United States

After this congress, an unknown disease launched a national investigation

A series of pneumonias observed in 1976 led to the identification of Legionella.

Milwaukee, WI, United States

The parasite had arrived by the water of the network, without seeing itself in the glass.

In 1993, a large epidemic of cryptosporidiosis is associated with distributed water.

Florida, USA; laboratory study

These ants amputate a leg... depending on where it is injured

In a Florida ant, the observed care varies depending on the location of the injury.

Queensland, Australia

This bird disposes its objects to change the perspective

The males of the large gardener place the small objects near the observation point of the female.

Off the coast of Japan

This little fish traces a two-meter circle in the sand

A Japanese pufferfish constructs a geometric structure much larger than its body.

Marine environments

This crab carries pieces of its environment on its back

Algae, sponges and sometimes anemones become the camouflage of some decorative crabs.

Southeast Alaska, United States

These whales model their net... with bubbles

Humpback whales adjust bubble networks to concentrate the krill.

North American Atlantic Coast

This Slug Keeps Solar Plants From Its Meal

Elysia chlorotica retains algae chloroplasts capable of continuing their photosynthesis.

Japan; laboratory observations

The head of this slug can rebuild a body

Marine slugs were observed after a dramatic separation between their head and body.

Suaq Balimbing, Sumatra, Indonesia

This orangutan applied a plant to his wound

Rakus was observed using a liana directly on a wound in the face.

Laboratory study; African naked mole rat

Deprived of oxygen, this mole rat changes fuel

In the laboratory, the naked mole rat uses an unusual metabolic pathway when oxygen is lacking.

Samburu and Amboseli, Kenya

These elephants make calls to an individual.

Broadcast recordings and tests support the existence of individualized calls.

Zambia

In this bird, the imitation of eggs passes from mother to daughter

Anomalospize lines can mimic the eggs of several host species.

Farne Islands, United Kingdom; Antarctica

This tern has traveled an estimated 96,000 kilometers

A followed tern connected the United Kingdom to Antarctica.

Colonies of Flamingos

These flamingos pale by feeding their little ones

By feeding their young, the flamingos can fade.

Panama: Study in Captivity

These bats start grooming before sharing a meal

Common vampires gradually form food-sharing relationships.

Study in aquarium

This cuttlefish also changes the relief of its skin

The camouflage of the cuttlefish combines color with three-dimensional surface modifications.

Vanderbilt University, USA; experiences

This Electric Eel Lifts Up to Strengthen Its Discharge

Experiments show an electrical defense directed at a partially submerged conductive object.

Kobe University, Japan

Swallowed by a frog, this beetle can come out alive

An aquatic insect survived an unusual crossing observed in the laboratory.

Coastlines; control laboratories

Blue blood from the slime was used to secure medical products

A reaction of limule blood to bacterial toxins is used in control tests.

University of Michigan, USA

These wereps distinguish their companions from their faces

Fuscatus polists learn particularly well the faces of wasps of his species.

Study of experimental colonies

Young bees learn to dance better by looking at old ones

The social experience improves the precision of the dance that indicates a food resource.

Beinecke Library, Yale, USA

This illustrated manuscript keeps a handwriting that we do not know how to read

Preserved at Yale, the Voynich manuscript remains undecrypted.

Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Drome, France

A stone on its way triggered thirty-three years of construction

Ferdinand Cheval transformed an idea born during his tour into an ideal Palace.

Stanstead/Derby Line, Canada and United States

In this theatre, the stage is in Canada and part of the public in the United States

The border crosses the Haskell Theatre.

Paris, France

Eiffel had an apartment at the top... but no bedroom

The accommodation reserved by Gustave Eiffel was mainly used to receive and work.

West Orange, NJ, United States

These 1890 dolls had a real voice recorded in the body.

A tiny phonograph made Edison’s commercial dolls speak.

Newport, Wales, United Kingdom

On this bridge, the crossing is done in a suspended nacelle

The Newport ferry bridge moves its cargo under a high structure.

Broom Bridge, Dublin

He engraved a mathematical discovery on a bridge.

William Rowan Hamilton associated his discovery of the quaternions with a walk in 1843.

Livermore, CA, United States

This light bulb installed in 1901 has gone through several generations of firefighters

Livermore's lamp owes its fame to its longevity, not to a total absence of cuts.

Prague, Czech Republic

The legend of this clock is wrong about its first builder

The Prague Astronomical Clock has a different real story than its most famous one.

Jeju, Republic of Korea

In Jeju, these women work underwater without an oxygen bottle

In Jeju, freediving is associated with a collective culture.

Main belt of asteroids

They discover a moon around this asteroid... then a second surprise

The moon Selam consists of two small bodies in contact.

Pluto Sputnik Planitia

Pluto's heart stirs... but it's not lava

Some of Pluto’s nitrogen ice is renewed by convection.

Kepler-16 System

This planet revolves around two suns... and it’s not a movie.

Kepler-16b orbits around a pair of stars.

Mars - Jezero Crater

On Mars, an eclipse has drawn an eye in the sky

Perseverance filmed the passage of Phobos in front of the Sun.

Saturn Mi Mimas

This small moon carries a crater as wide as a third of its diameter

The crater Herschel deeply marks the moon Mimas.

Solar Crown

A probe passed through the atmosphere of the Sun... without landing on it

Parker Solar Probe measured the solar corona from the inside.

Saturn

These two moons exchange their place around Saturn.

Janus and Epimetheus alternate between two very close orbits.

Ceres crater Occator

These lights on a dwarf planet were not lamps

The bright areas of Ceres are deposits of salts.

Comet 9P/Tempel 1

To study a comet, they purposely sent a projectile into it.

Deep Impact hit Tempel 1 to analyze the ejected material.

Saturn

Saturn receives rain from its own rings

Particles from the rings join Saturn’s atmosphere.

Nijmegen Netherlands

This frog floated wirelessly... inside a magnet

An intense magnetic field made it possible to levitate a live frog.

NIST United States

He saw an “impossible” symmetry... and refused to erase it.

The discovery of quasicrystals broadened the notion of order in solids.

Manchester United Kingdom

Adhesive tape helped insulate a single atom thick material

Graphite layers were separated to graphene.

Guadeloupe mangroves

This white thread in a mangrove was a single bacteria

Thiomargarita magnifica forms cells visible to the naked eye.

Sntis Switzerland

At the Sntintis, a laser really guided the lightning

A Swiss campaign showed that a laser could guide a landfill for several tens of meters.

MITUnis United States

They filmed the light in slow motion... repeating the experience

Repeated measurements reconstructed the path of a light pulse.

Privernum, Italy search MIT

These small white grains help a concrete to close its cracks

Tests of concrete inspired by the Romans showed a repair of cracks.

CERN Switzerland

They dropped atoms of antimatter... to know in what direction they fall.

ALPHA-g observed the effect of gravity on antihydrogen.

Physics and biology laboratories

These tweezers catch a cell... with light

A focused laser beam can trap and manipulate microscopic objects.

HarvardUnis United States

They recorded a galloping horse... in the DNA of bacteria

A sequence of images was encoded and then reconstructed from living bacteria.

Cryptocurrencies Incident of October 29, 2026

The $6 billion-plus hack that was partly thwarted

Billions are leaving Binance’s portfolios. How to track transfers and immobilize part of the funds? An investigation still opened on October 30, 2026.

21 February 2025 Cryptocurrencies

Bybit: Signers validate a transfer... that delivers their safe

About $1.5 billion stolen by targeting the tool used to verify a transaction.

Campaigns revealed in 2015 International Banks

Carbanak: Thieves watch bankers work before imitating them

Intruders learn internal procedures instead of just stealing customers’ passwords.

23 March 2022 Pont Ronin

Ronin: nine guards, but five keys are enough to take away the treasure

The system requires multiple validations; attackers gather precisely the necessary number.

10 August 2021 Decentralized finance

Poly Network: the hacker takes more than 600 million... then returns the assets

A lack of control between contracts allows a spectacular diversion, followed by restitution.

26 January 2018 Japan

Coincheck: Hundreds of millions disappear from a connected wallet

A NEM reserve exposed in an online portfolio leads to a major crisis.

6 October 2022 BNB Chain

BNB Token Hub: a bridge accepts a proof that should not exist

Two million BNBs are obtained fraudulently; validators interrupt the network.

11–12 November 2022 · Cryptocurrencies

FTX: while the platform collapses, another thief empties the wallets

Bankruptcy and piracy are two different cases, occurring almost at the same time.

Intrusion from 2011 Public crisis in 2014

Mt. Gox: the trunk looks full... until the day the withdrawals stop

The disappearance of bitcoins spreads over time before becoming a visible disaster.

February 2, 2022 Ethereum and Solana

Wormhole: the bridge delivers tokens for funds that have not been deposited

A validation failure is enough to produce 120,000 ethers represented without corresponding reservation.

31 May 2024 Japan

DMM Bitcoin: the trap begins with a recruitment proposal

According to the authorities, a professional approach serves as a starting point for the flight of about $308 million.

September 2020 Cryptocurrency platform

KuCoin: Tokens are stolen, but some can still be locked in

Theft touches the keys of online portfolios; the response mobilizes issuers, platforms and investigators.

13 March 2023 Decentralized finance

Euler: an operation called "donation" opens a hole of nearly 200 million

A lack of accounting logic leads to the misappropriation of about 197 million, and then to unusual trading.

December 2021 Cryptocurrencies

BitMart: two connected wallets become exit doors

A compromise of keys leads to a theft whose initial estimates exceed $150 million.

August 1, 2022 Bridge between blockchains

Nomad: the flaw is discovered, then hundreds of addresses are used

A validation error turns an initial flight into a collective rush on reserves.

17 April 2022 Decentralized governance

Beanstalk: it borrows the weight necessary to vote its own case

The decision-making power can be acquired temporarily and then used before being rendered.

August 2016 · Major seizure in 2022

Previous articleBitfinex: 119,754 bitcoins stolen, then an investigation that goes back the detours

The loot is gaining value as investigators rebuild its circulation.

February 2016 Bangladesh, New York and Philippines

Bangladesh Bank: fake orders leave from a real central bank

The payment network receives seemingly legitimate messages, but prepared by intruders.