It’s the beak that lends the attire of the medieval plague doctor its surreal quality, but it wasn’t there just to scare

Why Plague Doctors Wore Strange Masks (3:05)

It’s fruit-gathering time for these orphan orangutans—one of their favorite pastimes. But can they follow the lead of their human carers and learn how to crack open a coconut for themselves?

Baby Orangutans Learn How to Crack Coconuts (3:55)

Do you believe in witches? For the good people of Long Compton, it’s part of a longstanding tradition—one that, as recently as 1875, cost a woman named Ann Tennant her life

People Believe in Witchcraft in This Corner of England (3:31)

Carmine bee-eaters use their long slender bill to pluck bees out of the air. Then, to neutralize their dangerous sting, they’ll smash the bee against the ground several times

A Hungry Bird Brutally Separates a Bee From Its Stinger (2:03)

Like most foxes, red foxes hunt mice and voles, which they detect through the snow, thanks to their advanced hearing abilities. Once a red fox pinpoints its prey’s location, it leaps high into the air and nosedives in

Red Fox Hilariously Pounces Headfirst Into Snow (3:18)

Young elephants are too small to reach the high branches of trees, where the nutritious leaves lie. So they get a helping hand from one of the older females, who proceeds to pull an entire tree down

How Adult Elephants Help Feed Younger Herd Members (2:04)

NASA began working on lunar vehicles in the early 1960s—but the project relied more on guesswork than engineering precision. After all, no one had any idea what being on the moon would be like

The Design of the Lunar Rover Was Mostly Guesswork (2:37)

Most canines, including these adorable wolf pups, are social animals with brains that have evolved for that purpose. This is why dogs are, on the whole, smarter than some solitary animals

Are Dogs Really More Intelligent Than Cats? (3:10)

Charles II attended a feast in Windsor in 1671 which boasted some of the finest dishes in the land. Among them was ice cream—the first record of it ever being served in Britain

Was Ice Cream First Served in Britain in 1671? (2:23)

Did you know that some of the technologies we take for granted in our kitchens were actually developed by NASA? Here are five of the best, from water filters to freeze-dried food

Five Kitchen Objects Inspired by Nasa (2:24)

If you’re looking for the ideal vantage point to the stunning viaducts and landscapes of the Tongariro National Park in New Zealand, you have only have one option: the miraculous North Island Main Trunk Line

This New Zealand Train Line Is a Panoramic Marvel (2:14)

After the success of Apollo 11, NASA unveiled an ambitious agenda for more missions into space. But interest among the public was beginning to drop—and the Nixon administration balked at the high costs

Why Interest in Space Travel Waned After Apollo 11 (2:48)

To prepare him for landing the lunar module, Neil Armstrong practiced on a training vehicle right here on Earth. It was designed to replicate flying within a gravitational pull that was 1/6 that of Earth

How Neil Armstrong Trained to Land the Lunar Module (2:13)

The crew of Apollo 11 had made history by landing on the moon and coming back to Earth in one piece. But before the celebrations could begin, they would have to spend some time in quarantine

Why the Apollo 11 Crew Was Quarantined Upon Return (2:59)

You might expect the ancestor of modern-day whales to be a marine dweller of considerable size. But pakicetus is as far removed from that image as you could possibly imagine

Why This Whale Ancestor Is an Evolutionary Surprise (2:54)

In 1946, on a remote Pacific Island, the military began a program known as ‘Operation Crossroads.’ Its aim was to capture, on film, the actual moment of an atomic bomb detonation

Capturing a Photograph of an Atomic Bomb Blast (2:54)

The success of the Apollo 8 mission hinged on a unique and terrifying maneuver: slowing the spacecraft enough to enter lunar orbit. Even the slightest mistake would have meant certain doom

The Riskiest Maneuver in the History of the Space Program (3:51)

Today, there is only one species of crocodile on Madagascar: the famous Nile Crocodile. But local stories about a horned-crocodile that died out hundreds of years ago have spurred a search for its fossils

Scientists Find Skull of an Extinct Crocodile Species (3:14)

NASA is preparing to send a chimpanzee, Ham, into space to test the effects of space on a living creature. He’s received a training regiment to prepare him for the mission ahead

NASA's First Chimp in Space (2:11)

Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys have several adaptations to deal with the cold: from upturned noses that protect them from frostbite to special blood vessels that help them increase their oxygen uptake

How Snub-Nosed Monkeys Adapted to Extreme Cold (2:01)

Coral is a slow-grower—only about six inches a year. But with global warming and pollution, damaged coral doesn’t always get the recovery time it needs

Coral Grows at About the Same Rate as Human Hair (1:55)

Not many people know that hippos can be loud. In fact, in the Luangwa Valley, the noise they make can reach up to 115 decibels—the equivalent of a rock concert

The Noise Made by Wild Hippos Can Be Deafening (2:09)

In July 1950, Julius Rosenberg is arrested for spying, along with his wife Ethel. Decades later, declassified documents would cast doubt on whether Ethel was guilty as charged

Was Ethel Rosenberg Wrongly Convicted as a Russian Spy? (3:10)

From the very beginning, prohibition was set up to fail. With only 1,500 agents charged with stopping the flow of alcohol into the U.S., most people continued drinking as they had done before.

Why Prohibition Was Set Up to Fail Right From the Start (1:55)

In 2003, the reverend Gene Robinson became the first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church. What followed was a campaign of death threats and intimidation that would test him to the core.

This Man Became the First Openly Gay Bishop in America (4:05)

Elephants have the longest gestation period of all mammals: 22 months. In addition, elephant mothers have remarkably strong bonds with their calves that endure for life.

Why Elephant Moms Always Stay Close to Their Calves (1:48)

It may sound like an auspicious title, but the ‘groom of the stool’ was anything but. Simply put, it was a role that entailed monitoring and assisting with Henry VIII’s bowel movements.

This Unpleasant Royal Job Came With a Fancy Title (1:59)

In the shallow waters of Palau, remarkably well-preserved shipwrecks like the Iro Maru provide an ideal breeding ground for coral to thrive—and a major draw for divers.

These Palau Shipwrecks Are Ideal Underwater Homes For Coral (2:07)

The first class of NASA astronauts, dubbed the ‘Mercury 7,’ were put through a series of rigorous tests to prepare them for space, from heat chambers to to simulated weightlessness.

The Training Regimen of NASA's First Astronauts (3:07)

By 1925, a sprawling rail network had sprung into place, and more Americans could now head west to sightsee—and with five new national parks added to the roster of public lands, they had the perfect destination.

How Trains Gave Americans a Path to National Parks (1:33)