Animal Eyes

The bananas you can buy at your local greengrocer’s are Cavendish bananas, but did you know that people preferred another variety called the Gros Michel? Unfortunately, it became extinct in the 1960s when a fungus wiped out entire harvests.

During World War II, the British government used an interesting method to recruit code breakers to help with the deciphering of the German Enigma machine: they published a particularly difficult crossword puzzle in the Telegraph. Those who could solve it were traced down and, after a thorough background check, invited to join the team.

Sandy Island, a land mass no larger than Manhattan in the Pacific Ocean, was discovered by James Cook in 1876. When a team of Australian scientists went to survey the island in 2012, they found that there was no island at all! They believe that Cook might have spotted a mass of floating volcanic stone and gas.