National Geographic Tales of the Weird by Braun, David -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Introduction Contributors Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Ancient Rites & Sacred Places

Maya “Doomsday” Calendar Explained Millions of Puppy Mummies Lifelike Chinese “Wet Mummy” Celtic Princess Tomb Yields Gold, Amber Riches Ancient Sorcerer’s “Wake” First Feast for the Dead? Ancient Chinese Chariot Fleet New Death Ritual Found in Himalaya Entrance to Maya Underworld Found in Mexico? Tomb of the Otters Filled With Stone Age Human Bones Headless Romans in England Came From “Exotic” Locales?

Chapter 2: The Body Human

Superhuman Hearing Possible? Women Can Sniff Out Men Without Knowing—and Vice Versa Is Your Brain Asleep While You’re Awake? Oldest Known Heart Disease Found in Egyptian Mummy Rejection Really Hurts, Brain Scans Show Cocaine Addiction Uses Same Brain Paths as Salt Cravings Different Nose Parts for Stinky, Sweet Sleep Cherry-Picks Memories, Boosts Cleverness Drug Could Make Aging Brains More Youthful? Your Hair Reveals Whether You’re a Morning Person Mutated DNA Causes No-Fingerprint Disease Making Music Bolsters the Brain’s Abilities The 2,500-Year-Old Brain Eating Crocodile Helped Boost Early Human Brains? Astronauts’ Fingernails Falling Off Ball Lightning May Be a Hallucination Secrets of Synesthesia Secrets of Sleeping Soundly

Chapter 3: Creature Features

Five Weirdest New Animals Crocodile Attacks Unsuspecting Elephant Spiky Rat Plant Poison Turns Hair Deadly Vampire Bats Have Vein Sensors Goats Scale Dam Walls Nature’s Four Worst Mothers Longest Polar Bear Swim Recorded Alligators Surprisingly Loyal to Old Flames How Do Giant Pandas Survive? “Vampire” Frog Found in Vietnam These Stripes Say Stay Away! Elephant Makes a Stool - First Aha! Moment for Species! Biggest Crocodile Ever Caught? Hibernating Bears Keep Weirdly Warm

Chapter 4: Creepy Crawlies

Wasps Can Recognize Faces Study Says Bumblebee Seeks Warm Flowers for Heavy Pollination Virus Brainwashes Caterpillars “Zombie” Ants Found With New Mind-Control Fungi Cricket Has World’s Biggest Testicles (But Puny Output) New “Devil Worm” Is Deepest-Living Animal Fire Ants Swarm Form Life Raft Snails Survive Being Eaten by Birds Five Weirdest Bugs Spider “Resurrections” Take Scientists by Surprise All in the Family Cockroach Brains May Hold New Antibiotics? Ladybug Incubators Enslaved by Wasps Male Spiders Massage Their Mates Alien Wasps Abduct Ants, Drop Them to Get Food

Chapter 5: Explaining the Unexplained

Chapter 6: Feathered Friends

Highest Flying Bird Found Body Odor Attracting Predators to Birds Half-Male, Half-Female Chicken Sexually Showy Male Birds Finish Early Why Do Birds Fall From the Sky? Bird With “Human” Eyes Knows What You’re Looking At Bird “Sings” Through Feathers Birds Can “See” Earth’s Magnetic Field Chubby Snipe Snaps Nonstop Record Elusive “Smiling” Bird Captured on Film Superfast Muscle Power Found in Songbirds’ Throats Crows Have Human-Like Intelligence, Author Says Why Transylvanian Chickens Have Naked Necks

Chapter 7: The Final Frontier

What Created Earth’s Oceans? Comet Offers New Clue New Planet May Be Among Most Earthlike, Weather Permitting Sun Headed into Hibernation, Solar Studies Predict Star Caught Eating Another Star, X-Ray Flare Shows Saturn Moon Coated in Fresh Powder Star Found Shooting Water “Bullets” Uranus Has a Bright New Spot, Picture Shows Planets Being Pulverized Near Giant Black Holes? Youngest Planet Picture: Gas Giant Seen in Throes of Creation “Diamond” Planet Found, May Be Stripped Star Seven Supernovae Found in Single Galaxy—A First Meteors Delivered Gold to Baby Earth Darkest Planet Found Should Pluto Be a Planet? “Vampire” Stars Found in the Heart of Our Galaxy—A First

Chapter 8: Human History

Chapter 9: Natural Phenomena

Oldest Living Tree Found in Sweden The Truth About Daylight Saving Time UFO-Like Clouds Linked to Military Maneuvers? Giant Sinkholes Pierce Guatemala Yellowstone Has Bulged as Magma Pocket Swells Brand-New Cloud Solved! The Case of the Giant Crystals Giant, Mucuslike Sea Blobs on the Rise, Pose Danger “Bodies” Fill Underwater Sculpture Park Moss Has Cloned Itself for 50,000 Years, Study Says World’s Biggest Cave Found in Vietnam New “Porta Potti” Flower Discovered

Chapter 10: Prehistoric Life

T. Rex, Other Dinosaurs Had Heads Full of Air Massive “Sea Monster” Skull Revealed Biggest Snake Discovered, Was Longer Than a Bus Oldest Animal Discovered, Aquatic African Ancestor Ancient “Saber-Toothed Squirrel” Found Prehistoric Bird Had Wings Like Nunchucks “Thunder Thighs” Dinosaur Thrashed Predators to Death? Giant Bugs Once Roamed the Earth Brainy Birds Out-Thought Doomed Dinosaurs? Prehistoric “Shield”-Headed Croc Found Largest Flying Bird Could Barely Get off Ground, Fossils Show Oldest Fossil Brain Found in Kansas Did Love Make Neanderthals Extinct? “Nasty” Little Predator From Dinosaur Dawn Found Venomous Dinosaur Discovered Giant “Roly-Poly” Rabbit Fossil Found

Chapter 11: Underwater Weirdness

Rare “Cyclops” Shark Found Fish With “Hands” Found to Be New Species Wild Fish Uses Tool, Cockle Put to Clever Use Piranhas Bark, Three Fierce Vocalizations Deciphered Squid Males Evolved Shot-in-the-Dark Mating Strategy Great White Shark Jumps on Boat, Stressing Everyone Giant “Amoebas” Found in Deepest Place on Earth Sawfish Snout Has Sixth Sense, Splits Prey in Half “Bizarre” Octopuses Carry Coconuts as Instant Shelters Lobster Caught “Half Cooked” in Maine Weird Fish With Transparent Head Strange Sea Species Found off Greenland Grizzly Bear-Size Catfish Caught in Thailand New Jellyfish Attacks Other Jellies Small Squid Have Bigger Sperm Census Scopes Out Strange New Sea Species 405-Year-Old Clam Called Longest-Lived Animal

Illustrations Credits