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The living world, up close

Step outside your own head: how animals navigate and flock, what anaesthesia and placebos reveal about the body, the odd rules of skin and hair and growth, and the everyday science hiding in concrete, orange juice and a car crash.

wild facts about how other living things work

Animals & nature

Munchrd: How do birds sense Earth's magnetic field?Nature

How do birds sense Earth's magnetic field?

Birds have a genuine magnetic compass, and the leading explanation is astonishing: a light-triggered, quantum chemical…

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Munchrd: Why do thousands of starlings move as one?Nature

Why do thousands of starlings move as one?

Nobody is. A murmuration has no leader and no plan. Each starling just follows three tiny rules, stay close, match your…

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Munchrd: Why are humans the only animal with a chin?The Body

Why are humans the only animal with a chin?

The chin, the mental protuberance, that bony point below your lower lip, is unique to Homo sapiens, and its purpose is…

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Munchrd: Why are a few people genuinely allergic to water?The Body

Why are a few people genuinely allergic to water?

It's a genuine, extremely rare condition called aquagenic urticaria, fewer than 100 documented cases ever. Water contact…

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medicine, pain and the brain's chemistry

The body under the influence

Munchrd: Why don't we know how anaesthesia works?The Body

Why don't we know how anaesthesia works?

Because to explain anaesthesia you'd have to explain consciousness, and nobody can. We know the drugs grab specific brain…

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Munchrd: Why do placebos work even when you know it's a placebo?The Mind

Why do placebos work even when you know it's a placebo?

Because the placebo effect was never really about belief in a secret cure: it's about ritual, expectation and conditioning.…

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Munchrd: Why does swearing actually reduce pain?The Body

Why does swearing actually reduce pain?

Swearing appears to trigger a mild fight-or-flight stress response, and one side effect of that response is the body's own…

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Munchrd: Why do some dying brains blaze with activity at the very end?Strange Phenomena

Why do some dying brains blaze with activity at the very end?

In a small number of recordings, brains near death produced a burst of high-frequency gamma waves, the rhythm tied to vivid…

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the ever-changing outer layer of you

Skin, hair and growth

Munchrd: Why do your fingers wrinkle in water?The Body

Why do your fingers wrinkle in water?

Your fingers don't wrinkle because they soak up water and swell, they wrinkle because your nervous system does it…

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Munchrd: Why do your ears and nose never stop growing?The Body

Why do your ears and nose never stop growing?

They don't actually grow. Your ear and nose cartilage stops growing in early adulthood, along with the rest of you. What…

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Munchrd: Why do you have fingerprints?The Body

Why do you have fingerprints?

Not, it seems, for gripping. When researchers measured it in 2009, fingerprint ridges reduced the skin's contact area, and…

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Munchrd: Why did scientists just catch your brain glowing in the dark?Strange Phenomena

Why did scientists just catch your brain glowing in the dark?

Your cells give off a faint, real glow called ultraweak photon emission, single photons thrown off as a byproduct of…

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ordinary moments with surprising physics behind them

Everyday science mysteries

Munchrd: Why does music give you chills?The Body

Why does music give you chills?

Those chills are called frisson. Music plugs into your brain's ancient reward system and releases dopamine at emotional…

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Munchrd: Why does orange juice taste vile right after you brush your teeth?The Body

Why does orange juice taste vile right after you brush your teeth?

It isn't the mint: it's a detergent called sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), the foaming agent in most toothpaste. It temporarily…

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Munchrd: Why does Roman concrete heal itself when ours crumbles?History

Why does Roman concrete heal itself when ours crumbles?

Roman concrete can heal its own cracks. It's studded with tiny white lumps of lime, long dismissed as sloppy mixing, that…

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Munchrd: Why does time slow down in a crash?The Mind

Why does time slow down in a crash?

It doesn't, really. A 2007 experiment by David Eagleman's lab showed people's perception does not actually speed up during…

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