Travel
Discover facts about travel. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Travel
A pebble toad escapes by making itself tumble
On South America's isolated tepui summits, the tiny Oreophrynella nigra can tuck in its limbs and roll away over steep rock. Its small size helps it survive a…
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A beautiful cone shell can hide a venomous hunter
Cone snails use a modified tooth like a tiny harpoon to deliver venom to prey. Some species can cause life-threatening poisoning in people. The patterned…
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The swimming pool perched above Victoria Falls
Zambia's Devil's Pool sits beside the drop at Victoria Falls, where a natural rock lip creates a sheltered pool during suitable low-water conditions. Guided…
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Mexico's Cave of Swallows is famous for swifts
At Sótano de las Golondrinas, birds stream out of an enormous vertical shaft and spiral upward into daylight. White-collared swifts and green parakeets use…
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How rain turns Brazilian dunes into lagoons
Heavy rain fills the valleys between the dunes with clear lagoons, where fish appear before the water eventually vanishes.
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Spain's red river gets help from microbes
In the Río Tinto, reactions involving sulfide-rich rock and microbial activity create acidic water rich in rust-colored iron. Some microbes thrive in…
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A bullet ant sting can ruin your whole day
A bullet ant's sting causes intense, burning pain that can incapacitate adults for a full day.
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Why Arashiyama bamboo clacks in the wind
Wind sets the tall bamboo stalks swaying into one another, producing hollow clacks that can drown out other sounds in the grove.
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The fish that catches birds in midair
Tigerfish can leap from the water to snatch swallows in flight, and their interlocking teeth remain visible even when their mouths are closed.
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Texan limestone caves reek of accumulated bat guano
At dusk, millions of bats pour from Bracken Cave in a stream that looks like dark smoke; their accumulated guano gives the cave its notorious stench.
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Australia has enough beaches for decades of daily visits
With more than 10,000 beaches, visiting a different one every day would take over 27 years. That is before allowing any time to travel between them. An…
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Why airport liquids are limited to 100 milliliters
The 3.4-ounce limit is the U.S. equivalent of 100 milliliters, the rounded metric limit for carry-on liquids. It isn’t tied to a specific amount of explosive…
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Your phone probably wasn't going to crash the plane
The restrictions were precautionary, not evidence that a Kindle could bring down a 747; passengers were asked to put devices away during takeoff.
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Finding a continent's center depends on where you draw the edge
Rugby, North Dakota, is famous for its claim to North America's geographic center. But coastlines, islands, and the calculation method affect the answer. A…
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Most of the Sahara isn't sand
About 75% of the Sahara is gravel plains and rocky plateaus, not dunes.
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Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! really puts two exclamation marks on the map
Both marks belong to the Quebec municipality's name, rather than a travel writer getting excited. The unusual punctuation earned it a Guinness listing and…
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Badwater Basin firmly defends the absolute lowest elevation
At 282 feet below sea level, Badwater Basin’s blinding white salt flats mark the lowest elevation in North America.
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Kiribati reaches into all four hemispheres
Its scattered Pacific islands lie on both sides of the equator and the 180th meridian. Those two geographic divisions place the country in the Northern,…
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South Pole stubbornly sits upon heavy continental ice
Unlike the North Pole, which lies on Arctic sea ice, the South Pole is on Antarctica beneath nearly two miles of ice.
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Why Vancouver isn’t on Vancouver Island
Vancouver is a mainland city; Vancouver Island is a separate place that shares its name.
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The river that flows north
This ancient waterway cuts north through the Appalachian Mountains.
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Lake Tanganyika stretches further than any freshwater lake
At 418 miles long, this rift lake also has internal tides, much like an ocean.
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Bay of Fundy violently generates the highest global tides
The bay’s funnel shape concentrates the incoming water, producing tides that can leave boats stranded on mud as the water recedes.
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NASA studies the Atacama as a rehearsal for Mars
Some of the desert’s driest soils preserve traces of past microbial life even where living organisms are extremely scarce. Researchers use those conditions to…
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