The Venus flytrap, a meat-eating plant, has a pair of leaves that act as jaws and a stomach. If an insect touches the trigger hairs on the surface of these leaves, the leaves close, trapping the insect. Amazingly, a recent experiment showed that the Venus flytrap knew how many times its trigger hairs were touched and could even count the time between these stimuli. The trap only closed if the plant sensed two stimuli within a 20 second time span. Once 20 seconds passed, the process was reset. In addition, more than three stimuli were required for the plant to begin producing the enzymes that digest the trapped insect. Thanks to this process, the Venus flytrap doesn't make meaningless efforts trying to trap and digest raindrops or fallen leaves.

One day, my father took me and my brother on a camping trip. While driving to a nearby forest, he explained how to set up the tent. Almost immediately after we arrived, however, my brother was stung by a wasp, which caused his forehead to swell. We tried to catch our dinner by fishing in a nearby lake, but we failed miserably, returning with nothing but dozens of mosquito bites. Without any fish, we cooked a can of beans over a campfire, which was an unwise endeavor that burned the bottom layer of beans while leaving those on top cold. When bedtime came, we unrolled my father's old sleeping bags to find them stinking of damp mold. The odor was so overpowering that even my father gave up. We packed the tent, got in the car, and drove home.

It has been believed that the ability to contemplate one's own thoughts, also known as "metacognition," was limited to humans. However, recent research performed with rhesus monkeys proves otherwise. Researchers gave 120 rhesus monkeys the chance to search for food placed in one of two tubes arranged in a "v" shape. When the monkeys saw which tube the food was put into, they ran directly to it. However, when they didn't know which tube contained the food, they ran to the spot where the two tubes were joined so that they could easily check both. This experiment shows that, when confronted with a task or a problem, rhesus monkeys are aware of what they know and what they don't know.

"Negative pressure" refers to a situation in which the pressure of an enclosed area is lower than that of the surrounding area. If the barrier between these two areas breaks, any substances in the high-pressure area will immediately flow into the low-pressure area. For example, undersea pipes used to transport oil are in a state of negative pressure; therefore, any break in the pipeline will cause it to fill with ocean water. This is much better than the opposite scenario, in which oil would be released into the ocean. However, negative pressure is not always beneficial, such as in the case of pipes carrying drinking water to a city. If these municipal waterlines are damaged, they can potentially suck in contaminated groundwater, which would then enter the water supply. For this reason, a system of gauges and valves is used to adjust and control their pressure.

If astronauts travel to Mars in the near future, the journey will probably take years. Therefore, providing the astronauts with enough to eat is a major challenge. Scientists are now looking for ways to allow astronauts to extend their food supply by growing crops. Seeds take up less storage space than packaged meals, and astronauts could plant them once they reached Mars. NASA is already conducting experiments to find out what might grow on Mars. The soil on Mars is made up mostly of crushed rocks, so it has few or no nutrients. In a test, NASA planted lettuce in crushed volcanic rock from Hawaii, which also contains few nutrients. The lettuce took a long time to grow, but it tasted normal. Because this test was a success, NASA now plans to find out how long other vegetables would take to grow on Mars.

From 1934 to 1963, Alcatraz was the most secure prison in the United States. Located in San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz imprisoned the worst criminals in the country. Officials insist that no prisoner successfully escaped during its years of operation. However, three prisoners did escape in 1962. John Anglin, Clarence Anglin, and Frank Morris planned one of the most elaborate prison escapes ever devised. First they replaced the air ventilation units from their prison cells with fakes. Then they made fake bodies to place in their beds to trick the guards. Finally, on June 11, they used the fake vents to get outside and into the water, and then sailed away on rafts made from raincoats. They were never seen again, which prompted most to think they successfully escape. However, parts of their rafts and some letters were later found in the bay, suggesting that the men may have drowned.

In 2011, Joao Pereira de Souza, an old man living on an island village near Rio de Janiero, Brazil, found a penguin struggling on the beach. The helpless, starving creature covered in oil was adopted by Mr. de Souza and named Dindim. Mr. de Souza nursed him back to health and released him, thinking they would never meet again. Amazingly, though, Dindim returned! It is believed that he traveled around 5,000 miles between Mr. de Souza's house and the coasts of Argentina and Chile. What is more, he makes this journey every year. After spending about eight months with Mr. de Souza, he goes on his annual migration for his breeding routine, only to return once again.

Metadata is data about data. Let's consider books. They contain a lot of information, but we can also find information about them, such as their title or author. This information, which isn't found in the text itself, is metadata. Metadata is often collected and made available in a single location. Bookstores, for example, often use a database filled with nothing but metadata about every book. Also, publishers usually provide information about their publications in catalogs. In addition, there is a lot of metadata found on computers ― for example, information about files, including the file type, its title, and the date it was created, can be found in their properties tab. All of this is metadata: information about a thing, rather than the thing itself.