In November 2021 Bryan Adams took the pictures for next year’s Pirelli calendar, which features fellow musicians including Cher, Rita Ora, Iggy Pop and the American singer Jennifer Hudson, above, as it depicts a typical day in the life of a touring performer. (Photo by Bryan Adams/Pirelli)

Smoke billows from Mt. Etna volcano, as seen from an area near the village of Sant'Alfio, north of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy, Sunday, November 12, 2023. (Photo by Salvatore Allegra/AP Photo)

Finia, a visiting student from Hanover, cools off under a water sprinkler in front of the Chancellery on June 10, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A narrow strip of clouds illuminated in the light of sunset before approaching rain clouds over an alley near Sieversdorf district Oder-Spree, Brandenburg, Germany on July 14, 2016. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/DPA)

If we were to burn NH4Cr2O7 with HgSCN in the Dark Ages in Europe and show it to anyone, it is us who would be burning next on a fiery cross of Inquisition. And it’s no wonder, since this experiment produces a truly marvelous result. At first, as you ignite the mixture of NH4Cr2O7 and HgSCN, all you can see is that it is slowly burning with a reddish flame. After a while, however, a crater is formed in the middle of the burning pile, and then, suddenly, tentacle-like appendages start sprouting from the burning mixture. And you can almost hear the scream of the mad occultist – “Come forth, Kraken! Come forth!” But of course, this is simply a chemical reaction that is called the "Pharoah's Serpent". It was also often sold in firework stores until people realized that it was toxic.

The world's longest moustache (belonging to one Ram Singh Chauhan of Rajasthan, India) measures a staggering 11.5 feet, or nearly 4 metres.

Отава Ё – Яблочко (Otava Yo – Yablochko; Russian: Яблочко, “Little Apple”). Yablochko is a Russian folk song of chastushka style and dance, traditionally presented as sailors' dance. The choreographed version of the dance first appeared in the 1926 Reinhold Glière ballet The Red Poppy and from there is known in the West as the Russian Sailors Dance.

A contestant lies in a chili covered pool eating Chillies during a chili eating contest on July 8, 2018 in Ningxiang, Hunan Province of China. Citizen Tang Shuaihui ate 50 Chillies in one minute winning the contest. (Photo by VCG/Getty Images)