England’s Natasha Hunt pours champagne into the mouth of Zoe Aldcroft as she holds the trophy after England beat Canada 33-13 in the Women’s Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham in London on September 27, 2025. England became world champions on Saturday in front of 81,885 spectators at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium, while overall 444,465 tickets were sold during the tournament. (Photo by Garry Bowden/ProSport/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A girl rests while ferrying water as Palestinians leave Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip with their belongings, heading towards Gaza City following Israeli evacuation orders on March 19, 2025. The Israeli military dropped leaflets warning residents of what it called “combat areas” in the north and south of the besieged Palestinian territory, after Israel resumed air strikes following a ceasefire breakdown. (Photo by Bashar Taleb/AFP Photo)

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.

A Russian peacekeeper shouts “No pictures!” at a checkpoint outside the city of Stepanakert on November 13, 2020, during a ceasefire in the military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Russian began deploying 2,000 peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10 after Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed a peace deal to end weeks of fierce fighting over the disputed region. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP Photo)