Devotees offer prayers during New Year's Day at a Hindu temple in Colombo on January 1, 2025. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

Visitors pose for a picture next to a mallard duck on the cobblestones of St Peter's Square with St Peter's Basilica in the background at The Vatican, on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/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.

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

Models parade at the end of Moschino's Autumn/Winter 2017 women's collection during Milan Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, February 23, 2017. (Photo by Stefano Rellandini/Reuters)

Perched on the snout of a crocodile, this brave frog will probably never realise just how much of a lucky escape it's had. For there's one reason the reptile's beady eye is fixed greedily on its visitor with jaws gaping wide in anticipation - it's feeding time. The crocodile had just devoured the first frog in his enclosure, but appeared unable to capture the second.

Emma the Maltese's fur blows in the wind as she rides in her owner's purse on 5th Avenue at Central Park in New York December 2, 2014. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

Victoria's Secret Model Adriana Lima attends the launch of The Showstopper By Victoria's Secret at Victoria's Secret, Herald Square on August 9, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)