100 things to know about planet earth

Africa is bigger... or smaller...than Greenland - depending on your map

Shadows and a camel...are all you need to measure the Earth

Conditions on Earth...are just right for life

Two dozen rabbits...changed the landscape of Australia

Water, water everywhere...but barely a drop to drink

Nets, ropes and plastic bags...were found inside a whale

No environment on Earth..is too extreme for bacteria

All the bacteria on Earth...outweigh all the human beings

Deserts bloom with flowers...after rainstorms

Shyness...prevents some trees from touching

The great dying...killed almost all the species in the sea

We're living in an ice age...but it won't last much longer

To experience Mars on Earth...scientists visit the Atacama Desert

Sand can sing...whistle and even roar

Sand thieves...are stealing entire beaches

The world's biggest waterfall...is an underwater waterfall.

Astronomers of the future...will see a different North Star

Without the Moon...the Earth would seesaw catastrophically

A creaking sinkhole...is releasing poisonous gases

The conscience pile...is built of guilt, remorse, and petrified wood

Massive earthquakes...make the Earth ring like a bell

Plastiglomerate...is rock made of junk

A new supercontinent...is slowly forming

The Earth is a giant magnet...that defends us from certain death

Seabird droppings...help keep the Arctic cool

Gravity can be weaker...in different parts of the world

Rain as red as blood...once fell in India

We live in the 99th age...of the 34th epoch, 12th period, 3rd era in the 4th eon

Vulcan Point is an island...in a lake...on an island...in a lake...on an island

There's a rare kind of lightning...that looks like jellyfish

A hole in the atmosphere...is healing itself

Seemingly lifeless glaciers...are actually teeming with tiny creatures

You'll need to change your look...to suit Earth's changing climate

Boulders are bigger...than cobbles...and cobbles are bigger than pebbles...

Graffiti...could save a species

The driest place on Earth...is in Antarctica

When islands form...new wildlife gradually develops

Every tree on Earth...recorded the invention of nuclear bombs

A pack of wolves...changed the course of a river

When valleys talk...submarines listen

An accidental bubble...helps to keep the Earth safe

Zastrugi, firn and frazil...are all types of snow and ice

The remotest place on Earth...is closer to space than it is to dray land

1,600 balloons a day...help weather forecasters get it right

Tsunami stones...remind us of disasters yet to come

Arctic foxes...are excellent gardeners

Antarctica was covered in forest...100 million years ago

Antarctica froze...after the Himalayan mountains rose

Diamonds travel...at supersonic speeds

From cosmic dust...entire planets were born

The oldest thing on Earth...is older than the Earth itself

Burning Mountain...has been blazing for 6,000 years

Surfing the Pororoca...can carry you miles inland

Underground goblins...poisoned miners

Arlene...is the most common storm name

A Venezuelan thunderstorm...helps sailors find their way

Terns travel so far in their lives...they could fly to the Moon and back three times

The Boring Billion...was a billion years of nothing

Helium is escaping...and eventually Planet Earth will run out

You don't need an umbrella...to shelter from phantom rain

Earth is smellier...after a rainstorm

An underground rainforest...is growing in the world's largest cave

A vampire and a monster..came out of a volcano

North America's highest peak...has more than 40 names

Desolation and despair...await visitors to the Southern Ocean

Sailing stones...drift across the desert at night

Crystals as big as buses...are growing inside a Mexican cave

Hollywood snow...once came from the Californian desert

Many, many mini moons...orbit Earth at any time

As Earth gets hotter...animals get smaller

All the gold mined on Earth...came from outer space

Pterosaurs couldn't fly...in 21st century skies

A future president...turned the American west into a chessboard

A third man...haunts climbers on the highest peaks

Costumes, wigs and props...were once essential on polar expeditions

A fleet of rubber ducks...helped to track how the oceans move

The Black Death...made the planet colder

A sprinkling of dust...can melt an Alpine glacier

Vog, laze and lavanadoes...make deadly volcanoes even more dangerous

Yesterday and Tomorrow...are separated by a few miles of icy seawater

Friday, Saturday and Sunday...happen all at once

A prehistoric network of caves...was carved out by giant sloths

Fossilized chicken bones...will leave a lasting record of human existence

The greatest threat to life...is humans

There could be a new continent...submerged beneath the sea

Bright blue fire...spews from an Indonesian volcano

One of Tutankhamun's gems...was created by a meteorite strike

Ultramarine blue...was once more valuable than gold

Chimborazo beats Everest...to be the highest point on Earth

Living bridges grow...in the wettest place on Earth

Two to Earth's largest rivers...don't mix when they meet

Super corals...could save the world's reefs

Rogue waves...are common but unpredictable and unexplained

An iron curtain...created a green belt

Desert dust fertilizes...the Amazon Rainforest

An underwater meadow...is older than the pyramids

Life on Earth won't last forever...but how it enads is a matter of chance

Where on Earth? The numbers on this map of the world show the locations of some of the '100 things' described in this book

10 things to do...to protect Planet Earth

Glossary (This glossary explains some of the words usesd in this book. Words written in italic type have their own entries)

Index

Making this book...took a team of armchair explorers.