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