Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Crows bend wire into a working hook

In 2002, researchers gave a crow some wire & a bucket inside a tube. The crow bent that wire, then hooked the bucket & pulled a piece of bait right out of the bucket, even though nobody showed her how. She even reshaped new pieces when the originals were taken away, proving that crows are capable of tool design, right on the spot.

Some crows solve multi-tool puzzles in sequence

But that’s not all for tools. Crows can use a chain of tools to get something they want, like using a short stick to grab a longer stick, then using that to reach food. They work through it step by step. It’s rather incredible because it means that they’ve mentally pictured the whole plan ahead of time.

Crows remember specific human faces for years

Some crows hold grudges. In field studies, people wearing a “danger” mask trapped crows once, and then disappeared. Years later, when someone showed up in that same mask, the birds sounded the alarm instantly, proving that they could do more than just remember. They actually taught their friends who the enemy was & the memory stuck for close to three years.

They respond strongly to dead crows placed at sites

Crows don’t simply ignore a dead crow when it shows up somewhere. In fact, they’ll gather & caw like crazy, sometimes even calling in backup to help them. They’ll also keep that area in mind afterward. Clearly, crows treat a dead bird like a serious situation worth reacting to, and they can process death.

Crows use cars to crack walnuts

In Sendai, Japan, crows drop walnuts into traffic, and then they wait for cars to run them over. They’ve been seen timing their drops near crosswalks so that they’re able to safely grab the cracked nuts when the light turns red. Essentially, they’re using humans as a tool for their own gains. How incredible is that?

Their brains have “number neurons”

Crows have certain neurons inside their brains that respond to numbers, almost as though they’re tuned to “three” or “five.” And amazingly, they also get the idea of zero. Whenever crows see an empty set, they treat it as a specific quantity instead of just “nothing.” That’s a concept even some animals never understand.

American crows often breed with helpers at the nest

Unlike most birds, American crows don’t always raise chicks as a couple, as extra birds often help them out. These are usually grown offspring. The birds stick around to help feed the babies & guard the nest. Sometimes there’s a whole little family crew pitching in, almost like a backyard bird version of extended relatives.

A crow can sing with two independent tones at once

Hooded crows can actually make two separate notes at the same time. Their vocal organ has two sides that work independently of each other, so one side hits one pitch & the other hits another. The result sounds kind of like two birds singing together. But in reality, it’s just one showing off.

They raise water levels to reach floating food

New Caledonian crows don’t let water stop them from reaching their food. In one experiment, they dropped stones & other heavy bits into tubes full of water until the level rose high enough for them to get their food. They didn’t waste time with sand or lightweight stuff, but instead picked what actually made the water rise fast.

Some crows rub ants on their feathers

Bizarrely, crows don’t avoid ants. They’ve been witnessed rubbing the insects through their feathers or settling down on an anthill so the ants crawl over their bodies. It’s not exactly clear why they do this, but the behavior itself is well recorded. However, it’s possible they’re using the ants to remove bacteria.

The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:

1. Shaping of Hooks in New Caledonian Crows
2. Lasting recognition of threatening people by wild American crows
3. Wild American crows gather around their dead to learn about danger
4. Variations of behaviour of Carrion Crows Corvus corone using automobiles as nutcrackers
5. Neurons selective to the number of visual items in the corvid songbird endbrain
6. Reproductive partitioning and the assumptions of reproductive skew models in the cooperatively breeding American crow
7. Songbirds use pulse tone register in two voices to generate low-frequency sound
8. Using the Aesop’s Fable Paradigm to Investigate Causal Understanding of Water Displacement by New Caledonian Crows
9. Anting behavior by the Northwestern Crow (Corvus caurinus) and American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)

Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Bigger carts quietly nudge bigger hauls

You may have noticed that carts seem absolutely huge now, and that’s not by accident. When the basket’s deeper, your brain changes what it sees as “normal.” This means that throwing in a few extra boxes or items doesn’t feel like much. And once you add cushy handles & smooth wheels, suddenly, a half-full cart looks rather empty.

Right-hand paths and the racetrack route

Most stores are designed like a loop where you end up walking it clockwise. The perimeter has milk, eggs, bread & produce, all the stuff you actually came for, but between those staples are some strategic detours. A well-placed display or sign right on that loop will pull you into aisles you didn’t plan to visit. But the grocery store wanted you to.

Slow background music changes your pace

The playlist isn’t there for ambiance. When the music goes a little slower, you do as well, and you’ll spend more time wandering with slower steps. Somehow, you end up browsing things you normally breeze past. Fast music has the opposite effect. As such, grocery stores rarely use this kind of music.

Shelf facings and top shelves boost attention

The way products are lined up matters way more than people think. For example, a cereal box with four facings is more likely to catch people’s eyes than one crammed in the corner. The top shelves are also prime territory because your eyes naturally land there first, so brands fight hard for that real estate.

Endcaps at the back pull you into aisles

Sure, the flashy endcaps up front are obvious, but the really powerful ones are the ones at the back. Those displays sit at the end of quieter aisles to pull people in. Whenever you walk by, you’ll see a glimpse of chips or new coffee flavors, which will encourage you to go down an aisle you weren’t planning to enter.

Ambient scents & front-of-store aromas

The first few steps into a grocery store usually smell much better than they have any right to. And it’s not just luck. Grocery stores deliberately place bakeries & coffee stations, even flowers, right near the entrance because the smell hits you quickly. It wakes up your appetite and puts your brain in “buying” mode before you’ve got a cart. 

Lighting changes depending on the section

You should pay attention to the lights in the grocery store because they’re not the same everywhere. In the produce section, there’s bright, crisp lighting so everything looks extra fresh, while in wine or specialty sections, the lighting softens a bit so people slow down. Packaged aisles usually sit somewhere between the two.

Eye-catching floor patterns slow you down

The flooring may not seem like it’d matter, yet it does. Some sections have tiles that suddenly get smaller or have busier patterns, which makes you naturally ease up your pace. In that extra moment when you stop, those nearby displays get a better shot at grabbing your attention. It’s quite smart.

The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:

1. Grocery Carts Have Gotten Bigger So You’ll Buy More Things
2. An exploratory look at supermarket shopping paths
3. Using Background Music to Affect the Behavior of Supermarket Shoppers
4. Does In-Store Marketing Work? Effects of the Number and Position of Shelf Facings on Brand Attention and Evaluation at the Point of Purchase
5. Assessing the sales effectiveness of differently located endcaps in a supermarket
6. Ambient scent as a mood inducer in supermarkets: The role of scent intensity and time-pressure of shoppers
7. The influence of in-store lighting on consumers’ examination of merchandise in a wine store
8. Altering Speed of Locomotion

Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Cattle see two cone colors, not a true red

Bulls’ eyes are wired differently from humans, and instead of three color sensors like us, they only have two. Neither one of these is tuned to red. As such, when they look at that famous cape, it’s essentially just another shade of dull grayish-green, and there’s no red alert going on in their brains.

Red versus green

When light levels are balanced, cattle also have a hard time telling one hue from another because their eyes rely more on brightness differences than subtle color shifts. They’re unable to pick red over green unless the lighting’s uneven. When both of them look equally bright, it’s more of a guessing game when they’re trying to spot the difference.

The importance of movement

So what’s going on? When the cape’s completely still, the bull normally does nothing & just stands completely still. But the second that thing swishes, the animal snaps to attention. This is because bulls rely on motion to decide whether something’s a threat. The color itself is background noise for a bull, compared to a sudden flick or wave.

Fighting cattle show no pull to red

Spanish fighting bulls don’t care more about red than any other color. In fact, most bulls simply react to whatever is in front of them when it moves, and a bright blue tarp would do the trick just as well as a red one. However, most shows use red because it’s easier for humans to see, not the bulls.

Two capes, two colors

Usually, bullfighters use two capes. The first one is often magenta & gold, which the bulls charge at just fine, while the red one is used later mostly for tradition. It also masks the animals’ blood stains. However, in practice, both colors get equal attention from the bull because it’s the waving motion that sets them off instead of the shade.

Red became the usual choice in the 1800s

Matadors didn’t use to have a strict color rule. In the early days, the fighters waved white or yellow cloth, sometimes blue, as red wasn’t the most popular option. It took until the 1800s for it to become the standard. Bullrings across Spain began using the red muleta, and by the late 19th century, it was practically the only option.

The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:

1. Photopigment basis for dichromatic color vision in cows, goats, and sheep
2. Behavioral Principles of Livestock Handling
3. The Perception of Color by Cattle and its Influence on Behavior
4. Colour perception in fighting cattle

Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Jeans’ tiny fifth pocket 

All jeans have a small, stiff square pocket inside the front-right pocket, which isn’t actually for coins. In 1879, Levi’s included it for pocket watches & the reinforced stitching kept those watches from breaking loose. But it still stuck around, long after people ditched the watch chain.

Rivets on jeans guard stress points

Jeans have another secret in the form of copper rivets, which are those little metal dots at the corners of the pockets. Originally, they were patented as reinforcements for miners’ & workers’ pants in the 1870s. They stopped the pockets ripping after wearers hauled tools & gear. These days, though, the rivets are more of a fashion statement than anything useful.

Sneaker eyelet holes secretly ventilate

You might’ve been curious about why canvas sneakers have random metal eyelets on the side. They’re not for laces at all & those extra holes are there so your foot doesn’t stew in its own sweat. Essentially, these holes let heat and moisture escape. You can think of it as a tiny air-conditioning system…hiding in plain sight.

Dress shirt loops once hung from lockers

Some button-down shirts have a weird little loop of fabric on the back. What’s it for? Well, not mere decoration, as college guys in the 1960s used it to hang their shirts on gym lockers. The loops stopped them from mangling collars & the style survived despite the fact that the lockers disappeared.

Hoodies often hide earbud channels

Take a close look at the drawstrings on your hoodie. Instead of just a cord, you may see that the string’s hollow, which is so that wires can run through it, while stitched eyelets inside the hood let you feed earbuds up & out. Sportswear brands started playing with it years ago. This was mainly for runners who hated cords bouncing everywhere, and it’s continued to this day.

Gussets under armpits keep sleeves freer

Thankfully, some T-shirts don’t ride up when you throw your arms overhead, and that’s because of hidden gussets. These are small triangular pieces sewn under the arm that spread out tension. Originally, military undershirts used them, but they’re now part of workout outfits, too, and you might only notice them when you turn the shirt inside out.

Blazer sleeve buttons were once functional

The rows of buttons stitched on blazer cuffs are almost entirely decorative today. But in the past, they were actually meant to unbutton so people could roll their sleeves up. Army surgeons wanted jackets they could push back in a hurry. However, it’s only expensive tailored blazers that still have working cuffs, while most off-the-rack ones fake it with sewn-shut buttonholes.

The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:

1. Why Do Jeans Have That Tiny Pocket?
2. Levi Strauss patents copper-riveted jeans
3. Experimental Study of Heat Dissipation in Indoor Sports Shoes
4. What are surgeon cuffs? [and when to wear them]
5. The Reason Why Button-Down Shirts Have Loops On the Back
6. Wired clothing and earphones US7519192B1 Patent
7. Other Richmond Depot Soldier’s Clothing
Drawers and Shirts
8. Demystifying the jacket sleeve

Here are seven interesting facts about swimming pools. Which one surprised you the most?

Urine really does react with chlorine

Pool smell doesn’t come solely from chlorine. It’s actually from when urine mixes with chlorine to create gases like cyanogen chloride & trichloramine, both of which irritate your eyes and nose.

Tiny amounts of uric acid trigger this chemical reaction. So yes, your eyes stinging after swimming is caused by chemistry, rather than cleanliness.

Scientists measured how much urine is actually in pools

Speaking of urine, scientists performed tests to see how much urine is in pool water. They checked for a sugar substitute known as acesulfame-K, which passes through the body unchanged. What did they find?

It was in every pool they tested. The scientists compared levels & found out that a public pool likely has around 30 to 75 liters of urine. How delightful.

Swimmers add sweat

Most people have no clue about how much they’re actually “contributing” to pool water. Each swimmer adds sweat & plenty of other organic material to the swimming pool, even when they don’t leave the lane.

The average person releases around 0.1 to 0.8 liters of sweat every hour. That’s not including other compounds like nitrogen & carbon. These all mix together in the pool, making for a shared experience in the worst way.

The water looks blue because red light gets absorbed

Physics is the reason why pools look blue, not dye or tiles. Water naturally absorbs red light better than blue. The light that bounces back to your eyes looks sky blue, and the deeper the pool, the more blue it appears to your eyes.

It’s the same reason a glass of water looks clearer than an Olympic pool.

Green hair from pools comes from copper, not chlorine

That’s not all for colors. Most people assume that when their hair goes green after swimming, it must mean there’s a high concentration of chlorine in the pool. But the real cause is copper.

Copper leaches from pipes & algaecides, then grabs onto your hair protein. The effect is especially noticeable with blond or color-treated hair.

Thankfully, you can avoid the effect by rinsing your hair first or using special shampoos to take the metal out.

Olympic pools are kept colder on purpose

Olympic swimming pools are cooler than you might expect. Officials keep the temperature around 77 to 82°F. Why?

Because it’s the perfect temperature for when you’re trying to move quickly, as cooler water helps your muscles work longer. The lower temperature also keeps your body temperature steady when you’re doing intense laps.

The world’s deepest pool could swallow a building

Poland is home to the world’s deepest swimming pool. It’s called Deepspot & it has a drop of approximately 148 feet. That’s rather impressive when you remember that the average building is only around 20 to 26 feet, including the roof.

Deepspot also holds a million gallons of water. But the pool isn’t made for a casual swim. It’s only for divers & film crews, as well as those who are training to deal with pressure under deep water.

The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:

1. Volatile disinfection byproducts resulting from chlorination of uric acid: implications for swimming pools
2. Quantification of continual anthropogenic pollutants released in swimming pools
3. Absorption spectrum (340–640 nm) of pure water. I. Photothermal measurements
4. Sweetened Swimming Pools and Hot Tubs
5. Pseudo Green Hair
6. Deepspot – a pool of extraordinary transparency
7. FINA facilities rules 2021 – 2025

Here are seven animals that can function on almost no sleep at all. Which one do you think has the easiest life?

African elephants

Elephants are the largest land animals, yet they’re also some of the lightest sleepers. They average around two hours of sleep every day. Sometimes, they can do with less.

Most elephants stay standing & swaying gently, only lying down every few days for a proper nap. Their REM sleep, the kind of sleep where you dream, lasts barely a few minutes.

Great frigatebirds

Sleeping while flying over the ocean sounds impossible. But frigatebirds do exactly that. They take tiny naps that last a few seconds & keep one half of their brain awake to avoid crashing mid-air.

They’ll sleep like normal birds only on land. However, out at sea, they make do with approximately 45 minutes of rest total in 24 hours.

Northern elephant seals

Elephant seals spend many months hunting prey far from shore. They’ll only nap while they’re diving hundreds of feet underwater. Even then, they sleep for a few minutes before floating back up half asleep.

How much sleep do they get in a day? Less than 2 hours. But that’s somehow enough to keep them going between meals.

Bottlenose dolphins

The idea of sleeping with one eye open is true for dolphins. Half their brain switches off while the other half stays awake, helping them to surface when they need to breathe. They’re also able to watch for danger without ever being fully unconscious.

Dolphins take turns between turning each brain half off. Essentially, they never completely shut down in the way that we do with our brains.

White-crowned sparrows

White-crowned sparrows barely sleep during migration season & they will only nap in very short bursts. They’ll spend most of the night flying. But what makes these animals so incredible is that they’re able to fly thousands of miles each season without ever collapsing from exhaustion.

It’s only once they arrive at their destination that they’ll fully sleep.

Pectoral sandpipers

Mating season is important for all animals, and pectoral sandpipers are no different. In fact, male sandpipers will stay awake for up to three weeks chasing mates. They’ll do this during the Arctic summer, when the sun never sets.

What do they do during this time? Simply moving & calling, perhaps defending their ground, and the ones that sleep for the least time are often the ones most “successful” during mating season.

Common swifts

Common swifts are another kind of bird that can fly for long stretches without sleeping. They’ll stay in the air for nearly ten months without landing. Yes, that means they’ll eat & drink, as well as sleep, in mid-air.

Swifts only take small brain breaks in the air. They’re capable of flying ten months straight in the sky. Not bad for a bird that’s lighter than an ounce.

The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:

1. Inactivity/sleep in two wild free-roaming African elephant matriarchs – Does large body size make elephants the shortest mammalian sleepers?
2. Evidence that birds sleep in mid-flight
3. Brain activity of diving seals reveals short sleep cycles at depth
4. Dolphins Can Maintain Vigilant Behavior through Echolocation for 15 Days without Interruption or Cognitive Impairment
5. Adaptive sleep loss in polygynous pectoral sandpipers
6. Migratory sleeplessness in the white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii)
7. Annual 10-Month Aerial Life Phase in the Common Swift Apus apus

Here are nine facts about plastic that’ll stick with you in the same way. Which fact do you think will make people take notice?

Global output and recycling reality

Recent figures show that the world makes approximately 460 million tons of plastic every year. It’s around double what we made at the start of the century.

Sadly, very little of the plastic we make today is recycled, roughly only 9%. The rest of it? It’s burned or buried, perhaps even going off somewhere it’s not supposed to be.

Annual leakage into waters

Approximately 19 to 23 million tons of plastic go into our waterways. This figure includes rivers & lakes, even oceans.

Essentially, it’s the equivalent of thousands of garbage trucks’ worth of plastic trash that gets dumped into our water, day after day, week after week. It’s terrible for wildlife.

Size and makeup of the Pacific patch

You may have heard of the Pacific patch. It’s a huge mass of plastic in the Pacific that’s far bigger than most people realize. How big? It’s about the size of Alaska.

Most of what’s floating in the patch is large chunks like ropes & nets that come from fishing. Roughly half of the mass is simply old gear lost or tossed overboard. The trash continues to drift in circles.

Microplastics detected in human blood

Most of us know that microplastics are everywhere, although not everyone knows they’re actually inside us. Yes, scientists have found plastic inside human blood samples.

We all have tiny plastic polymers floating through our veins, like from our food & the air. There’s no way to escape plastic.

Plastic falls with the rain

Water isn’t the only thing coming down when it rains. Tests in mountain regions found that there are bits of plastic fibers in water droplets that likely came from clothing fibers carried into the clouds.

Other plastic droplets probably came from tire dust floating in the air. A thunderstorm could actually pour down microplastics onto the world.

Highest-altitude microplastics

Speaking of mountains, there’s even plastic high up in the Himalayas. Samples have found microplastics in the snow near Everest Base Camp & higher on the mountain.

The plastic on the mountain likely came from climbers’ clothes and tents. It may have come from their equipment, too. Whatever the cause, the synthetic fibers stick around long after everyone has gone back down.

Plastic keeps leaking chemicals long after you toss it

Unfortunately, throwing away plastic won’t fix the problem. The additives used in plastic to make it flexible or fire-resistant leak, causing chemicals like phthalates to go into the air & soil.

But it gets worse. Researchers have discovered traces of these chemicals inside people’s homes and bodies.

Glass-bottled drinks contain more microplastics than plastic bottles

Yes, glass bottles sound like they should be the better choice. But not always. Tests on glass beer & soda bottles found that they have more plastic particles in them than plastic ones. How? 

It’s the bottle caps. Every time you twist open and close the bottle, the inner seal layers release microplastics into your drink.

There’s a rock formation made of plastic on shorelines

Researchers have found rocks coated in thin layers of melted plastic on coasts around the world. They gave it the name “plasticrust.”

Plasticrust is formed when bits of polyethylene trash soften under the heat. It then sticks to the stone. Eventually, the plasticrust becomes part of the shoreline.

The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:

1. Global Plastics Outlook
2. Plastic Pollution
3. Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic
4. Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood
5. It is raining plastic
6. Reaching New Heights in Plastic Pollution—Preliminary Findings of Microplastics on Mount Everest
7. Additives of plastics: Entry into the environment and potential risks to human and ecological health
8. Microplastic contaminations in a set of beverages sold in France
9. Plasticrust generation and degeneration in rocky intertidal habitats contribute to microplastic pollution

Key takeaways

You’ll learn about:

• What everyday was like for Zimbabweans
• Why they had a million-dollar bill
• How the nation’s money lost value so quickly
• How the financial crisis ended

Where this happened, and the time window

The problems began in Zimbabwe. The country is in southern Africa and it’s between South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia & Botswana. Things really started to go bad there in 2007. Inflation spun out of control, causing prices to skyrocket.

How did this happen?

Budget gaps & central bank stopgaps

Like with most issues, it took a while for these problems to first emerge. The nation’s government was desperately running out of cash during the mid-2000s. Spending was more than what they could cover. But they chose not to cut back & the bank instead chose to foot the bill for many public programs, including farm support and bailouts.

It then decided to print more money to fill the financial hole as an initial temporary measure. Unfortunately, the bank never stopped. Prices continued to climb while the value of money stopped stretching as far, so inflation went out of control.

Shrinking output and fewer dollars coming in

More money hit the streets, but companies produced less stuff for people to buy. Years of disruption had already caused issues for farming. Now, harvest numbers continued to fall, so Zimbabwe’s export numbers also fell. There were fewer American dollars coming into the country. 

The lack of exports caused the trade gap to widen. Shops couldn’t stock fast enough & factories struggled to find imported parts, so everything that relied on foreign currency was now more expensive. As for the economy, it shrank overall. That only made the financial issues worse. 

How fast prices moved

Prices began doubling at a rate that people couldn’t keep up with, sometimes changing multiple times in a day. Monthly inflation was at a percentage rate in the billions, so the money people received on payday was practically useless a few days later. 

Zimbabweans could go to the market in the morning, only to find out that prices were double at dinner time. People feared that prices would increase & they would buy whatever they could the moment they got paid. It was a time when saving cash had no benefits. 

When “millionaire” became normal

The first real million note hit circulation in Zimbabwe in January 2008. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe released a Z$1,000,000 bearer cheque, simply because it needed to keep up with rising prices. Such a note was something that normal people needed, rather than collectors. Regular bills couldn’t buy them much. 

It actually got so bad that people couldn’t buy something as simple as a bus fare without a huge amount of cash. Teachers & shopkeepers began carrying these hefty bills in their pockets practically overnight.

The notes people actually carried

During this time, the central bank continued to print money. They began with millions. They moved on to billions. But even that wasn’t enough, so they started printing a 100-trillion-dollar bill in 2009, although it was only worth a few U.S. dollars. Many people put their value into physical goods like fuel & soap. They simply needed something that would hold its price for a week.

People were forced to use this money to buy groceries & pay for rent. They also bought bus fares this way. While the notes did look rather impressive, their buying power was practically gone.

A single loaf of bread could cost someone Z$2 million, while a taxi ride across town would likely be several million more. Several workers were paid daily instead of monthly. Why? Because prices were changing too quickly for salaries to keep up.

Shops rewrote price tags constantly, and people started using calculators at the checkout to figure out how many zeroes they needed to count. Cash ran short, and even basic goods became a math problem.

What ended the “millionaire” moment

Finally, in April 2009, the Zimbabwean government decided they had had enough & chose to stop printing the national dollar. They used other currencies instead. These were mostly U.S. dollars & the South African rand, but they also tried using other currencies, as long as they were stable. 

Switching the currency stopped the price from spiraling and ended the nation’s inflation issues. Shops now began to price things normally again. However, the economic consequences continued to affect the country for many years.

The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:

1. Zimbabwe: 2009 Article IV Consultation—Staff Report; Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Zimbabwe 
2. Zimbabwe: Challenges and Policy Options after Hyperinflation
3. Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe: money demand, seigniorage and aid shocks
4. Inter-temporal Changes in Well-being During Conditions of Hyperinflation: Evidence from Zimbabwe 
5. Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe
6. A Dynamic Enquiry into the Causes of Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe 
7. Country report on the state of plant genetic resource for food and agriculture
8. The Recovery and Transformation of Zimbabwe’s Communal Areas

Let’s find out about the hidden floors on this iconic American building. 

Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Key takeaways

Here’s what you’ll find out:

• The hidden floor above the observatory & who actually gets to see it
• Why the mast adds more floors than the public realizes
• What’s inside the spire that keeps it running

What “hidden floors” really means

When people say the Empire State Building has “secret” floors, they’re usually talking about the ones tucked up inside the spire. Technically, the building ends at the 102nd floor. But there’s a small area right above it. It’s an extra level used by maintenance crews & engineers. Sadly, most visitors never get to see it, even though it’s been there since the 1930s, because it’s entirely closed off to the public.

Where that extra level actually sits

It’s a short climb above the glassed-in 102nd-floor observatory to the 103rd floor. It’s tiny. The balcony up there wraps around the spire & has a waist-high railing, so it’s definitely not a tourist spot. Even celebrities or special guests who’ve visited that level need safety harnesses just to step outside. Do you really want to risk falling from somewhere as high up as this place?

The original plan

Interestingly, the whole top of the building wasn’t supposed to end with radio antennas. When it was first drawn up in 1930, the designers imagined blimps would dock right at the crown. They thought passengers could disembark straight into the skyscraper. However, it didn’t last long due to the updrafts & crosswinds.

How tall the mast really is

The crown is a 14-story steel mast stacked on top of the tower’s roof. While you can’t see the floors individually from outside, they’re built into the structure. They’re what give the building its unmistakable silhouette.

After the Empire State was completed in 1931, that mast helped it hit a total height of 1,250 feet and become the tallest building in the world at the time.

What’s hiding inside the spire

You won’t find marble or chandeliers inside the mast. It’s simply made of narrow service corridors & cables, which maintenance workers still use to check antennas & wiring. Sure, these areas aren’t for show. But they’re absolutely essential to keeping the building running.

Why the floor count seems confusing

Different records list the Empire State Building as having 102 floors. And that’s true for the main tower. The extra floor tucked into the mast isn’t counted in that number because it tends to be more of a service level than a regular story.

Yet adding those 14 mast levels on top means you could argue the building has well over a hundred floors.

How people move

The Empire State Building runs a huge elevator network with 73 cars in total. And they don’t all do the same job. Some move tourists to the observatories & others haul freight, while the rest handle office traffic.

The system’s changed a lot since 1931. The original 64 elevators were hand-operated, but modern ones run automatically and recycle energy when they slow down. 

LED system & scheduling

The lights that cover the top of the building come from a computer-controlled LED setup that went live in 2012. Staff run everything from a control room with software that lets them plan light shows weeks ahead. They can change colors & dim sections in seconds. They’re even able to switch to a full pattern.

The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:

1. Empire State Building (Individual Landmark) Designation Report
2. National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Empire State Building
3. The Empire State Building: The Making of a Landmark
4. Empire State Building Facts: All You Need to Know
5. A “New” New York State of Mind: Empire State Building Redefines New York City Skyline With Philips LED Lighting

Here are thirteen riots that started over everyday objects. Which one is the worst to you?

Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock.

Straw hat (1922)

In 1922, in New York City, people began tearing straw hats off those walking the streets because they continued wearing them after hat season had unofficially ended.

Fights erupted in Harlem & on bridges. They also emerged along the streets. Over eight days, the city saw arrests and injuries, with the mess becoming a genuine hat-war scandal.

Vinyl records (1979)

Promoters invited fans at Chicago’s Comiskey Park to bring disco records to blow up between games. It soon got out of hand.

Pretty quickly, dust & debris were everywhere, causing the field to get trashed, and even the police became involved. The second game was eventually called off.

Cabbage Patch Kids (1983)

Stores got overrun when the Cabbage Patch Kids craze hit. In Charleston, WV, 5,000 people caused chaos inside a department store, wrecking displays & shoving each other.

It actually got so bad that the police had to step in to restore order. All that drama for, quite literally, a kid’s doll.

“Tickle Me Elmo” (1996)

In 1996, a Canadian Walmart had 48 dolls for a midnight sale. There were 300 people outside chanting for Elmo.

When they finally got in, it turned into a mosh pit, with one poor employee getting knocked over & stomped on. It was so bad he ended up in the hospital with cracked ribs and a concussion. 

Air Jordan XI “Concord” (2011)

Sneakerheads camped out in front of malls everywhere in December 2011 for the latest kicks. By sunrise, the Air Jordan XI “Concord” drop was more of a riot than a shoe sale.

Windows smashed & shoppers shoved each other, while police in several cities used pepper spray just to calm things down. A few were even stabbed trying to skip lines. It was that serious.

iPhone 4S (2012)

Outside Apple’s Beijing store, hundreds of people waited all night for the new iPhone 4S. But then the staff delayed opening. As such, the customers’ patience ran out, and they started throwing things everywhere.

Security was forced to lock the place down. It got so bad that Apple actually suspended in-person sales in parts of China. Who knew that people would get so desperate for a phone?

Nutella (2018)

French store chain Intermarché knocked 70% off Nutella in 2018. Shoppers went wild. Soon enough, people began grabbing jars straight out of each other’s hands, with some even climbing over displays just to reach the last few tubs.

This forced the police to be called. Apparently, France takes its chocolate spread very seriously.

Sugar and cooking oil (2011)

In Algeria, basic groceries became a source of drama after the price of sugar & cooking oil shot up overnight.

People hit the streets & rioters burned tires. They also smashed storefronts and clashed with police for several days, forcing the government to slash food taxes just to calm things down.

Onion (2010)

Onions are practically a necessity in India. So when prices tripled, tempers did too, leading to rioters raiding markets and blaming traders for their issues.

They dragged politicians into the outrage, and this meant the government scrapped import taxes & rushed in extra supplies. Nothing stings quite like an onion shortage in India, apparently.

Toilet paper (2013)

Most people remember the 2020 toilet paper shortages. But it was even worse in Venezuela in 2013.

Shortages were so bad that new shipments caused stampedes, with shoppers packing aisles shoulder-to-shoulder & clearing entire pallets in minutes. Bizarrely, officials actually imported millions of extra rolls to make up for the shortfall.

Cheese (1766)

Yes, cheese. In 1766, prices at Nottingham’s annual Goose Fair suddenly spiked, and the crowd wasn’t having it, so they chased off sellers.

They also rolled cheese wheels down the streets like bowling balls & some ended up dumped in the river. To scatter the mob, the authorities literally read the Riot Act.

Black Friday (2014)

Britain’s first real “Black Friday” was supposed to be fun. Instead, grocery stores across the country became wrestling rings packed with people shoving & shelves collapsing.

Police fielded dozens of emergency calls, targeting 15 stores in Manchester alone. By dawn, several shoppers were cuffed, and TV anchors referred to it as “America’s worst habit.”

Bread (2010)

The cost of bread quickly went up in Mozambique & people’s frustration spilled out fast. In Maputo and nearby towns, people poured into the streets, blocking roads & throwing stones.

Police had to fire rubber bullets and tear gas to push crowds back. Sadly, several people were killed & hundreds were hurt in the mayhem.

The following sources were consulted in the preparation of this article:

1. 100 Years Ago Men and Boys Fought on the Streets of New York Over Wearing Straw Hats Past Summer
2. The 1979 riot that ‘killed’ disco
3. The Strange Cabbage Patch Craze
4. Stampede For ‘Elmo’ Puts Clerk In Hospital
5. Violence Erupts Across the Country Around Release of Nike Air Jordans
6. iPhone sales halted after shoppers pelt Apple store with eggs
7. Great Cheese Riot of Nottingham
8. Fresh rioting breaks out in Algerian capital Algiers
9. Bathroom Blues: Venezuela’s Toilet-Paper Crisis
10. How did France, gastronomic capital of the world, sink to brawls over Nutella?
11. Black Friday: police criticise Tesco after some stores see ‘mini riots’ – as it happened
12. Police disperse rioters in Mozambique bread protests