A key design feature shared by many 100-year-old barns and some modern skyscrapers is that the external shell carries the building's load with a minimal use of internal columns for support. Internal floors and walls, if any, function in a structural way to stiffen the building.

The eye is an amazing instrument, but it does not function alone. Even with visual receptors rapidly sending data along the optic nerve, no mental image will form at all unless the brain is properly equipped to manage the input. One data processing feature of the brain enables what is called perceptual stability.

Portions of a primate’s fossilized face and jaw were recovered near Barcelona in 2004.

In American football, the quarterback can hand off the football to a team member, who then may do a handoff to another player. Exciting plays may be put together that combine several handoffs and even a pass downfield to an awaiting player who, hopefully, carries the ball to the goal.

Snowball is a sulfur-crested cockatoo. He’s also a YouTube sensation, as this bird dances by bobbing his head and lifting his feet to a musical beat.