Hyperion, a coast redwood discovered in 2006, stands about 116 meters tall, higher than a 35-story building. Researchers think no tree can grow beyond roughly 120 to 130 meters: any higher and water struggles too much to reach the top leaves, which no longer have enough pressure to expand. Hyperion is brushing against the ceiling set by physics.
In 2022, a young tagged bar-tailed godwit flew from Alaska to Tasmania in about 11 days of nonstop flight, covering 13,560 km without eating, drinking or landing. Before departure, these birds pile on huge fat reserves and shrink their digestive organs, which are useless during the journey.
To escape rivals, a dung beetle rolls its ball of dung in a straight line. At night, it holds its course using the glowing band of the Milky Way. In a planetarium, researchers showed that beetles rolled straight under a starry sky but wandered aimlessly when the galaxy was switched off. It was the first animal known to navigate this way.