Caves are supposed to be dark passages with narrow openings and sharp rock formations like stalactites. Prohodna cave in Bulgaria is not like that at all. The cave is only 260 meters long, with unusually tall entrances on both ends. The result is that the cave is not dark at all. Rather, the tall ceilings, indirect light, and lack of stalactites make it resemble a cathedral more than a cave. Indeed, the cave has been used for worship in its history, and many legends have grown up around it. 

Prohodna cave has also been used in the past for imprisonment, and for hiding treasure. Now it is a popular tourist site and a draw for bungee jumpers. Many visitors report feeling spiritual as they walk through the legendary cave, especially when they see its most notable formation- two natural skylights, which are called "the Eyes of God." They are something you have to see to believe, so go to Kuriositas to see and read about those "eyes" in Prohodna cave. 

(Image credit: Ibovec) 

For thousands of years, humans have captured and then bred traits into wild animals that make them useful to us, a process called domestication. Cats and dogs live with us as pets, horses do all kinds of useful work, and livestock became manageable enough for us to eat. Monkeys, on the other hand, are very difficult to domesticate. MinuteEarth goes through the domestication process, and explains why monkeys are so difficult to make into pets -although it has been done here and there. While they lay out the nuts and bolts of how attempts to domesticate monkeys continue to fail, it appears that it comes down to monkeys being very much like humans. They are smart, and they don't want to be domesticated. It shouldn't be that hard for humans to understand. After all, we don't want to be domesticated by another species either, do we? -via Geeks are Sexy 

Some people celebrate the New Year with champagne, others with black-eyed peas. But many people who throw a holiday party offer a cake as well, decorated just for the occasion. That means there's plenty of material for Cake Wrecks. When I first saw the cake shown here, I thought it was shaped like a boot for some reason. But the cupcakes on the side look like a handle, so it might be a beer mug. So what's going on at the bottom? It may have been a case of a certain required number of cupcakes.  

The other cakes in a roundup at Cake Wrecks include one in which "year" is misspelled, and a cake in the shape of a clock that confirms some people can't read an analog clock. There's also a really well-crafted cake in the inexplicable shape of a bald man's head that emphasizes his very bloodshot eyes. But wait, there's more! A second post of New Year cakes gives us a cake in the shape of a champagne bottle that was so bad they added a label to explain what it's supposed to be, among other bakery abominations. 

The duo known as Shuffle Pack demonstrates the dance called the airwalk. It's darned cool when they get to it, as they appear to float in the air slightly above ground level. Ignore the reference to a "stranger;" they do that all the time. Shuffle Pack consists of 14-year-old British twin brothers Alex and Alister, so they are always in tune with each other. 

The dance itself is an illusion. What's happening here is a classic example of misdirection, like a magician would use. Your eye is drawn to the part of the dance step that does not touch the ground, while the dancer's weight is supported by the other foot at that time. See another example here, where the shadows might give you a clue. Their tutorials make it look easy, but like the moonwalk, the final appearance depends on how smoothly you pull it off. They say that this will really strain your leg muscles if you do it for more than a few seconds at a time. See plenty more dance steps at Shuffle Pack's YouTube channel. 

We should all be wary of what we put into our bodies. If you think that something is okay to eat just because someone is selling it to you or because other people are eating it, remember that there's the possibility of a rare case in which things go terribly wrong. Those cases are liable to make global news. The good news is that no one actually died in these five medical stories, although all the patients most likely thought about it. 

I almost titled this post the Five Most Disgusting Medical Stories of 2025 (That Are Fit to Print), but thought that might scare you away from reading it. Hey, I read it while eating, so it isn't that disgusting, but the cases are frightening while still fascinating us. What they have in common is that they resulted from eating something. Find out what that was for each case and how it wrecked someone's body at Ars Technica.

(Image credit: Tamorlan)

Some people don't get out of the house much because they suffer from depression, loneliness, social anxiety, or they don't have the means to go anywhere. And then there are those who are fine but they just prefer to stay home. There's nothing wrong with that, and this video explains what's going on their heads. 

But this is a short video, and only looks at people who have friends and social opportunities and live alone. If you live with friends or family, it's likely you have all the social interaction you need. You might also have little control and no peace and quiet, or maybe you have both. While I loved the challenge and chaos of raising a family, I also appreciate the peace and quiet of living alone, not to mention the freedom to make my own schedule and cover a room with a project whenever I want to. -via Laughing Squid

Some people who live in cold regions like to celebrate the new year by going for a swim in icy waters. In Canada, they've been doing the Vancouver Polar Bear Swim on New Year's Day for 105 years now! Similar traditions take place in Boston and Toronto and many places in northern Europe as well. To those people who return year after year to participate, it's a lot of fun, but what does it do to your body? 

Swimming in cold water puts your body through several processes, such as the cold shock, cold water incapacitation, hypothermia, and recovery, when your core temperature continues to drop after you get out of the water. Body temperature experts recommend limiting a polar swim to 30 seconds, especially for beginners. Never do this by yourself, and be aware of the symptoms of adverse results. Learn what to expect in cold-water swimming, the danger signals, and the mental health benefits that people report when they go for a New Year's swim at Smithsonian. None of this applies if you're heading for a tropical beach for the holiday. 

Matt Nelson of We Rate Dogs has been introducing us to the goodest boys and girls for ten years now. Yes, every dog gets a rating, but they are never less than 10/10, and usually much higher. Every week he ranks the top ten dogs of the week (which often include dogs just being funny on video), and now he's ranking the top ten dogs of 2025. Some are hero dogs that risked life and limb for the people they love. Others used their intelligence. Some are inspirational comeback stories. Some were even martyrs. You'll find links to more information on each story at the YouTube page, but you'll have to supply your own hankies. As Matt would say, the dogs have been very good this year. 

But a top ten list cannot contain enough of the good dogs of 2025. So here's the megamix you've been waiting for. 



Because dogs don't have to be heroes. If they are only cute, funny, loyal, or loved, that is plenty, and more than we deserve. 

Neatorama readers are familiar with Led Zeppelin's habit of covering old songs and taking writing credit, from "When the Levee Breaks" to "Stairway to Heaven." You most certainly know about the time that George Harrison was sued for plagiarizing "He's So Fine" by The Chiffons. But that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to songs that ripped off other songs. Sometimes it's just a sample that was used without permission, but sometimes it's the entire tune or even lyrics. Did you know that "Crocodile Rock" by Elton John was a direct ripoff of a Pat Boone number? Or that "Come Together" by the Beatles has some eerie resemblance to a much faster Chuck Berry song? The 1979 Rod Stewart song "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" sounds suspiciously like a Brazilian song that you just have to hear. You know the hits, but in a list at Cracked, you'll hear the originals for comparison. You know, the ones that brought the lawsuits.    

They made sure to append the title of Wake Up Dead Man with A Knives Out Mystery in its marketing materials so that the fans of the previous two films would at least hear about it. The previous two were Knives Out in 2019 and Glass Onion in 2022. The third installment assures us that Daniel Craig has landed a steady job after leaving the 007 movies. Here he reprises his role as detective Benoit Blanc solving a mystery by talking his way through it, just like the classic whodunits we've seen so many times. 

It's not really a spoiler to reveal that Blanc solves the murder mystery. That's pretty much a given. But beware that this Honest Trailer reveals whodunit right away, before they even introduce the many suspects (the Wikipedia plot summary does, too). If you are determined to see the movie without knowing who the killer is, then rest assured that Screen Junkies enjoyed Wake Up Dead Man, although they do poke fun at its over-the-top characterizations. So expect another Knives Out mystery in 2028. 

You should have a new calendar by now, and you can start filling it up with important events: family birthdays, your next teeth cleaning, the Olympics, and some important stargazing events you won't want to miss. 

If you live in Europe, you may be able to witness a total solar eclipse on August 12th, 2026. Depending on where you are, Americans have a chance at seeing a total lunar eclipse in March. But even in the right place, you'll need to adjust your sleep schedule. There's also a "parade of planets," when six of them appear at the same time, and another when five will align. You might want to observe a "full blood micromoon," which is when the moon seems small because of its distance while also being the second full moon of the month. Jupiter shows up in a spectacular manner in January, and of course there are the usual meteor showers you'll want to catch. Check out all these 2026 events and more with a rundown at Smithsonian. 

(Image credit: NASA/STSCI (S.T.A.R.S)) 

The koala bear is not a bear, the raccoon dog is neither a raccoon nor a dog, and the horned toad is no toad at all. So is a red panda actually a panda? Yes! We call it a red panda to distinguish it from the giant panda, which is actually a bear. The giant panda was given its English name 40 years after the red panda was scientifically described, and besides it had already been called a panda long before that. 

The species name Ailurus fulgens means "shining cat." But we call them red pandas, cat bears, Himalayan raccoons, fire foxes, lesser pandas, or wahs. Wah is a confusing name, but probably as accurate as calling them pandas. It feels derogatory to call them lesser pandas, since the giant panda is the one that's not a panda. You have to wonder how these two very different animals were associated with each other in the first place. The Chinese name for a giant panda means big bear cat, which is two-thirds accurate. The red panda's name in Chinese is small bear cat, which is only one-third accurate. They are small, but they are not lesser. They are pandas. -via The Ark in Space 

You've heard about boys joining the army in the Civil War who were so young that they weren't given weapons but played a drum instead. Perhaps you saw the 1963 Disney TV movie Johnny Shiloh. The film was fictionalized, but was based on a real boy who ran away from home to join the Union Army in 1861 when he was only nine years old. 

John Lincoln Clem was not accepted as a soldier at age nine, but he refused to go home and followed the 22nd Michigan Infantry Regiment. They had to feed the child, and the officers chipped in to pay him. The army officially accepted his enlistment a couple of years later. He was a drummer boy, but he also learned to shoot, and for his heroic deeds in the Battle of Chickamauga, he was promoted to sergeant. Johnny Clem was (and still is) the youngest soldier ever to become a noncommissioned officer in the US Army. He was twelve years old. 

After the war, in which Clem was wounded twice and captured once, he left the army to go to high school. Then he rejoined in 1871 when U.S. Grant appointed him a second lieutenant. Clem retired as a brigadier general in 1915, the last Civil War soldier on active duty. On retirement, he was promoted to major general. Read more on Clem's adventures and accomplishments at Wikipedia.    -Thanks, WTM! 

Mary Berry is an English chef and food writer who's been on British TV for many years, including as a judge on The Great British Bake Off. Here she smoothly raps about anything and everything, thanks to the magic of editing. Listen carefully, and you'll hear a coherent narrative emerge.  

Now, I wasn't familiar with Mary Berry until today, but this is a video by master editor Swedemason (previously at Neatorama), who can make anything interesting with his judicious cuts and deft timing. He's been absent from YouTube for seven years, due to the fact that he got a real job doing this. But his creative job was "indirectly" taken by artificial intelligence, a story that is referenced in the lyrics of this video. Bad news for Swedemason, but good news for us in that he's back making the videos he wants to in order to entertain us. It shouldn't be long before some other company snaps up his skills. -via b3ta 

Ice is slippery. We all know that and take precautions when we have to walk across even a small amount, but when we put on ice skates, something magical happens. While ice skating uses many of the same skills and techniques as rollerblading, there is a fundamental difference in what's happening between the skater and the icy surface. That's because water, the most abundant substance on earth, is kind of strange in comparison with other materials. 

Water crystallizes when it freezes into a solid. However, unlike most substances, ice is less dense than water, which is why ice cubes float in your drink. Under the right conditions, ice will melt into water under pressure, while other substances just compact. When a person wear ice skates, their weight is concentrated into a very small surface, creating more pressure. That's why the condition of a sheet of ice is different before a skater reaches it, while the skate is on the surface, and then after the skater passes the ice. This combination of ice conditions allows a skater to glide across ice while keeping their balance (although it does take some practice). Read about the physical properties of ice and water that enable skating at Big Think. 

(Image credit: Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons)