The Universal Story

A place to explore, learn and fall in love with the wonderful weirdness of our Universe, world, and species.

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is the black bat flower! It's an incredible plant from Southeast Asia!

It's gorgeous, like the dark knight of flowers 😍

#flowers #garden #science #theuniversalstory

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is a "carrion plant" flower! It smells like rotting flesh to attract flies 😂

Suicide Squad clearly owes someone an apology (no way was that a starfish).

#theuniversalstory #biology #plants

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This lil dude is a lowland streaked tenrec, a very unusual Madagascan mammal! It's adorable 😍

It communicates by rubbing its quills together, the only mammal which does so!

#animals #science #biology

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

These are the Stone Spheres of Costa Rica, giant ancient carved stones from a 1,000-year-old people!

They are now a national symbol and are installed in government buildings, such as the National Museum or or the Legislative Assembly 😍

📷: Anita Gould

#archeology

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is an octopus dreaming!

It was filmed by David Scheel, an octopus researcher for a PBS Documentary.

Scheel thinks the octopus going dark is probably it dreaming about leaving the ocean floor, and then the camouflage is it catching some prey 😍

#nature #science

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is R Aquarri, a binary star system where one star eats the other and then spurts a bit out into rings 😛

It's gorgeous.

📸: (X-ray) NASA/CXC/SAO; (Optical) NASA/STScI, Palomar Observatory, DSS; (Radio) NSF/NRAO/VLA; (H-Alpha) LCO/IMACS/MMTF

#astronomy #space #nasa

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is the Steller sea cow, an extinct marine mammal that was basically a 9-meter long ocean-going dugong.

It was hunted to extinction by humans within 30 years of being discovered by Europeans 😰

(Image: Wikipedia).

#conservation #science #extinction #theuniversalstory

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is the Minaret of Jam! 😍

It's a thousand-year-old tower in the middle of rural Afghanistan.

It's gorgeous! Like a rocket from another world.

#Afghanistan #archeology #Arabic #Islam

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is an epic grizzly bear wrestling match!!

It's truly awe-inspiring 😯

#bear #conservation #wildlife

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is "Cliff Palace" - a stone village built under a cliff face by Native Americans in modern-day Colorado😮😍🔥

The site was looted and damaged after its rediscovery in the 1880s that it lead to the creation of the Antiquities Act in the USA.

#Archaeology #NativeAmerican

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is a wooden spoon carved in the shape of a lady from medieval Africa (the Zulu people). It's amazing!!!

🧐😀😍

#carving #africanart #art

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is a volcanic snail!

It lives 3,000km underwater at 400°C and has an iron shell.

Yet somehow, despite all that, it's endangered because of humans (deep-sea mining).

#science #conservation #wildlife

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is the Taras Shevchenko monument in Ukraine - a monument to their most famous poet. It's currently surrounded by sandbags to protect it.

Slava Ukraine.

#ukraine #Russia #UkraineRussiaWar

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

@SteveO25290456 @sreeni_d Nup, 100% true.

https://t.co/eRqlgCApR5

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is Stanislav Petrov.

He prevented nuclear war, by realizing the USSR's missile early warning system malfunctioned when it incited that 5 missiles were headed for Russia on 26 September 1983 and refusing to fire a counter attack.

#ukraine #NoWar #Russia #nuclearwar

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

These are some medieval manuscripts that have been repaired with stitches!

This was quite common as a way of preserving important books in the early 1400s.

#BookTwitter #History #medievaltwitter

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is the Uffington horse - a 3000-year-old hill figure in Britain!

The locals have a ritual where they have been "scouring" it yearly for at least 500 years (but probably more).

#Archaeology #horse #History

[Archaeology & Art @archaeologyart]

A dancer with a removable crocodile helmet from Mexico. Culture: Colima culture, 300 BC-300 AD. Now on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is Sacsayhuaman, an astounding Incan archeological site 🤔😮😍

The walls are 6 meters tall, with individual blocks up to 200 tonnes. They are so well made, not even a sheet of paper will slide into the cracks.

#Peru #Archaeology #construction

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

LOOK AT THIS LITTLE MOLE!!!😧🥰😝

HE'S ADORABLE!!!

That is all, thank you.

#animals #science

[The Universal Story @_universalstory]

This is the Kernosovskiy idol, a 5,000-year-old Ukrainian statue. It's gorgeous 😍

It was discovered by some builders digging a ditch and was going to be thrown away until some school children rescued it.

Ukraine has a fascinating and deep history.

#Ukraine #Russia #nowar