Though I stopped doing a Twitter weird science fact (#weirdscifacts) a day early this year, I’m still occasionally posting facts as I come across them.  Here’s a collection of a few tidbits I came across over the past couple of months!

753. July 6: 1 shaft, 4 heads: The echidna’s penis.  This post is NSFW if you happen to work with a bunch of echidnas.  (post by @PygmyLoris, with a  h/t to @scicurious: who else?)

754. July 7: Behold the Boötes void, the spookiest place in the cosmos!  Space is really, really empty, but there are regions of space that are even emptier than that!

755. July 27: Clever ants have hooks on their babies to hang them from the walls.  (post by @myrmecos, h/t @bug_girl)

756. July 30: In 1968, there was an experiment to see if an astronaut can imitate falling movements of a cat.  This may sound weird, but it was a great way to study how astronauts can move in space wearing bulky suits. (h/t @astVintageSpace)

757. August 13: Sand on the beaches of Normandy is up to 4% shrapnel.  This WWII “war sand” is a haunting reminder of the deadly carnage that occurred there.

758. August 17: The primary sensory neuron in the giraffe can be up to 15 feet long! We tend to think of neurons as microscopic things, but the giraffe has a truly gigantic one. (via @GainesOnBrains)

758a. August 17: Rock formation bigger than Connecticut found floating in Pacific.  This is a remarkable testament to the power of volcanic activity.  (h/t @leafwarbler)

758b. August 17: There is a remarkable almost forgotten history of “atmospheric railways” powered by air pressure. (h/t @seelix & @mcshanahan)

759. August 20: Excuse me but this butterfly can see with its butt.  I think that last sentence speaks for itself.  (post by @j_zimms)

760. Aug 31: Project Orion: the 1950s-era idea to power a spaceship with nuclear bombs.  In that era, people had all sorts of ideas for nuclear bombs that didn’t involve nuking Russia.  See, for instance, my previous #weirdscifacts on Edward Teller’s “Operation Chariot“. (h/t @encephalartos)