What do the Star Wars planet of Tatooine and the Belgian village of Gingelom have in common? They're both French synonyms for the 'Middle of Nowhere'. tinyurl.com/y4czf3zn

Are these world literature's 100 most essential novels? Of course not, but arguing which are and which aren't is half the fun of this scratch-off poster. The other half is scratching off the ones you have read. Gotta read 'em all? bigthink.com/books/100-essen…

#StrangeMaps #1302 - How to restore your online sanity, one random webcam at a time. bigthink.com/strange-maps/we…

While national borders have proven stickier than Europe’s most ambitious integrationists would have wished, the EU has given rise to regional concepts and realities that transcend the member states. Like this bunch of bananas. For more: shorturl.at/yNcXw

A lot of the New World is named after the Old World - here’s an interesting sample with some of the most famous instances, showing the location of the ‘new’ and ‘old’ toponyms next to each other. For more, go to shorturl.at/ZQ0GN

Does that supplement you’re taking actually benefit your health? For some, the evidence is strong. For many others, not so much. Here’s a quick and easy way to find out what’s been proven to help, and what hasn’t. More here: shorturl.at/4aeTS

The Oxfordshire village of Piddington has just declared its independence from the UK. Don't expect this mini-Brexit to have any real consequences, though. tinyurl.com/32p7env8

#StrangeMaps #1301 - The fungal network is virtually invisible to the naked eye, but weighs about five times as much as all humans alive today. bigthink.com/strange-maps/fu…

#StrangeMaps #1300 - To slightly misquote Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "And that, my liege, is why the Earth is potato-shaped". bigthink.com/strange-maps/na…

#StrangeMaps #1299 - On a world map of lightning strikes, the world’s busiest sea routes glowed bright — until ships cleaned up their act. bigthink.com/strange-maps/su…

#StrangeMaps #1298 - Artificial night light is a surprisingly accurate tool for mapping GDP, poverty, urban sprawl, and even illegal fishing. bigthink.com/strange-maps/ni…

Crewed spaceflight is 65 years old. This map brings it all together. bigthink.com/strange-maps/ev…

Do you call it "cherry knocking", "thunder and lightning", "knock down ginger", or something else? More here: l1nk.dev/CqwBB8s

The combined habitats of the six birds chosen for the redesigned euro banknotes cover all eurozone countries but one – Finland. Finns are right to feel excluded. But there is a solution. l1nk.dev/8fbk4z0

See America through the masterpieces of some of her greatest writers. bigthink.com/strange-maps/am…

#StrangeMaps #1297 - A brief reminder of the folly of war (Korea edition) - bigthink.com/strange-maps/a-…

Online is silver, print is golden. Get the latest Strange Maps article on paper! More here: tinyurl.com/mr2hw6bk @bigthink

#StrangeMaps #1296 - Mapped: How Islam (not Germanic invaders) likely ended antiquity bigthink.com/strange-maps/an…

#StrangeMaps #1295 - The doomed quest for a perfect map of political ideology. bigthink.com/strange-maps/or…

The two provinces of Limburg (one Belgian, one Dutch) share the wrong name: that originates further south. But they do share a language, although that is not straightforward either: as this map shows, it’s a continuum of shifting pronunciations. More at tinyurl.com/mrxvsnzu