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On the world map most of us grew up with, Greenland looks about as big as Africa. In reality Africa is fourteen times larger. The map isn't careless. It was built to keep sailors' compass bearings straight, and the price of that promise is that the world swells the closer you get to the poles.

Take sea otters away from a stretch of coast and the kelp forest can vanish, leaving bare rock carpeted in spiny urchins. The odd thing is that the animal holding the forest up never eats the kelp at all.

Some chains of volcanic islands get steadily older as you travel along them, like a timeline laid across the ocean. The reason is that the source of the lava stays roughly where it is, while the plate above it creeps past, punching out new volcanoes as it goes.