71 years ago today, in 1953, a coded message from Russia announcing Stalin’s death was intercepted for the first time by a 21-year-old Air Force Staff Sergeant. It was none other than the renowned singer-songwriter Johnny Cash who held this position.

The platypus is possibly the weirdest animal: it’s a mammal but lays eggs, its duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed and venomous. It has electroreceptors for locating prey, eyes with double cones, no stomach, and 10 chromosomes. It’s fluorescent and glows under UV light.