Tom Scott: Things You Might Not Know

The 1933 British penny is one of the most famous coins in the world. I'm not saying this is definitely a heist movie waiting to happen... but I do think someone should write it. I Thanks to the team at Baldwin's, and the penny's owner, for letting me film

In the 1960s, America was running "Operation Plowshare": the idea that perhaps nuclear bombs could be used for peace, not war. At least some British scientists had similar ambitions, and it involved setting off a nuclear bomb under Wheeldale, in the North York Moors National Park.

On Sunday, the South Terminal at London's Gatwick Airport will reopen for the first time since 2020. It turns out that mothballing an entire terminal isn't quite as easy as turning out the lights. Thanks to all the team at Gatwick Airport! (To be clear, this isn't a sponsored video: I approached them about filming this, and I'm grateful for the access. I did not expect to get out on the airfield.) Bonus fact for pulling down the description: this was filmed on Wednesday, when the cloud of Saharan dust was in the atmosphere. I had to do a lot of colour-correction to make the outside scenes look normal!

Did I need to get a radio controlled clock and travel to Anthorn to film this video? Absolutely not. But for a few minutes, that clock was really, really accurate.

In southern France, there's a man called Christian who flies a microlight aircraft, alongside flocks of birds. And he takes passengers

The "accelerated pavement testing facility" in Nantes can simulate decades of road traffic in a few months. Here's how.

Royal FloraHolland's flower auction in Aalsmeer had a famous clock: a literal Dutch auction where the first person to press their button would win. But it's no more, and that's down to the internet.

At the Remote Encoding Center in Salt Lake City, keyers process 1.2 billion images of mail every year. It's a more difficult job than I thought.

The "T-Rex" is the University of Texas' large mobile shaker, and I got to see it in action.

It's about synchronisation, right? Well, not exactly...

The Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland is 57km long: and I think its greatest piece of safety equipment is nowhere near the tunnel itself.

The Headington Shark, in Oxford, UK, is a local icon: but it was protest art, put up without permission. Now, the local government wants to protect it

There's a lot of articles written about how tap water in Warsaw is constantly tested by a small team of clams. It felt like a hoax to me: so I went to find out.

The brown marmorated stink bug is an invasive pest. To help deal with its numbers, the Oregon Department of Agriculture is releasing its natural enemy: the tiny samurai wasp. There's a lot of work that goes into it