B1 · Finding your flow
Polly's weekly adventures and real-world stories.
- Mkono Unaoweza Kuonja Octopus suckers contain special receptors that let an arm taste whatever it touches, even in total darkness. ? Quiz included Audio
- Mbio ambazo jibini daima hushinda Once a year in England, people chase a wheel of cheese down a dangerously steep hill, and the cheese almost... Audio
- Wanyama wawili wapya, kila mmoja kwa ukubwa wa ukucha Scientists in Montenegro just described two snail species new to science, found on limestone cliffs in a... Audio
- Siku mdudu halisi alipoharibu kompyuta In nineteen forty-seven, engineers found an actual moth stuck inside a giant computer, taped it into their... Audio
- Kamba mwenye jua ndani ya kucha yake A small ocean shrimp snaps its claw so fast that it creates a flash of heat nearly as hot as the surface of... Audio
- Nyumba iliyogawanywa kati ya nchi mbili In a small town on the Belgian-Dutch border, some houses sit in two countries at once, and the front door... Audio
- Jeshi lililoshindwa na ndege In nineteen thirty-two the Australian military was sent against emus eating the wheat crop in Western... Audio
- Sokwe wana lafudhi za kikanda A new study of more than eleven thousand recorded calls found that young chimpanzees in different parts of... Audio
- Mtandao uko chini ya maji Almost all international internet traffic travels along cables lying on the sea floor, which break... Audio
- Mnyama anayetoa kinyesi cha mraba Wombats are the only known animal to produce cube shaped droppings, and the corners are formed by uneven... Audio
- Mji unaoishi ndani ya jengo moja Almost every resident of Whittier, Alaska lives inside a single fourteen storey building reached through a... Audio
- Ndege huyu hulala akiwa anaruka Frigatebirds stay in the air for days over open ocean, and researchers put recorders on their heads to find... Audio
- Chakula cha mchana anachokula nchi nzima In the Dominican Republic the main meal lands at midday, it is almost always the same three things, and the... Audio
- Ramani yako ingekosea kabla ya chakula cha mchana Satellite clocks tick faster than clocks on the ground, and if nobody corrected for it your phone would... Audio
- Unawaka mwanga. Hakuna anayeweza kuuona. Human skin gives off a faint light all day long, and a Japanese team photographed it in a sealed dark room. Audio
- Bluu hii ipo mahali pamoja tu A stony beach in the Dominican southwest, one pebble that is blue all the way through, and the single... Audio
- Kahawa moja, nchi mbili In one small town, the border between Belgium and the Netherlands runs straight through streets, houses and... Audio
- Ujumbe wako husafiri chini ya maji Almost everything you send across an ocean travels through cables lying on the sea floor, not through... Audio
- Ufuo unaowaka bluu usiku On some warm coasts, the sea lights up electric blue when you touch it. The light comes from billions of... Audio
- Hoteli inayotembea wakati umelala On a European night train, you fall asleep in one country and wake up in another, with the Alps outside... Audio
- Chakula cha jioni kinachopikwa na volkano On a green island in the Azores, cooks lower a pot into a hot hole in the ground and let the earth slowly... Audio
- Ngome ambayo mfalme hakuishi ndani yake kwa muda mrefu A Bavarian king built a fairy-tale castle on an alpine crag, slept there only a handful of nights, and left... Audio
- Kutembea sakafuni mwa bahari Twice a day the North Sea pulls back for kilometres, and people walk barefoot across the bare seabed before... Audio
- Kwa nini simu yako inazimika kwenye baridi Your phone shows forty percent battery, then dies in the snow. The battery is not empty. It is cold, and... Audio
- Mji uliofichua mto For fifty years, Seoul hid a river under an elevated highway. Then the city tore the highway down, and the... Audio
- Kilomita kumi juu angani Passenger planes cruise about ten kilometres above the ground. That number is not random: it is where the... Audio
- Treni ya mwisho In Tokyo, the trains stop around midnight. Tomas learns this five minutes too late, and discovers where the... Audio
- Binadamu wa kale walistawi msituni Scientists once thought ancient humans avoided rainforests. New evidence from West Africa says they thrived... Audio
- Kwa nini asali ya miaka elfu tatu iliyopita bado inaliwa Honey jars from Egyptian tombs three thousand years old are still edible. The chemistry behind a food that... Audio
- Mechi ya tenisi iliyodumu siku tatu The longest tennis match ever played: Isner vs. Mahut, Wimbledon 2010, eleven hours, three days, a final... Audio
- Pweza aliyefungua kufuli An octopus called Inky escaped his aquarium tank at night through a drain pipe, and what it reveals about... Audio
- Malipo Makubwa Kuliko Yote Katika Riadha A brand new athletics championship this month paid its winners more than the sport has ever offered before. Audio
- Kufundisha Kompyuta Lugha ya Nyangumi Researchers are using artificial intelligence to search for real structure inside the clicking patterns of... Audio
- Mapigo ya Polepole ya Moyo wa Miti Laser scans at night revealed that trees pulse gently every few hours, possibly pumping water through their... Audio
- Maua Saa Tisa Usiku At three in the morning, Bangkok's biggest flower market is more awake than midday, and it never really... Audio
- Duara na Meli ya Asubuhi The Ring of Brodgar at dusk, then the small practical business of leaving an island, done in four sentences... Audio
- Nafaka ya Siku Tisini In a bar in Kirkwall, a flat dark bannock turns out to be the reason the islands were farmable at all. Audio
- Mkusanyiko Juu ya Miamba Grey seals are hauling out on the low rocks before the pupping season, and the questions Polly has been... Audio
- Walijenga kwa Walichokuwa Nacho On Lamb Holm, two army huts hold a chapel that prisoners of war made out of scrap, and the only honest... Audio
- Kijiji Chini ya Dhoruba At the Bay of Skaill, a guide with a carrying voice explains a village that a storm returned to the light... Audio
- Kiti Kando ya Moto A guesthouse above the harbour, an argument about what counts as a quiet room, and a chair whose whole... Audio
- Meli Yawasili Bandarini Polly lands at Stromness off the morning boat and works out, one question at a time, how a place with no... Audio
- Wanariadha Elfu Kumi, Usiku Mmoja wa Ufunguzi The 2026 Asian Games, hosted jointly by Aichi and Nagoya, Japan, bring together roughly ten thousand... Audio
- Benki Inayopokea Jibini Pekee An Italian bank keeps a vault holding more than half a million wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, accepted as... Audio
- Namba ya Betri Yako ni Kisio A phone's battery percentage is not a direct measurement, but an estimate calculated from voltage and... Audio
- Ufuo Huu Umetengenezwa kwa Takataka A sparkling beach in Northern California is made entirely of old dumped glass, smoothed into colorful... Audio
- Hakuna Ghorofa ya Nne Popote In much of East Asia, elevators skip the number four entirely, because it sounds exactly like the word for... Audio
- Ukungu Unajifunga Nyuma Yake On her last afternoon, Polly flies high over the island one more time before fog rolls in and hides it... Audio
- Kijiji Kilichounganishwa na Volkano Polly finds the same underground heat that cooked lunch also fills a giant public pool and warms homes,... Audio
- Chakula cha Jioni Kilichozikwa Alfajiri Polly watches a cook lower sealed pots into holes heated only by the volcano below, where dinner cooks for... Audio
- Kreta Moja, Rangi Mbili Polly finds one huge old crater holding two lakes side by side, one blue and one green, joined underneath... Audio
- Ndege Aliyedhaniwa Kupotea Mara Mbili Polly searches an old laurel forest for the priolo, a tiny grey and pink bird found only here, once thought... Audio
- Bustani Mbili za Mwisho Ulaya Polly finds one of only two working tea plantations left in Europe, started after disease wiped out the... Audio
- Visiwa Tisa, Mabamba Matatu Polly arrives over São Miguel, the largest of the nine Azores islands, and learns that three tectonic... Audio
- Polly anapanda basi Polly boards the bus downtown for the first time, with a patient capybara at the wheel and one nervous... Audio
- Polly anauliza njia Polly gets lost looking for the library and learns that asking is faster than wandering. Audio
- Polly anaagiza kahawa Polly finds a corner cafe, orders a coffee with milk, discovers churros, and stays for a while by the window. Audio
- Polly sokoni Berta shows Polly the neighborhood market. Polly asks about an unfamiliar fruit, buys apples, and learns... Audio
- Polly anakutana na mtu Polly arrives on a new street, meets Berta the bear over the garden fence, and they agree to meet again at... Audio
- Vladivostok Polly arrives in Vladivostok at the end of the 9,289-kilometre Trans-Siberian, stretches her wings, and... Audio
- Amur Polly reaches Khabarovsk on the sixth day of the Trans-Siberian, sees the Amur River bordering China, and... Audio
- Ziwa Baikal Polly spends the fifth day of the Trans-Siberian running along Lake Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake on... Audio
- Majira ya Saa Polly explores the dining car on the fourth day, learning that the whole train runs on Moscow time across... Audio
- Kuvuka Milima ya Ural Polly crosses the Ural Mountains, the dividing line between Europe and Asia, on the third day of the... Audio
- Misitu ya Mibiringanya Polly wakes up on the second morning of the Trans-Siberian, watching the birch forests of European Russia.... Audio
- Kituo cha Yaroslavsky Polly boards the Rossiya at Moscow's Yaroslavsky Station to begin the 9,289-kilometre, seven-day... Audio
- Kwaheri kwa Pasta Polly says goodbye to Pasta the octopus and flies out of Naples toward her next destination. Audio
- Mhariri wa Kujihariri Polly learns that octopuses edit their own RNA in real time, building a brain that is different in each... Audio
- Pizza na Chakula cha Mchana Kirefu Polly has the long Italian lunch with Chiara at a Neapolitan pizzeria, learning the protected rules of... Audio
- Ngozi Inayoona Polly watches Pasta find food under a coloured plate even though octopuses are colour-blind through their... Audio
- Mwili Unaofikiri Polly watches Pasta solve a maze with two arms working independently. She learns that two thirds of an... Audio
- Kopo Polly watches Pasta open a screw-top jar to catch a crab, learning that octopus arms taste what they touch... Audio
- Ghuba ya Napoli Polly arrives in Naples and is welcomed into the world's oldest marine biology institute, where she meets a... Audio
- Kuondoka Bondeni Polly says goodbye to Ranger Tomas and flies west out of Yosemite, watching a peregrine hunt swifts on her... Audio
- Njia ya Maziwa Juu ya Glacier Point Polly watches sunset from Glacier Point and stays for the Milky Way, looking through a park astronomer's... Audio
- Nusu Dome Polly rides thermals up the 1,500-metre north face of Half Dome with a flock of swifts, reaches the summit,... Audio
- Shomoro Anayepiga Mbizi Polly tries to copy a peregrine falcon's dive from El Capitan, learning how the falcon's third eyelid and... Audio
- Mti wa Sequoia Polly visits Mariposa Grove and perches on the Grizzly Giant, a giant sequoia nearly 3,000 years old,... Audio
- Safari na Mlinzi Tomas Polly spends a morning in Ranger Tomas's truck, learning how he tracks bear feeding in wildflower meadows... Audio
- Juu ya Bonde Polly arrives at Yosemite Valley from the air, takes in its U-shaped glacial geology, watches climbers on... Audio
- Jumapili ya Paella An adult granddaughter visits home and finds her grandfather hasn't forgotten anything yet. Audio
- Kikombe Kitupu First day at a new office, a small lesson about asking before assuming. Audio
- Nambari Arobaini na Saba A small injury, an old magazine, and a waiting room that teaches patience. Audio
- Treni ya Kwenda Granada An overheard phone call on the train turns a long trip into a kind of company. Audio
- Duka Lisilo Sahihi A simple coffee order leads to a strange conversation about a bookshop that doesn't exist anymore. Audio
- Kupotea Lisbon A wrong turn on a steep street becomes the best part of the trip. Audio
- Chumba cha 304 Kina Mandhari A late check-in turns into a small gift when the hotel runs out of rooms on the lower floors. Audio
- Meza ya Mtu Mmoja A traveler eats alone in Madrid and discovers the waiter is the real star of the meal. Audio