Male dominance is frequently assumed to be the norm in the animal kingdom and has been a significant matter of reform in modern human society. Yet other species, some well-known and others obscure, with extremely intricate social arrangements or perplexing life histories may astound us with their incredible characteristics of female domination within the species. We take a tour of some highly gender role biased species where the female takes the upper hand, sometimes putting males at a disadvantage, and sometimes simply being the greater predator or literally the sole bloodthirsty one out of the two genders in a species.

In today’s high-tech world of email, Skype, Messenger, SnapChat and more, nobody really thinks about good old “snail mail.” Which is a shame, actually, because there are some pretty weird things that have been sent, and can still be sent, through the US mail. Here are our favorites.

The season one Big Bad of the ongoing blockbuster series known as America’s Endless War on Terror, Osama Bin Laden was once the face of Islamist terror. Before ISIS popped up and stole his crown, the bearded zealot behind such crowd unpleasers as 9/11 and the 7/7 bombings spent his days as the most wanted, most feared man on Earth. For 10 years between 9/11 and 2011, he remained in hiding in his compound in Pakistan, from where he directed the most feared series of attacks the Western world had ever seen.

There’s a lot of pressure on schools these days, both to perform academically and mold their students into productive members of society. Given that most kids are, well, terrible, schools can be given a lot of leeway when it comes to making mistakes. Then you have these 10 schools, which couldn’t have made worse decisions if they tried.

Founded in 1611 by Pope Paul V, the Vatican Secret Archives are an ultra-secure repository for the Church’s oldest, most valuable documents. Access has always been limited; even today, only Vatican officials and qualified academics are allowed inside, and only then with a letter of recommendation. And since browsing isn’t permitted, they also need to list precisely which documents they need — even without knowing exactly what’s in there.

Slavery is bad. That’s the sort of massively uncontroversial statement we can probably all get on board with (if not, maybe it’s time to re-examine your life, Mr. “I still live in the 18th Century”). No matter who is enslaving whom or what they’re doing with all that concentrated human power, it’s almost guaranteed to be a bad idea.

Global warming is real, according to basically every legitimate scientist in the world. And as a result, many parts of the world will experience more water than they are used to. Fortunately, however, there are some people out there preparing for when this scenario will happen. Now, regardless of these gloomy facts, we humans have a natural affinity for water, which we can use to our advantage.

With so many amazing shows on Netflix, it’s sometimes hard to actually decide what you’re going to watch next. Yes, we all know the hit shows all of your friends and family are talking about, but sometimes, we just want to discover a great series that no one has ever heard of before. Here are 10 hidden gems on Netflix (some are Netflix originals, others are lesser known shows from other networks) that you probably aren’t watching, but you really should… and make sure to watch them soon, because you never know how much longer they’ll be available.

Combining the inherent contradiction of “Warrior Buddhists” with the legendary grand scale of Chinese military history, Shaolin monks have gotten some very interesting stories associated with them since the emperor of China made the order official circa 496 A.D. Some of which are so interesting you just know they’re not quite true, but can’t resist the urge to hear them. Here are ten of our favorites.

Got some extra cash but don’t know where to spend it? Then you should definitely visit Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun offers more bang for your buck than any other country on the planet. Whether you’re looking for something unique to eat or want a crazy way to spend the day, if you’ve got enough money, Japan has got you covered.