The Verkeers Informatie Dienst (Dutch traffic information services) announced today that, in the first three months of this year, the length of traffic jams in the Netherlands has increased by 19.2% compared to last year. More »

This week the city of Wageningen has introduced two tunnels under a busy road that allows ringed snakes and salamanders to cross safely. These passageways have been around for toads, but are new for snakes and salamanders. More »

The purpose of the mysterious 3,600-year-old Bronze Age sky disc of Nebra, which caused a world-wide sensation when it was brought to the attention of the German public in 2002, is no longer a matter of speculation. German scientists have discovered that the disc was used as an advanced astronomical clock. More »

A giant squid of 8.62m (28ft), nicknamed Archie after its Latin name Architeuthis dux, is on display at the Darwin Centre of London’s Natural History Museum. It is one of the biggest and most complete giant squids every found! More »

Since Coca-Cola introduced new types of bottles in the Netherlands they are now the same as those in Belgium. However, the Coca-Cola Company bottles here have a deposit of €0.25, but that is not the case in Belgium. Since the introduction Belgians have been crossing the border en masse to turn in their non-deposit bottles at supermarkets for €0.25 each. More »

Today, in the Dutch town of Etten-Leur, the world record of the largest number of people to jump rope simultaneously was broken. The original British record from 2004 of 2,350 people was broken today with a new total of 3,426. More »

This morning at 1:16am CET, Earth’s population hit 6.5 billion people. The next benchmark will be six years from now; the Earth will be home to 7 billion people on 18 October 2012. More »

Dutch bird hobbyists, who keep chickens, geese and ducks as pets, are giving their birds to local petting zoos and children’s farms out of fear of bird flu. At farms and petting zoos in cities like the Hague, Apeldoorn and Leideschendam, the pet birds have been tossed into the yard by their owners!

Dutch cars will get a sticker that says how much they pollute. Towns will be able to use this information to change their parking policies; dirtier cars will pay more. More »

Three weeks after Coca-Cola introduced new bottles here in the Netherlands, the soft drink giant raised prices of bottles this week with 40%, while many consumers have complained about the flimsiness of the new one-time-use bottles. More »