Hank: Do you ever wish you could just wrap your tongue around your head to protect your skull? No? Well, it's pretty great if you're a woodpecker.

What you are looking at right now isn't just the bit of muscle that we think of as a tongue, but a structure of bone and cartilage called the "hyoid apparatus" that supports the tongue. Which really, like, having a bone that horseshoes around your skull - even weirder. Anyway, woodpeckers have multiple adaptations that help them cope with repeatedly bashing their faces into trees, and according to researchers, this is one of them.

Basically, the hyoid bones have stiffer and spongier parts that help dissipate energy, like a little bike helmet, which is why they can slam their head into a tree trunk. But you should not too-aggresively head desk, no matter how annoying your life gets.

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