A2 · Getting started
Longer stories about daily life, past and future.
- Djuret som gör kuber Wombats make cube shaped poop, and now we know why. Audio
- Den här fågeln sover medan den flyger Frigatebirds fly for many days and sleep only a little. Audio
- Lunchen ett helt land äter In the Dominican Republic, everyone eats the same lunch at the same time. Audio
- Middag lagad av en vulkan In the Azores, people cook food inside a hot volcano. Audio
- Det sista tåget Tomas misses the last train in Tokyo and sleeps in a tiny room. Audio
- Den tomma koppen On his first day, Pedro drinks from a cup that is not his. Audio
- Nummer fyrtiosju Carla waits a long time at the clinic for a small cut. Audio
- Vilsen i Lissabon Sofía gets lost in Lisbon and a woman helps her with a map. Audio
- Rummet med balkong Marcos gets a hotel room with a nice balcony. Audio
- Ett bord för en Mia eats alone in a small restaurant, and the waiter helps her choose. Audio
- Kryddan som en gång kostade lika mycket som guld Saffron comes from tiny flower threads picked by hand, and for most of history a pound of it cost about the... Audio
- Sjön som försvinner varje sommar In Slovenia, a huge lake fills a valley in winter and then vanishes underground every summer, leaving... Audio
- Parken bredvid mitt hus A squirrel describes the small park next to its tree: the pigeons by the benches, Mr. Badger and his bread,... Audio
- Staden som lägger guld på glassen Kanazawa in Japan makes almost all of the country's gold leaf, and wraps whole sheets of it around soft ice... Audio
- Flyget som varar i nittio sekunder A tiny plane hops between two Orkney islands in Scotland on the shortest scheduled flight in the world. Audio
- Ropa, annars missar du din hållplats A shared minibus with no bell and no screen, where the only way off is to say so out loud, early and twice. Audio
- Lunchen som aldrig tar slut In Spain, the best part of lunch starts when the food is finished. It even has its own name. Audio
- Beställ aldrig en latte i Italien In Italy, the word latte does not mean coffee. One small word can bring you a big surprise. Audio
- Sörpla högt, det är artigt In Japan, slurping your noodles loudly is not rude, it is a sign that you are enjoying the meal. Audio
- Vattenfallet som faller uppåt On very windy days, strong gusts can blow a Norwegian waterfall's spray back up into the sky. Audio
- Cirkeln och morgonbåten The Ring of Brodgar at dusk, then the small practical business of leaving an island, done in four sentences... Audio
- Nittiodagarskornet In a bar in Kirkwall, a flat dark bannock turns out to be the reason the islands were farmable at all. Audio
- Samlingen på skären Grey seals are hauling out on the low rocks before the pupping season, and the questions Polly has been... Audio
- Byggt av det de hade On Lamb Holm, two army huts hold a chapel that prisoners of war made out of scrap, and the only honest... Audio
- Byn under stormen At the Bay of Skaill, a guide with a carrying voice explains a village that a storm returned to the light... Audio
- Stolen vid brasan A guesthouse above the harbour, an argument about what counts as a quiet room, and a chair whose whole... Audio
- Båten kommer in Polly lands at Stromness off the morning boat and works out, one question at a time, how a place with no... Audio
- Rosa finns inte Pink has no wavelength of its own; it is a color the brain invents when the eyes see red and blue light... Audio
- Du lyser just nu The human body constantly emits an extremely faint light, invisible to the eye but detectable with a... Audio
- Dimman sluter sig bakom henne On her last afternoon, Polly flies high over the island before fog rolls in and hides it behind her. Audio
- En by kopplad till en vulkan Polly learns that the same volcano heat that cooked lunch also warms a big public pool and heats homes in... Audio
- Middagen som grävs ner i gryningen Polly watches a cook bury pots of food in the ground, where the volcano's heat cooks dinner with no fire. Audio
- En krater, två färger Polly finds a huge old crater with two lakes, one blue and one green, joined together under a strip of land. Audio
- Fågeln som gavs upp två gånger Polly looks for the priolo, a tiny grey and pink bird that lives only in one forest and was once thought to... Audio
- Europas två sista teträdgårdar Polly finds one of the only two tea farms left in Europe, started after the island's orange trees died. Audio
- Nio öar, tre plattor Polly arrives over São Miguel, the biggest of the nine Azores islands, made of black rock, green fields,... Audio
- Den rosa staden Polly finds a small pink town inside a river loop. Audio
- Polly tar bussen Polly's first bus ride: does this bus go downtown, one ticket, how much, where do I get off, next stop,... Audio
- Polly frågar om vägen Polly is lost on the way to the library and asks an owl for directions: excuse me, where is it, is it far,... Audio
- Polly beställer kaffe Polly's first cafe order: good afternoon, a coffee with milk, do you have churros, the check please, how... Audio
- Polly på marknaden Berta takes Polly to the market. Polly buys fruit for the first time: what is this, two apples, how much, a... Audio
- Polly träffar någon Polly moves to a new street and meets Berta the bear. First greetings: hello, your name, nice to meet you,... Audio
- Första ljuset On her last morning, Polly flew out to the end of the cape, called Cap de Sant Antoni. Audio
- Staden av gyllene sten Polly flew down into the old town. Audio
- De gamla väderkvarnarna High on the flat top of the hills, Polly found a row of round stone towers. Audio
- Den huggna grottan Polly flew down to the sea. Audio
- Himlens jägare Polly climbed to the edge of the mountain. Audio
- Bergets trädgård In the morning the air smelled sweet and dry. Audio
- Elefantberget Polly flew in at dawn over a calm blue sea. Audio
- Bläckfisken och dess tre hjärtan The octopus is a clever sea animal with three hearts and blue blood. Audio
- Kablarna under havet Long cables under the ocean carry almost all of the information that travels between countries. Audio
- Det långa loppet som kallas maraton The marathon is a very long running race with a curious and surprising history. Audio
- Varifrån kommer kaffe? Coffee begins as a red fruit on a green plant and travels far before it fills a cup. Audio
- Att sova på ett nattåg Night trains in Europe carry travelers between cities while they sleep in cozy beds. Audio
- Amazonas, den största floden The Amazon is the river that carries the most water in the world. Audio
- Hur bin gör honung Honeybees turn sweet flower nectar into golden honey through hard teamwork in the hive. Audio
- Sidenvägens långa sträcka The Silk Road was a famous trade route that linked China with Europe for many centuries. Audio
- Ett litet kallaboratorium i rymden NASA improved a small science lab on the space station that makes some of the coldest matter in the universe. Audio
- Kanada vinner sin första VM-match Canada celebrates its first ever men's World Cup victory with a big win at home in Vancouver. Audio
- Den lilla fågeln i klockan In Germany's Black Forest, carved wooden cuckoo clocks call out every hour while children wait and laugh. Audio
- Staden där det var förbjudet att dö When a small Italian town ran out of space in its cemetery, the mayor signed an order telling people not to... Audio
- Katten som åker buss Every morning a cat climbs onto the same city bus, watches the streets go by, and gets off at his own stop. Audio
- Byns första ljus While the whole village sleeps, one window glows: the baker lights the oven so fresh bread will be ready by... Audio
- Skogen andas Polly leaves at dawn as the forest makes its own rain for far away places. Audio
- De som lyssnar Polly meets a scientist who listens to the forest with microphones. Audio
- När solen går ner At night the forest wakes up and gets loud, and Polly stays awake. Audio
- Det mörka golvet Polly flies down to the dark forest floor and watches leafcutter ants. Audio
- Den bruna floden Polly follows the big brown river and sees pink dolphins. Audio
- Världens tak Polly flies to the canopy, the top of the forest, where most animals live. Audio
- Det gröna havet Polly flies over the Amazon, a green forest like a sea, with the biggest river in the world. Audio
- Solen som inte går ner On her last night the sun never sets, and Polly sees her whole week before she says goodbye to Iceland. Audio
- Vakterna Polly visits a scientist who reads earthquakes on a screen and hears how people once stopped lava with... Audio
- Fåglarnas klippor Polly joins a city of seabirds, watches puffins catch fish underwater, and meets the bird that always... Audio
- Isen som gömmer eld Polly lands on a huge glacier, sees a blue ice cave, and learns that volcanoes hide under the ice. Audio
- Nytt land Polly watches hot rock build new land and learns why the soft moss must never be stepped on. Audio
- Jorden andas Polly watches hot water shoot from the ground and finds a country that heats its homes from the earth. Audio
- Världens söm Polly flies to Iceland, a land of black rock and steam, where two continents slowly pull apart. Audio
- Fisken som klättrar upp vattenfall In Hawaii, a fish smaller than your finger climbs up waterfalls taller than buildings, using its mouth as a... Audio
- Ånga och små rätter A first night at a Taipei night market, where pointing, smiling, and one brave question buy a very good... Audio
- Klättring i den torraste platsen Polly arrives at a big observatory in the Atacama, the driest desert in the world. Audio
- Vladivostok Polly arrives in Vladivostok and flies off over the Pacific Ocean. Audio
- Amurfloden Polly reaches the Amur River and meets a rare crane on the sixth day of the Trans-Siberian. Audio
- Bajkalsjön Polly spends a day on the train along Lake Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake on Earth. Audio
- Tidszoner Polly explores the dining car and learns that the train uses one time zone across all of Russia. Audio
- Över Uralbergen Polly crosses the Ural Mountains, the line between Europe and Asia, on the Trans-Siberian train. Audio
- Björkskogarna Polly watches Russian birch forests from the Trans-Siberian train and learns that forty percent of Russia... Audio
- Jaroslavskij station Polly boards the Trans-Siberian train at Moscow and begins her seven-day journey to Vladivostok. Audio
- Adjö till Pasta Polly says goodbye to Pasta the octopus and flies out of Naples. Audio
- Redaktören av Sig Själv Polly learns that octopuses can change their own nervous systems by editing RNA in real time. Audio
- Pizza och den Långa Lunchen Polly has lunch with Chiara at a Neapolitan pizzeria and learns about traditional Neapolitan pizza. Audio
- Huden som Ser Polly learns that octopus skin can sense colours even though octopus eyes cannot. Audio
- Kroppen som Tänker Polly watches an octopus solve a maze with two arms working independently. Audio
- Burken Polly watches an octopus open a jar to catch a crab and learns how short an octopus's life is. Audio
- Neapelbukten Polly arrives in Naples and meets a giant Pacific octopus at the world's oldest marine biology institute. Audio
- Lämna Dalen Polly says goodbye to Ranger Tomas and flies west out of Yosemite. Audio
- Vintergatan över Glacier Point Polly watches the Milky Way at Glacier Point and looks through a telescope at the centre of our galaxy. Audio
- Halvkupolen Polly flies up Half Dome on warm air with a flock of swifts, sees the summit, then glides back down. Audio
- Falkens Dyk Polly tries to copy a peregrine falcon's dive, learning what makes the falcon the fastest animal in the world. Audio
- Sequoian Polly visits a giant sequoia nearly 3,000 years old and learns about its fireproof bark. Audio
- Åka Med Ranger Tomas Polly spends the morning in Ranger Tomas's truck, learning about bear feeding and peregrine falcon nests. Audio
- Ovanför Dalen Polly flies into Yosemite Valley, watches climbers on El Capitan, and rides the shuttle bus at dusk. Audio
- Doften av kanel A new neighbor leaves a small surprise outside her door. Audio
- Två kilo tålamod A first trip to the local market with a vendor who refuses to let her leave with the wrong tomatoes. Audio
B1 · Finding your flow
Polly's weekly adventures and real-world stories.
- Loppet där osten alltid vinner Once a year in England, people chase a wheel of cheese down a dangerously steep hill, and the cheese almost... Audio
- Två helt nya djurarter, båda stora som en nagel Scientists in Montenegro just described two snail species new to science, found on limestone cliffs in a... Audio
- Dagen en riktig insekt satte en dator ur spel In nineteen forty-seven, engineers found an actual moth stuck inside a giant computer, taped it into their... Audio
- Räkan med en sol inuti klon A small ocean shrimp snaps its claw so fast that it creates a flash of heat nearly as hot as the surface of... Audio
- Huset som är delat mellan två länder In a small town on the Belgian-Dutch border, some houses sit in two countries at once, and the front door... Audio
- Armén som förlorade mot fåglar In nineteen thirty-two the Australian military was sent against emus eating the wheat crop in Western... Audio
- Schimpanser har dialekter A new study of more than eleven thousand recorded calls found that young chimpanzees in different parts of... Audio
- Internet ligger under vattnet Almost all international internet traffic travels along cables lying on the sea floor, which break... Audio
- Staden som bor i en enda byggnad Almost every resident of Whittier, Alaska lives inside a single fourteen storey building reached through a... Audio
- Lunchen som ett helt land äter In the Dominican Republic the main meal lands at midday, it is almost always the same three things, and the... Audio
- Din karta skulle vara fel innan lunch Satellite clocks tick faster than clocks on the ground, and if nobody corrected for it your phone would... Audio
- Du lyser. Ingen kan se det. Human skin gives off a faint light all day long, and a Japanese team photographed it in a sealed dark room. Audio
- Det här blåa finns bara på ett ställe A stony beach in the Dominican southwest, one pebble that is blue all the way through, and the single... Audio
- Ett kafé, två länder In one small town, the border between Belgium and the Netherlands runs straight through streets, houses and... Audio
- Dina meddelanden reser under vattnet Almost everything you send across an ocean travels through cables lying on the sea floor, not through... Audio
- Stranden som lyser blått på natten On some warm coasts, the sea lights up electric blue when you touch it. The light comes from billions of... Audio
- Hotellet som rör sig medan du sover On a European night train, you fall asleep in one country and wake up in another, with the Alps outside... Audio
- En arm som kan smaka Octopus suckers contain special receptors that let an arm taste whatever it touches, even in total darkness. Audio
- Friidrottens största lönecheck någonsin A brand new athletics championship this month paid its winners more than the sport has ever offered before. Audio
- Att lära en dator tala valspråk Researchers are using artificial intelligence to search for real structure inside the clicking patterns of... Audio
- Trädens långsamma hjärtslag Laser scans at night revealed that trees pulse gently every few hours, possibly pumping water through their... Audio
- Blommor klockan tre på natten At three in the morning, Bangkok's biggest flower market is more awake than midday, and it never really... Audio
- Tiotusen idrottare, en invigningskväll The 2026 Asian Games, hosted jointly by Aichi and Nagoya, Japan, bring together roughly ten thousand... Audio
- Banken som bara tar emot ost An Italian bank keeps a vault holding more than half a million wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, accepted as... Audio
- Batteriprocenten är en gissning A phone's battery percentage is not a direct measurement, but an estimate calculated from voltage and... Audio
- Den här stranden är gjord av skräp A sparkling beach in Northern California is made entirely of old dumped glass, smoothed into colorful... Audio
- Ingen fjärde våning någonstans In much of East Asia, elevators skip the number four entirely, because it sounds exactly like the word for... Audio
- USA går vidare till nästa omgång på hemmaplan As a host nation, the United States won its opening matches and advanced early to the knockout stage of the... Audio
- Det minsta landet någonsin i ett VM Curacao made history as the smallest nation ever to play at a World Cup, even after a heavy loss to Germany. Audio
- Den minsta ön på den största scenen Curacao, a Caribbean island smaller than many cities, became the tiniest nation ever to reach a World Cup. Audio
- Invigningskväll på Azteca The World Cup came home to Mexico City, and the oldest stadium in the tournament shook for the very first... Audio
- Middagen som vulkanen lagade On a green island in the Azores, cooks lower a pot into a hot hole in the ground and let the earth slowly... Audio
- Att gå på havets botten Twice a day the North Sea pulls back for kilometres, and people walk barefoot across the bare seabed before... Audio
- Värdländerna Marscherar Framåt For the first time, three countries share a World Cup, and so far all three hosts are off to a flying start. Audio
- Slottet som kungen knappt bodde i A Bavarian king built a fairy-tale castle on an alpine crag, slept there only a handful of nights, and left... Audio
- Staden som grävde fram en flod For fifty years, Seoul hid a river under an elevated highway. Then the city tore the highway down, and the... Audio
- Forntida människor trivdes i regnskogen Scientists once thought ancient humans avoided rainforests. New evidence from West Africa says they thrived... Audio
- Varför din telefon dör i kylan Your phone shows forty percent battery, then dies in the snow. The battery is not empty. It is cold, and... Audio
- Tio kilometer upp Passenger planes cruise about ten kilometres above the ground. That number is not random: it is where the... Audio
- Sista tåget In Tokyo, the trains stop around midnight. Tomas learns this five minutes too late, and discovers where the... Audio
- Den Ändlösa Slätten Polly arrives over the Serengeti at dawn and learns the secret under the grass: old volcanic ash that feeds... Audio
- Bläckfisken som knäckte låset An octopus called Inky escaped his aquarium tank at night through a drain pipe, and what it reveals about... Audio
- Varför honung från 3 000 år sedan fortfarande går att äta Honey jars from Egyptian tombs three thousand years old are still edible. The chemistry behind a food that... Audio
- Tennismatchen som tog tre dagar The longest tennis match ever played: Isner vs. Mahut, Wimbledon 2010, eleven hours, three days, a final... Audio
- Amur Polly reaches Khabarovsk on the sixth day of the Trans-Siberian, sees the Amur River bordering China, and... Audio
- Farväl till Pasta Polly says goodbye to Pasta the octopus and flies out of Naples toward her next destination. Audio
- Den Dykande Falkan Polly tries to copy a peregrine falcon's dive from El Capitan, learning how the falcon's third eyelid and... Audio
- Söndagspaella An adult granddaughter visits home and finds her grandfather hasn't forgotten anything yet. Audio
- Den Tomma Muggen First day at a new office, a small lesson about asking before assuming. Audio
- Tåget till Granada An overheard phone call on the train turns a long trip into a kind of company. Audio
- Fel bokhandel A simple coffee order leads to a strange conversation about a bookshop that doesn't exist anymore. Audio
- Vilse i Lissabon A wrong turn on a steep street becomes the best part of the trip. Audio
- Rum 304 har utsikt A late check-in turns into a small gift when the hotel runs out of rooms on the lower floors. Audio
C1 · Stretch yourself
Rich, natural texts about places, history and ideas.
- Två arter ingen hade namngivit, hittade på en klippvägg Scientists in Montenegro have described two snail species new to science, found on limestone cliffs in a... Audio
- Kriget Australien förlorade mot emuer In nineteen thirty-two the Australian military was deployed against emus devastating the wheat crop in... Audio
- Schimpanser har, visar det sig, dialekter A new study of more than eleven thousand recorded calls finds that young chimpanzees in different parts of... Audio
- Banken som lånar ut mot ost An Italian bank stores and ages more than half a million wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano, accepted as... Audio
- Varför din karta skulle vara fel till lunch Satellites tick at a different rate than clocks on the ground, and without a deliberate correction your... Audio
- Skenet din hud aldrig slutar avge Human skin gives off a faint light around the clock, invisible to the eye, as a Japanese team confirmed by... Audio
- Vad som verkligen bär dina ord över ett hav Almost everything sent between continents travels not through satellites but through cables lying on the... Audio
- Hotellet som korsar gränser medan du sover On a European night train, a traveller falls asleep in one country and wakes in another, with the Alps... Audio
- Floden Seoul höll hemlig i ett halvt sekel Seoul spent decades entombing a river beneath a highway, then reversed course and dug it back into the... Audio
- Vad söndagen fortfarande kräver An adult granddaughter returns home for Sunday paella and discovers that her octogenarian grandfather's... Audio
- Staden som bor inuti en enda byggnad Almost the entire population of Whittier, Alaska lives inside a single fourteen storey building, reached... Audio
- Slottet dess kung knappt hann se Bavaria's King Ludwig the Second poured a fortune into a fairy tale castle he would inhabit for barely a... Audio
- Att gå över havets botten Twice each day, the tide withdraws for kilometres along the Wattenmeer coast, inviting walkers onto the... Audio
- Din telefon är inte död. Den är bara kall. A phone that shows forty percent battery and then dies the moment you step into the cold has not run out of... Audio
- Honung som har överlevt imperier Honey sealed inside Egyptian tombs thousands of years ago remains perfectly edible today, and the reason... Audio
- Bläckfisken som smet ur sitt lås An octopus named Inky vanished from a New Zealand aquarium overnight, and the ingenious route he took to... Audio
- Valen som simmade femton tusen kilometer Polly learns about two humpback whales who swam 14,000+ km from Australia to Brazil, breaking the world... Audio
- Nittonhundrasexton In the captain's mess, Polly studies a photograph of Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, the first humans to... Audio
- Att Bestiga den Torraste Platsen Polly arrives at ESO's Paranal Observatory in the Atacama, the driest place on Earth, where four enormous... Audio
- Dykande falken Polly tries to copy a peregrine falcon's dive after seeing one launch from El Capitan, learning about the... Audio
- Sekvojan Polly visits Mariposa Grove and climbs into the canopy of the Grizzly Giant, a giant sequoia nearly 3,000... Audio