Given enough random events, some weird-seeming streaks will occur During the 2010 World Cup, a German octopus—Paul, “the oracle of Oberhausen”— was offered two boxes, each with mussels and with a national flag on one side. Paul selected the correct box eight out of eight times in predicting the outcome of Germany’s seven matches and Spain’s triumph in the final.

Roland Weihrauch/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom