In this TED-Ed episode, we hear in delightfully morbid detail how the ancient Egyptians mummified their dead. Drain the brain, bottle the organs, salt the body and entomb for thousands of years. Simple as that!

Britain's only prehistoric mummies resided in Cladh Hallan, only Scotland's South Uist island. They belong to a class of mummie known as "bog bodies," corpses naturally preserved in sphagnum bogs. A new discovery reveals that these mummies — one male and one female — aren't unusual just because they're British; …

Pharaohs were far from the only ancient Egyptians to be mummified. An entire ancient industry grew up around supplying people with mummified pets to accompany them into the afterlife. Business was even big enough to drive entire species extinct.

Alan Billis, a 61-year-old taxi driver who suffered from lung cancer, lived a pretty ordinary life. He drove around, watched documentaries and did what everybody else did. His afterlife though, is going to be extraordinary. After he passed, Billis became the first person in 3000 years to get mummified.

Since 1976, John Baker has run the Bakers Junction Railroad Museum in Smithville, Indiana. The museum — which operates a haunted house in old railcars — has fallen on tough financial times, so Baker's turned to an unusual source of fundraising capital. That is, his own severed thumb.

Some 45 mummies, from 15 museums in seven countries, are embarking on a three-year tour of the United States starting today. The Mummies of the World exhibit includes this family of elaborately dressed Hungarian mummies. More gruesome pics below.

Scientists have discovered that bees use more than their stingers to defeat potential attackers. Apparently, they're perfectly prepared to mummify enemies who can't be stung.