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Hippie Memorial in Arcola, Illinois
It's not hard to find people who are nostalgic for the heyday of hippie culture, but only one man went so far as to create a permanent memorial to the lifestyle and ethos of peace-loving,...
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Soviet Lifestyle Museum in Kazan, Russia
While there is much about life under the Iron Curtain that was despicable and unfortunate, that doesn't mean that there wasn't culture, even if it was fraught with propaganda and misinformation. The...
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How Early Feminists Helped Revolutionize Birding
Bird watching with binoculars. (Photo; goodmami/flickr)To identify a bird, you used to have to kill it.Birds are masters in “how not to be seen,” being often both small and fast, and terribly brownish....
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Object of Intrigue: Chairman Mao's Maori Feather Cloak
Mao in the cloak, in Inside Red China (Image: Courtesy of George Andrews)In almost every image of Chairman Mao Zedong, he’s wearing the same thing: a simple shirt or jacket in dull gray or brown. But...
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See the Flashcards the Stasi Used for Facial Recognition
A flashcard used for training border guards in facial recognition. (All photos: Courtesy The Wende Museum)When verifying someone's identity today, the first step is to assess whether or not they look...
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'An Ostentation of Peacocks,' and Other Flowery Ways Medieval Hunters Grouped...
Thankfully this murmuration of starlings isn't a murder of crows. (Image: MGA73bot/Wikipedia)So you’ve spotted a bunch of birds! Congratulations! But how to tell people?The poetic nature of bird-group...
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How to Seduce a Turkey: The Bizarre Poultry Sex Experiments of the 1960s
A Wild Male Turkey's mating dance. (Photo: Don McCullough/flickr) Two men hovered over the turkey pen, watching. A large, male bird walked in a circle, readying his mating dance, keen for the right...
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Villa Rebar in Zagreb, Croatia
Sitting on the edge of a thick Croatian forest, the Villa Rebar is a haunting ruin that looks more like something out of a horror movie than the former estate of a high-ranking fascist dictator/Nazi...
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FOUND: 10,000-Year-Old Fava Beans
Modern fava beans—still kind of tricksy (Photo: Hohum/Wikimedia)Long before Hannibal Lecter was enjoying his human liver with fava beans and Chianti, early farmers in Galilee were cultivating the same...
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More Severe Storms Are Throwing off Bird Migration
Ominous skies don't bode well for migrating birds. (Photo: Unsplash/pixabay)If it wasn’t already enough to fly thousands of miles—44,000 round trip, if you’re the Arctic tern—birds of all shapes,...
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Fleeting Wonders: A Sisyphean Snow Plow Ballet
Kinnick Stadium Snow Removal TimeLapseTime lapse of the snow removal in Kinnick Stadium from 6pm to 9:15 am Posted by Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday, 21 November 2015When there’s a serious football game to...
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The Telharmonium Was the Spotify of 1906
Detail from the cover of Scientific American's March 9, 1907 issue, which had a glowing article about the telharmonium. (Image: archive.org)It's a tumultuous time for streaming music services. One of...
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How Americans Changed the Meaning of 'Dream'
Albert Joseph Moore's Dreamers, 1884. (Photo: Public Domain/WikiCommons) This is part two of a five-part series on sleep and dreams, sponsored by Oso mattresses. Read the first one here. There was a...
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Cranberries Are the Only Thanksgiving Food That Actually Came From the United...
Cranberries are all-American (Photo: Cjboffoli/Wikimedia)Thanksgiving is all about two things: food and the United States of America. And, by tradition, those two things are supposed to meld into one:...
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25 Incredible Views From Plane Passengers' Windows, Collected By an Airline...
The view from a Quantum 912 Microlight over York Flying Club airfield, September 2015. (Photo: Aaron Shearer)When I decided to write a book about my job as an airline pilot, I knew one thing for...
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We Asked An Ornithologist To Factcheck Angry Birds–And the Results Might...
An artist's conception of scientific illustrations of Angry Birds. (Image courtesy of Shane Parker)It's hard to say why so many of the world's most popular mobile games—Angry Birds, Flappy Bird, Crossy...
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The World War II Tool That Changed How We Listen To Birdsong
A bird shows off his mysterious linguistic chops. (Photo: Kenny Louie/Flickr)In past centuries, birdsong experts tried to distinguish mockingbirds from thrashers by keeping their ears peeled. These...
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FOUND: A Fake Historical Plaque on Trump Golf Course
Trump, in 2013 (Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr)At the Trump National Golf Club, in Sterling, Virginia, not far from D.C., the New York Times reports that there is a plaque on a stone pedestal right after...
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How to Trap Gators and Influence People
Christy Kroboth kissing her Prince Charming. (All photos: Christy Kroboth)Late one November night in Fort Bend County, Texas, Christy Kroboth was called in to catch an alligator. Three cops stood by,...
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The Beloved Pioneer Bread that Smells Like Feet and Breaks Food Safety Rules
A loaf of salt-rising bread. (Photo: Wonderland Kitchen/flickr)Its flavor is often described as 'cheese-like', its crumb dense, and its odor memorable. Salt-rising bread is special to those who...
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