Clik here to view.
Why Cheetah Researchers Spend A Lot Of Time Sneaking Up On Bushes
For some wildlife biologists, daily research begins with figuring out what that dot is. (Photo: Anne Hilborn)Look closely at the above picture. Halfway between the foreground and the horizon, tucked...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Anatomical Theatre at the University of Pavia in Pavia, Italy
Though Italy is home to many wonderful anatomical theatres, sandwiched among the myriad glories of the Museums of the University of Pavia is a secret swirling temple of medical science that sets itself...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Get Over Here, Man: Decoding the Bro-Hug
Get over here, man! (All illustrations: Franziska Barczyk)About 25 seconds into Tupac Shakur’s music video for the 1993 hit “I Get Around,” it happens. Shakur walks through a pair of French doors onto...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Vogeltor in Augsburg, Germany
The Vogeltor has stood “perfectly straight” in the downtown center of Augsburg for many years.Built in 1445, the uniquely named Vogeltor (“vogel” means “bird” in German) is a four-story gated tower in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Romans Once Filled the Colosseum with Water and Staged an Epic Mock Sea Battle
An artist's rendering of an ancient Roman naumachia. The emperor's got some serious front row seats. (Image: Public Domain/WikiCommons)Being appointed party planner in ancient Rome for a simulated...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Altar of the Basilica of St. Michael in Mondsee, Austria
If you've watched The Sound of Music, you probably remember the wedding scene in a large late-gothic church, but you may not have noticed the brief appearance of the martyrs, relics, and catacomb...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kilbrittain Whale in Kilbrittain, Ireland
After a huge whale beached itself on the beach in Kilbrittain, Ireland, a village facing Courtmascherry Bay, the locals turned it into a skeletal landmark when they weren't able to save its life.On...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Bad Deed that Robbed Compton Avenue of Its Most Iconic Church
Bethlehem Baptist Church, photographed in 2005. (Photo: Library of Congress) Pastor Melvin Ashley did not know the roughed-up, graffiti-scarred church on 49th and Compton Avenue, in Los Angeles,...
View ArticleFrom Accordions to Zippers, a Map of 90 of the World's Most Surprising Capitals
Map by MGMT design and Steven MelendezLondon, Washington, Paris, Rome. The world’s capital cities are renowned, learned by rote, and visited by millions. But what about those other less well known...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Places You Can No Longer Go: Frol de la Mar
A note on spelling: We used "Frol de la Mar" as that's what is used in the 16th century documentation of the trip, as well as in historian Roger Crowley's book, The Conquerors, from which most of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Victoria Beach's Pirate Tower in Laguna Beach, California
This enigmatic seaside tower on California's Victoria Beach looks like something out of a storybook, and given that it is lovingly known as the "Pirate Tower," it would seem to live up to the mystique....
View ArticleClik here to view.
To Truly Know an Ancient Society, One Must Analyze Its Feces
A human coprolite (Photo: Sianto et al. 2012/Wikimedia)Archeological digs, like any work environment, can get tedious. Even scientists need to have fun. In the 1960s, at one of Vaughn Bryant's first...
View ArticleClik here to view.
FOUND: Snow Leopards in Sikkim
Snow leopard caught in camera trap (Photo: WWF-India)In India's east, just north of Calcutta, there's a piece of the country that slips in between Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. This is where Assam tea...
View ArticleVideo Wonder: How to Use Those Newfangled Dial Telephones
Do you remember using a dial telephone? Have you ever used one? Either way, you could probably benefit from a refresher. Luckily, this young lady has us covered. Watch as she seamlessly demonstrates...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Unlike Iran's President, Queen Victoria Really Requested that Naked Statues...
The Palazzo Nuovo at the Capitoline Museum in Rome. (Photo: Ben Snooks/Flickr)On January 25, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani arrived in Rome for diplomatic talks with Italian Prime Minister Matteo...
View ArticleClik here to view.
World's Largest Artichoke Statue in Castroville, California
The world is full of difficult-to-eat freaks of nature, but somehow the recalcitrance of these little buggers only makes them more lovable. Ranking high on this list is the lowly, prickly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fleeting Wonders: Challenger Astronaut Christa McAuliffe's Lost Lessons
Christa McAuliffe gets a weightlessness preview aboard the zero gravity aircraft. McAuliffe used some of her zero-G time to practice her lesson plans. (Photo: Keith Meyers/NASA Public Domain)Thirty...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Paradise, Michigan
In 1975 there was an enormous storm in Lake Superior, making waves that were reported to be as high as 35 feet. The violent storm claimed the Lake’s largest shipping vessel at the time, the S.S. Edmund...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why New York City Has a Public Bathroom Problem
Decommissioned bathroom in Wall Street subway stop in NYC. (Photo: Daniel Schwen/Wikimedia Commons) The NYPD issues between 20,000 and 30,000 citations for public urination each year. But while there...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Gardiners Island in East Hampton, New York
In 1639, this island in what is now New York State was settled by a man named Lion Gardiner. The island was made a proprietary colony, granted via a royal decree by Charles I that gave Gardiner “the...
View Article