A Square, Flat Earth and Round Heaven Meant the World to Ancient China
For millennia, this cosmological principle guided everything from calendars to urban planning. Reprinted with permission from The Globe: How the Earth Became Round by James Hannam, published by...
View Article7 Maps That Can Change How You See the World
Plus: Our definitive guide to the world’s extraordinary sights. We don’t think much today about the world-altering power that maps once held. You probably have a detailed cartographic guide of almost...
View ArticleUneven Gravity Makes You Weigh More in Illinois Than in Indiana
A number of factors cause you to be lighter or heavier in different parts of the world. What a weird place this planet is. But especially southern Illinois, according to this map of gravity anomalies...
View ArticleWelsh Sheep-Shearing Cake Is a Forgotten Pastoral Pleasure
Cacen gneifo was a traditional gift for farmhands during wool-gathering season. Once a year—typically in the early summer, then occasionally again at the start of the fall—Welsh sheep farmers enlist...
View ArticleTo Save America's Native Bees, the Oregon Bee Project Is Mapping Every Single...
The project aims to make a complete 'bee atlas,' detailing every single local pollinator. Bee taxonomist Lincoln Best pulled a wooden box labeled “impressive bees” from the shelves that lined his lab...
View ArticleThe Atlas Obscura Crossword: Throwing Shade
Atlas Obscura's weekly crossword comes to us from creator Stella Zawistowski and editor Laura Braunstein, members of Inkubator, which publishes crossword puzzles by women and nonbinary constructors....
View ArticlePodcast: Twin Oaks
Just how many parents can a kid have? A collaboration with Freakonomics. Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura...
View ArticleThe Batavia's Tale of Mutiny and Murder Gets a New Chapter
Archaeologists have unearthed new details of the 400-year-old bloodshed on a remote Australian island. This article is from Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal...
View ArticleEat Like an Ancient Greek Philosopher
Before attending third-century dinner parties, readers consulted this “marvelous feast of words.” You’ve just been invited to a dinner party in third-century Rome. It’s going to be a swanky affair with...
View ArticleHow Poison Fruit Pits Became Irrestistible to Humans
These plants make cyanide. THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE SEPTEMBER 23, 2023, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. I drank iced, frothy tejate for the first...
View ArticleThe Kakhovka Dam Disaster Revealed an Archaeological 'Goldmine'
Destruction of the Ukrainian dam unleashed a catastrophic flood—and surfaced centuries of cultural heritage. Now there's a call not to rebuild it. On June 29, a local man was walking along the beach on...
View ArticleEvery Year, Rabbis Search Calabria for the Perfect Etrog
An ideal fruit can go for as much as $300. Bent low beneath a canopy of leathery green leaves in the sweltering heat of a Calabrian summer, Michele Cirelli is searching for a perfect fruit. Weaving his...
View ArticleHow Cults and Religious Groups Forever Changed American Food
In ‘Holy Food,’ Christina Ward examines how our belief systems end up on the plate. From the Shakers—a 19th-century bunch of dissenting Quakers who made a mean lemon pie—to the Source Family—a 1970s...
View ArticleMonster Wrestling And Other Weird, Wonderful Sports from Around the World
From traditional Japanese log riding to charitable llama races in Colorado, this photographer has seen it all. Surrounded by the wide open plains of eastern South Dakota, locals from the tiny town of...
View ArticleThe Milky Way's Heart Is Disappearing—For Now
For most of us, the next few weeks are our last chance to glimpse our galaxy's center, before the sun gets in the way. Atlas Obscura’s Wondersky columnist Rebecca Boyle is an award-winning science...
View ArticleIs There Sunken Treasure Beneath the Treacherous Currents of Hell Gate?
In the heart of New York City, a centuries-long hunt for Revolutionary War–Era gold. Just off the coast of Astoria, Queens, at the confluence of the Harlem and East Rivers, is narrow tidal channel....
View ArticleHonoring the Thousands of Forgotten Souls Buried Beneath San Francisco
Experts estimate some 50,000 people are buried beneath the sprawling metropolis. Thousands pass through the United Nations Plaza, a pedestrian mall adjacent to San Francisco’s commanding Beaux-Arts...
View ArticleWonder Is Everywhere: Lincoln’s Crooked Bowtie, the Mystery of Pink Diamonds,...
Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now. Wonder is everywhere. That’s why, every other week, Atlas Obscura drags you down some of the rabbit holes we encounter as we search for our unusual...
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