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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...

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7 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...

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Uneven 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...

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Welsh 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...

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To 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...

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The 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....

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Podcast: 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...

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The 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...

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Eat 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...

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How 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...

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The 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...

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Every 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...

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How 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...

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Monster 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...

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The 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...

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Is 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....

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Honoring 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...

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Wonder 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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