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The backdrop of Babylon Berlin is the German capital at the end of the Roaring Twenties.

travel

Travel the World With 11 of Our Favorite Far-Flung TV Shows

Atlas Obscura staff recommend immersive and inspiring international series that you can stream now.

A fragment of the Chelyabinsk meteorite, which caused many injuries but no casualties.

empire

Found: Possibly the First Recorded Death-by-Meteorite

Call it a cold case from space.

Bioluminescent waves crashed onto Venice Beach on May 6, while California was starting to relax shelter-in-place restrictions.

bioluminescence

The Dazzling Bioluminescence of Waves in California

As beaches started to reopen, locals came to see the light show from a distance.

How a Photographer Recreated Outdoor Adventures With Household Stuff

coronavirus

How a Photographer Recreated Outdoor Adventures With Household Stuff

Think of it as the Great Indoors.

Once the experiments are set up, humans can hang back for a while. This cage was placed in peaceful Cedar Lake, British Columbia, in 2015.

pandemic

In the Era of COVID-19, Fieldwork Is Scrappy and Socially Distant

And sometimes involves storing dead fish in your in-laws’ freezer.

An Assyrian relief in the museum's massive collection, much of which is now digitally accessible.

museums and collections

Help Atlas Obscura Explore the British Museum’s Newly Digital Collection

There are 1.9 million objects to explore. What are you waiting for?

A vision of the Swing at the End of the World in Ecuador in oils, by Alexandrea Farquhar.

obscura academy

Art Challenge: Readers Draw Places They've Never Seen

Some of your creations are even more extraordinary than their real-life counterparts.

A double-decker root bridge in Meghalaya.

travel

What Atlas Obscura Membership Means

We wouldn’t exist without curious explorers like you.

Wellesley Fudge Cake dates back to 19th-century school shenanigans.

obscura academy

The Gastro Obscura Guide to Cooking School-Lunch Classics

You're the lunch lady now.

This entire 'meal' is made of clay. "The most important dipping sauce is not soy sauce, but black vinegar,” Shih says.

asian america

Feast Your Eyes on Delectable Clay Replicas of Asian-American Foods

In the past two years, Stephanie H. Shih has folded more than 1,000 ceramic dumplings.

Some people are surprised, even offended, by the Dutch tendency to include illnesses among their curses.

swearing

The Wide World of Disease-Based Dutch Profanity

"Get the corona!" is starting to make an appearance.

Mail art by the Hungarian artist György Galantai.

art history

'Mail Art' Makes a Comeback During Quarantine

All you need is an idea, an envelope, and a stamp.

Good luck with the dense details on this 1746 map of London—the image at left is just one corner of the map—based on a survey by John Rocque.

children

Cartographic Puzzles Are Poised for a Comeback

When nothing in the world seems to fit together, “dissected maps” offer a cognitive balm.

Charles and Betty at home with their collection.

whiskey

The Teetotaling Couple Who Filled Their Home With Novelty Whiskey Containers

For decades, Jim Beam made decanters shaped like Elvis, the Mount St. Helens eruption, and more.

The mosaic panel "Blacksmiths of the Present," on a wall at the Institute of Nuclear Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, in Kyiv, was created in 1974 by artists Galina Zubchenko and Grygoryi Pryshedko.

the soviet imprint

Preserving Ukraine’s Soviet Past, One Mosaic At a Time

“We’re trying to collect everything before it’s gone.”

Dr. Thamban Meloth, head of NCPOR’s polar science department, seen here holding an ice core in Antarctica.

glaciers

Glacier Research Is Particularly Treacherous at the 'Third Pole'

Scientists in the Indian Himalayas deal with low oxygen, zip lines, and paths blocked by giant boulders.

Tumbleweeds got stuck in Bessie's grill.

pandemic

Tumbleweeds Usually Tumble, But Sometimes They Tornado

Matt McKnight caught a botanical maelstrom on camera in Eastern Washington.

The animal's stubby legs and stumpy tail resemble a badger's. The rest of its anatomy raises more questions than it answers.

mammal

How Island Evolution Forged a Bizarre Mammal in Ancient Madagascar

Back when reptiles were all the rage, Adalatherium really stood out.