All Stories

This elegant biscuit card has a dark backstory.

war fare

Australian Soldiers Used to Write Letters Home on Crackers

They were easier to find than paper.

Path to Carrive Mass Rock.

ireland

The Secret Paths That Led Ireland’s Catholics to Forbidden Mass

Passages to salvation from a time of persecution.

Illustration of an extinct New Zealand burrowing bat by Gavin Mouldey.

new species

Found: A Giant Extinct Burrowing Bat

It used to scurry about on all fours on New Zealand's forest floor.

In the late 19th century, there was a vogue for taking photographs of people standing on giant lily pads—these are Victoria amazonica in Salem, North Carolina.

water

Enormous Lily Pads Have Returned to Paraguay

The queen of waterlilies is back.

Red indicates places an hour or more away from a city; purple indicates place a day or more away from a city.

cities

Here's How Long It Takes to Reach a City From Every Place on Earth

A new map measures accessibility to the world's cities.

Albert Szukalski's The Last Supper in Beatty, Nevada.

fellowshiphighway95

Enter to Win an Artists’ Dream Journey Up Nevada’s Most Inspiring Highway

Atlas Obscura and TravelNevada are offering $10,000 for pair of artists to embark on a traveling fellowship along Nevada’s Highway 95.

Wishlist: Two Hours of Prince-Adjacent Funk From the Twin Cities

wishlist

Wishlist: Two Hours of Prince-Adjacent Funk From the Twin Cities

"Purple Snow" is full of boundary-pushing musicians from Minnesota.

A giant ground sloth skeleton.

avocados

Like Avocados? Thank This Giant Extinct Sloth

They ate avocados, pit and all.

What will the future of underground navigation look like?

tunnel

Wanted: A Better Way to Map Underground Spaces

DARPA's Subterranean Challenge aims to spur innovation beneath our feet.

The golden-crowned manakin is the only known hybrid species in the Amazon.

brazil

Found: The First Known Hybrid Bird Species in the Amazon Rain Forest

Resistance to crossing rivers gave it the space to evolve into something new.

Unsalted bread from Umbria.

pope

The Mystery of Italy's Saltless Bread

Trade wars, papal rebellion, or salty hams. Why does central Italian bread have no salt?

Through the whole of its existence, the Great Hedge of India was beset by difficulties and never quite accomplished its purpose.

walls

The British Once Built a 1,100-Mile Hedge Through the Middle of India

This quixotic colonial barrier was meant to enforce taxes.

Exterior of Blenheim Hill Books in Hobart, New York.

bookstores

A Tiny New York Town With Not One, But 5 Indie Bookstores

The village of Hobart, home to fewer than 500 people, serves as a modest reminder that books can change people and places.

An anole egg, laid by a female in the colony.

science

At an Underground Harvard Lizard Colony, Scientists Study Speciation

Several hundred brown anoles are helping researchers discover how new species come to be.

Puzzle-solving goes extreme.

rubik's cubes

Watch a Man Make a Rubik's Cube From Ice

It redefines "on the rocks."

A sea monster looms off the coast of Venezuela.

map monday

A Vast, 430-Year-Old World Map, Full of Places and Creatures, Real and Imagined

More than 60 square feet of cartographic wonder.

Good taste in both fashion and books.

wreck

Found: Scraps of a Book From the Wreck of Blackbeard's Flagship

Apparently pirates spent some of their free time reading about sea voyages.

John Young (left) and the corned beef sandwich he took into space (right).

astronauts

Remembering the Astronaut Who Smuggled a Sandwich Into Space

He got into a lot of trouble.