Explore 1266 Features Collections - Atlas Obscura
Places near me Random place

1266 Items Tagged

Features

Share
Street lights in Nikko.
transportation

According to Japanese Traffic Lights, Bleen Means Go

The country's bluish-green signals are the results of linguistics and legalities.
Allan Richarz September 12, 2017
Gali marked settlements with little houses and reefs with dots.
maps

Why Modern Cartographers Are So Impressed With This 16th-Century Map

A mariner's take on a town in "New Spain" was notably accurate for its time.
Sarah Laskow September 11, 2017
animals

The Mysterious Connection Between Solar Storms and Stranded Whales

Could cosmic events be leading sperm whales to their deaths?
Sarah Laskow September 8, 2017
<em>The School of Athens</em>, 1511.
literature

How Do You Decode a Hapax? (Also, What’s a Hapax?)

It's a word that only appears once in a work, author's oeuvre, or an entire language's written record.
Maya Nandakumar September 7, 2017
<em>Edestus gigantus</em>.
art

The Delicate Art of Illustrating Ancient Sharks

Artist Aaron John Gregory balances scientific accuracy and creative flair.
Kevin Litman-Navarro September 6, 2017
Häagen-Dazs ice cream.
food

Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream Is From the Bronx—So What's With the Name?

Examining the phenomenon of the faux-foreign product.
Dan Nosowitz September 5, 2017
All illustrations: Sebastien Thibault.
science

The Hidden Memories of Plants

Inside a quiet revolution in the study of the world's other great kingdom.
Sarah Laskow September 5, 2017
Ruysch, <em>Opera omnia anatomico-medico</em>.
science

The Two Best Dutch Anatomists of the 17th Century Hated Each Other

They had dramatically different ideas about how to depict dead bodies.
Sarah Laskow September 1, 2017
Suppression of compartment fire.
fires

Setting Furnished Rooms Ablaze at the Fire Research Lab

The facility allows investigators to recreate arson attacks and analyze burn patterns.
Matthew Blitz September 1, 2017
Two Bactrian camels belonging to a nomadic family relax in the Gobi.
animals

The Transcendental Ritual of Mongolian Camel Coaxing May Soon Be Lost Forever

Khuus, khuus, khuus.
Natasha Frost August 31, 2017
A sign led the photographers to this cactus nursery in North Yorkshire, England.
hidden

The Search for the World’s Most Enchanting Greenhouses

Two plant-obsessed photographers are on a mission.
Sarah Laskow August 30, 2017
The <em>Dreadnought</em> hoaxers in their Abyssinian regalia, with Virginia Woolf on the far left.
literature

When Virginia Woolf Dressed Up as an 'African' Prince to Fool the Royal Navy

The irony of a racist prank that sought to show up the British Empire.
Natasha Frost August 29, 2017
A German U-boat in 1918.
boats

Did German U-Boats Smuggle Alcohol Into the U.S. During Prohibition?

One photo suggests that rampant rumors of submarine smuggling were true.
Sarah Laskow August 29, 2017
From left to right: Edward Gibson, Gerald Carr, and William Pogue prepare to fly to Cape Canaveral to take off for Skylab.
space exploration

Did 3 NASA Astronauts Really Hold a 'Space Strike' in 1973?

Digging into a legendary moment in the history of extraterrestrial labor.
Cara Giaimo August 28, 2017
The Corpus Christi seawall, just after completion in 1940.
disasters

How a Devastating 1919 Hurricane Inspired Corpus Christi to Build a Seawall

One early design, by the man who built Mount Rushmore, included a giant statue of Christ.
Sarah Laskow August 25, 2017
Lee B. Lok (center) at his store, Quong Yuen Shing & Co, on Mott Street, New York, c. 1917.
history

How a Chinatown-by-the-Sea Popped Up on the Jersey Shore

A tuberculosis epidemic, a church, and one lucky break sent Chinese Manhattanites to Bradley Beach.
Eveline Chao August 24, 2017
<em>Black Langshans</em>, L.A. Stahmer, 1928.
art

The Poultry Pin-Up Art That Showed Off Breeders' Best Chickens

Beautiful oil portraits of plump hens and roosters appeared in industry magazines for decades.
Christine Heinrichs August 24, 2017
Jihad Lamp, Fort Polk, Louisiana.
features

These Simulated War-Zone Villages Train U.S. Soldiers for Deployment

Pretend streets, fake wounds, and actors playing snipers all add to the immersive experience.
Eve Kahn August 23, 2017