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medical museums

Podcast: Good Vibrations Antique Vibrator Museum

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team September 13, 2021
Built in 1905 from random porter cart parts, barstools, and a marine engine, The Sheldon was the first and only automobile manufactured in Alaska.
objects of intrigue

This 1905 Motorcar is the Only Automobile Manufactured in Alaska

The Sheldon is a one-of-a-kind testament to the ingenuity—and unrequited love—of its creator.
Bailey Berg September 2, 2021
Pelling in the kitchen with asparagus, the veggie that inspired his work on spinal cord injuries.
science

The Biophysicist Transforming Asparagus Into Medical Implants

A horror movie proved an unlikely source of inspiration.
Cari Shane August 4, 2021
ruins

Podcast: The Baalbek Trilithon

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team July 12, 2021
Sluis, Netherlands

Bizarium

This museum is filled with an eclectic collection of unique inventions.
Den Optiska Telegrafen (The Optical Telegraph)
Stockholm, Sweden

Den Optiska Telegrafen (The Optical Telegraph)

The fastest way to send a message before electricity was invented.
Commemorating the first two-way long distance telephone call.
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Site of the First Transcontinental Call

This plaque commemorates the call between Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson.
Short steps leading to the control tower.
Meriden, Connecticut

Traffic Control Tower

A human attendant once directed car traffic from this structure before automated stoplights.
Semaforo di Monte Guardia
Ponza, Italy

Semaforo di Monte Guardia

This abandoned semaphore station hearkens back to the days of the optical telegraph.
California rolls: Not from Canada?
food

Not a Fan of Hawaiian Pizza, Processed Cheese, and California Rolls? Blame Canada

Fusion foods and innovations associated with the U.S. quietly have roots farther north.
Emily Monaco October 15, 2020
Rice cookers are an elegant solution to a tricky task.
food

The Battle to Invent the Automatic Rice Cooker

The biggest names in Japanese technology vied to bring them to market.
Anne Ewbank July 31, 2020
Granville T. Woods, pictured in an 1895 issue of <em>The Cosmopolitan</em>.
science

Sold: An 1891 Patent by Granville T. Woods, Innovative Black Engineer

Woods was prolific, but was largely forgotten for many years after his death.
Matthew Taub July 22, 2020
The eerie smoke masks in Erenberg's collection bear a striking resemblance to two Star Wars fan favorites.
machines

A Show & Tell With Upstate New York’s 'Radio Guy'

His collection of scary-looking headgear from the past is sure to get into your head.
Isaac Schultz April 8, 2020
The magician Harry Houdini, who sought to debunk spiritualists and their tools, speaks into a spirit trombone.
victorian

How Victorian Mediums Gave Shy Ghosts a Megaphone

Spirit trumpets helped the dead speak above a whisper.
Sabrina Imbler October 23, 2019
A baker makes fortune cookies at Hougyokudo in Kyoto, Japan.
food

The Free Cookie in Your Chinese Takeout Is Actually Japanese

Fortune cookies emerged from one of America’s darkest moments.
Selena Takigawa Hoy October 11, 2019
Permanently Closed
San Francisco, California

Benkyodo

This Japanese treats shop may have been the first business to mass-produce fortune cookies in the United States.
Antonio López de Santa Anna in his days as a dashing soldier, before his unglamorous exile.
gum

How a Mexican General's Exile in Staten Island Led to Modern Chewing Gum

He captured the Alamo, lost Texas, and helped invent Tutti Frutti.
Will Conant October 7, 2019
Garching bei München, Germany

Abacus Clock

This unique abacus hanging in the Technical University of Munich actually tells the time.