jessicahester1's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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lost art

The Mysterious Norwegian Art of Painting on Dead Fish

No one knows how artists pulled off a trick over 100 years ago.
November 16, 2023
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fatberg

Descend Into the Sewers With London’s Fatberg-Busters

What can we learn from wipes, oils, and fats when they overwhelm the arteries of the modern world?
November 3, 2022
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nellie bly

A New Monument Celebrates Nellie Bly's Undercover Reporting, Right Where It Happened

The Roosevelt Island artwork pays homage to her reporting, especially her inside look at a city asylum.
March 23, 2022
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pigeons

The Case for Pigeon-Watching

A new book is part ornithology guide, part ode to the misunderstood urban birds.
November 29, 2021
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why is this like this?

Get to Know New Zealand's Hugely Popular, Thrillingly Blue Mushroom

It is a key part of local culture, and looks like it was colored with a crayon.
November 2, 2021
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maps

Mapping the Ghostly Traces of Abandoned Railroads

An interactive, crowdsourced atlas plots vanished transit routes.
October 14, 2021
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story

The Dark Art of Displaying Deep-Sea Fish

How one museum keeps a rare Pacific footballfish looking sharp.
September 30, 2021
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whale bones

Meet the Egyptian Scientists Studying 'Ghosts' of the Desert

The country's extensive fossils include early ancestors of whales, the largest mammals on the planet.
September 21, 2021
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carnivorous plants

This ‘Cryptically Carnivorous’ Plant Has Been Hiding in Plain Sight, Waiting for Flesh

The western false asphodel has an appetite for insects, but it’s not a great time to be a meat-eating plant.
September 17, 2021
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spite house

For Sale: Boston’s Skinny Spite House

This slim 19th-century home, just 10 feet wide, is seeking new owners who aren’t afraid to get close.
August 23, 2021
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farming

Why Are Farmers in Senegal Creating Gardens That Look Like Crop Circles?

A new project emphasizes practical designs that may stave off desertification.
August 6, 2021
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why is this like this?

Meet 'Firebows,' the Flat, Rainbow-Like Stacks That Appear in Sunny Skies

But whatever you do, don’t call them rainbows.
July 30, 2021
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poop

Students Are Getting Paid to Poop at a South Korean University

The project transforms human waste into biogas, and allows participants to buy everything from bananas to socks.
July 23, 2021
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plastic

How Could a Crocodile Spend Years Cinched By a Tire?

One in Indonesia has been carrying a rubber ring since at least 2016. Here’s how the litter might be affecting the animal’s life.
February 9, 2022
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why is this like this?

Why Are Almond Growers Uprooting Their Orchards?

The double whammy of drought and water regulations has led some farmers to sacrifice thirsty crops—with visually striking consequences.
July 2, 2021
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why is this like this?

Spiders Covered Australian Shores With a Massive, Gossamer Blanket

The ghostly sight tells a story of escape, survival, and a post-flood feast.
June 25, 2021
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pandemic

My Pandemic-Era Quest to Solve the Mystery of Ponyhenge

To get to know a new town, start with its charming local oddities, like a herd of toy horses in a field.
June 23, 2021
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letters

Found: A Landlocked Message in a Bottle in a Detroit Train Station

More than a century ago, a couple of guys had some beer and an idea.
June 14, 2021
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why is this like this?

What in the World Is Sea Snot?

And why is it fouling the coast around Istanbul?
June 4, 2021
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pandemic

How a Giant, Stinky, Delightful Corpse Flower Got to an Abandoned Gas Station

It was all thanks to a gardener, a wagon, and a sense of pandemic-era camaraderie.
June 1, 2021
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poop

What Secrets Lurk Within a Human-Sized Dome of Bat Guano?

Deep in a Jamaican cave, scientists are getting to the bottom of that question.
May 18, 2021
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jellyfish

Walden Pond Is Full of Jellyfish, But Don't Panic

Meet the generally harmless translucent residents of Thoreau's favorite giant puddle.
May 5, 2021
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why is this like this?

Argentine Beaches Are Sometimes Speckled With Giant, Pearly Orbs

And that's bad news for the snails that produced them.
May 3, 2021
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citizen science

Scientists Want Your Help Stalking Billions of Cicadas

The Brood X bonanza is almost here, and ecologists will have a lot of work—and bugs—on their hands.
April 22, 2021