Japan’s Cult-Favorite Puzzle Laboratory

Atlas Obscura is bringing you logic challenges from the pages of Puzzle Communication Nikoli. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The Oldest Cookbooks from Libraries Around the World

Vintage recipes include flaming peacocks and kangaroo brains. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

In Algeria, Ancient Cave Art May Show Psychedelic Mushroom Use

Thousands of years ago, artists documented their world on rock walls—including, perhaps, ritual use of hallucinogens. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Women Who Ran Genghis Khan’s Empire

From fighting in the army to managing the kingdom, women were key players in every aspect of the Mongol Empire. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Can Solar Cookers Save the World?

This old technology is more important than ever. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Is There a Future for the Sinkhole-Studded Dead Sea?

Receding waters are leaving behind an environmental disaster, and a new kind of tourism. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The Curious Case of the Arctic Desert Island That’s Not an Island

No one is sure how this geological oddity got there. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Kelenföld Power Station

A marvel of technology a century ago, this disused power station now offers a lovely glimpse into the industrial design of the past. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Unearthing Ancient Sudan’s Powerful, Complex Past

Archaeological work at Tombos reveals the stories of people who lived more than 4,000 years ago—and inspires new interest from the people who live there today. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The Curious Case of August Engelhardt, Leader of a Coconut-Obsessed Cult (2017)

He believed that eating nothing but coconuts was the ultimate cleanse. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

For Fun: English Fake Town

Haunted TV shows, surveillance owls, liver-based children's toys—nothing is too weird for Scarfolk. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Are the Great Lakes really Inland Seas

Well, yes. And no. Actually, it depends on where you stand, in more ways than one. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The puffer fish helmets of Kiribati

This ceremonial headwear was a cultural touchstone before it became a colonial curiosity. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Competitive Chair-Sitting

A day at your desk will not prepare you for this grueling competition. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The 19th-Century Woman’s Guide to Birth Control

Shared books, homemade concoctions, and a whisper network thwarted Gilded Age efforts to limit women’s access to health care. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Aqueduct Veluwemeer

While most bridges allow roads to pass over water, this one allows water to pass over a road. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Monkeys Love Their Alcohol

But proving the “drunken monkey” hypothesis has been an exhausting—and messy—endeavor. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

When Americans Dreamed of Kitchen Computers

The ultimate appliance turned out to be expensive and impractical. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The Memories of Plants

A slow but dramatic change in the study of the world's other great kingdom. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Planespotting with the ‘Avgeeks’

For most people, planes are a necessary hassle, but for aviation enthusiasts they’re so much more.  | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Tiny Computers Reveal How Tahiti's Tree Snails Evade a Fierce Predator

The bean-sized snail has persevered despite hundreds of related species going extinct in recent decades. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

What the World’s Most Remote Islands Were Like Before Humans Arrived

Scientists dig deep for the lost bioscapes of the Marquesas Islands. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

For Sale: Moon Dust Collected by Neil Armstrong

NASA accidentally sold it, tried to take it back, lost it in a court battle—and now you can own it. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The World’s Largest Bee and the Cautionary Tale of Its Rediscovery

Scientists were thrilled to find the Wallace's giant bee, missing for four decades. Things did not go as they'd hoped. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

In 1980, an Earthquake Destroyed an Italian Town- and Revealed Another

In Conza today, millennia of history seem to exist all at the same time. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Women–and Their Hair–Transformed South Korea

Newly fashionable in the 1960s, wigs brought millions of dollars into the war-ravaged country. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Inside the New York Public Library's Last, Secret Apartments. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Chernobyl’s strange black fungi have a superpower

The organisms, growing at the Ukrainian site amid invasion and occupation, may one day help keep space travelers safe. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Why Is Scotland Apologizing Now for Witch Trials 300 Years Ago?

The gender politics of attempting to right a historic wrong. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

A Botanical Mystery Solved, After 146 Years

How a young illustrator’s attention to detail—and a determined Victorian woman's legacy—led to the discovery of a new species in an old painting. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The definitive map of the world’s extraordinary sights

All places in the Atlas, on one map. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The Unsung Women of the Betty Crocker Test Kitchens

For many Crockettes, the job was glamorous, fulfilling, and "almost subversive." | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

McDonald's Imperial – Porto, Portugal

The restored restaurant is among the most Instagram-worthy fast food joints. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

There’s a Conch-Shell Graveyard in the Caribbean

Some think these towering shell piles preserve healthy populations of the coveted sea snails. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Hit with hard times, American bakers turned to tomato soup

Hit with hard times, American bakers turned to tomato soup. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

A Whale of a Tale about a Science Breakthrough Ignored for Decades

In 1981, Helene Marsh and her mentor discovered the truth about a basic biological process—but it took many researchers years to accept it. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

A record-setting 19th-century adventure was the result of a bet

The record-setting 19th-century adventure was the result of a bet. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The Invisible, Afflicted Spy Who Led the U.S. Army into Occupied Manila

As a woman with leprosy, Josefina Guerrero was ignored by Japanese forces as she carried messages of resistance in World War II. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Feminists Fought for the Right to Forget Childbirth

They had associations and rallies advocating for "twilight sleep." | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Lloyds Bank Coprolite

One paleoscatologist called the Lloyds Bank coprolite "as precious as the Crown Jewels." | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The 1980s Media Panic over Dungeons and Dragons (2016)

From Mazes and Monsters to Dark Dungeons, D&D was a lot scarier in the 1980s. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The Sledges of Clovelly, England

Wooden sledges have replaced donkeys to cart goods around the picture-perfect village. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

A 105-Year-Old Tattoo Artist

Filipino tribal tattooist Fang-od Oggay has built an economy on the back of skin art. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

The Supernatural Sheep of Slovenia’s Door-to-Door Carnival

To bring spring, hundreds of hirsute revelers roam the country's villages. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Startup Transforming Used Chopsticks into Furniture

Humans throw out more than 80 billion pairs a year. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

Was René Descartes a Victim of Skull Blasting? (2021)

Centuries after the philosopher’s death, lingering controversy over his remains highlights a macabre practice of profiting from the dead. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

In Bhutan, a Rare Tiger’s Mysterious Illness Had a Surprising Source

Local vets collaborated with an international team to figure out why the animal was dazed and wandering near the capital city. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago

George McJunkin, a Hidden Figure in North American Archaeology

The self-taught naturalist found a site that would transform scientific views about Native Americans in North America. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 years ago