Hygieostatic Bat Roost

This unique tower has been home to malaria-fighting bats for 100 years. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

When Usually Solitary Octopuses Get Together, Odd Things Happen

Observations from Octopolis and Octlantis. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

When Squirrels Were One of America’s Most Popular Pets (2017)

Benjamin Franklin even wrote an ode to a fallen one. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

How Do Stressed-Out Corals Smell?

The answer could help researchers detect bleaching events before they happen. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

In Search of Opium, Parrots Are Wreaking Havoc on India’s Poppy Fields (2019)

Farmers in Madhya Pradesh are struggling to combat the avian theft. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

Encryption Lava Lamps

There couldn’t be a groovier way to keep the web secure. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

Tracking Down the Long-Lost Orchards of the California Gold Rush

Amigo Bob Cantisano and his team are on the hunt for "green gold." | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

Pillsbury: Space Food for astronauts before launched in grocery stores (2019)

Pillsbury designed Space Food Sticks for astronauts before launching them in grocery stores. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

Famine Under the Nazis Revealed the Cause of Celiac Disease (2018)

A food shortage helped one doctor prove his theory. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

The Strangely Perplexing Problem of Communicating Numbers Out Loud

Eight-six-seven-five-three-oh...something. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

‘Ninja Diet’ Prioritized Fortitude, Stealth, and Eliminating Body Odor (2018)

Understanding what shinobi ate, amid a stew of myths and misconceptions. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

Around the World in 130 Chicken-Soup Recipes

A new cookbook is devoted entirely to the soothing, healing meal. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

The Great Lengths Taken to Make Abraham Lincoln Look Good in Portraits

One famous image of the president features a body that isn't his. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

My Hunt for the Original McDonald’s French-Fry Recipe

Veteran line-cooks, experts, and die-hard fans tell the story of the fries that birthed an empire, then disappeared—until now. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

I Tried a Medieval Diet, and I Didn’t Even Get That Drunk (2016)

The Regimen Sanitatus Salernum was the Middle Ages' most famous health manual. How does it hold up? | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

Cranberries Are the Only Thanksgiving Food That Came from the United States

Anyone up for some mashed sunchokes? | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

Leather Balls and 3k-Year-Old Pants Hint at an Ancient Asian Sport

They were found in the Yanghai Tombs in modern-day Northern China. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

Wheat’s Evil Twin Has Been Intoxicating Humans for Centuries (2016)

Darnel is poisonous, but in small enough doses can give food a special kick. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

Eating Meat Was Banned in Japan for Centuries

The reasons were both religious and practical. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

When Ships Are Abandoned, Stuck Sailors Struggle to Get By–and Get Paid

“We are satisfied with little, but even that little is impossible today.” | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

The Power of a South Pole Sunrise After Six Months of Darkness

Astrophysicist Robert Schwarz has spent more winters at the southern tip of the world than any human in history. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

California Is Named for a Griffin-Riding Black Warrior Queen

The story of Calafia reveals the surprising complexity of medieval attitudes about race. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

The CD-ROM Magazine (2016)

For a time in the 1990s, some publishers thought they were the future. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

Finally, a Theremin for Rats

With the help of human musician Dan Deacon, some rats have made a film soundtrack with it. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

The New York Public Library’s Last, Secret Apartments

There are just 13 left. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

Japan’s Onryō Spirits Inhabit a Purgatory of Revenge and Cosmic Rage

Their supernatural historical tales reflect perceived wrongs, royal machinations, and intense jealousies. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

What It Takes to Dismantle and Move a 40-Foot Whale Skeleton

Including welding skills, knowledge of anatomy, and infinite patience. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

The Lost, Macabre Art of Swedish Funeral Confectionery

These beautiful mementos of mourning have all but disappeared. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 years ago

How to Count Every Language in India: There Are at Least 780

There are at least 780. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Decoding the Design of In-Flight Seat Belts

Why we buckle up differently in cars and planes. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

How the Man Who Invented Xbox Baked a 4,500-Year-Old Egyptian Sourdough

It took three experts, two museums, and one clay pot to bake a truly ancient loaf. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Washington, D.C., and the Quest for a Perfectly Square City

It all goes back to a rather literal reading of some rather vague instructions in the Constitution. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

One man's quest to taste every fruit on Earth

Around the world in 300 fruits and counting. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

The Spectacular Science of the Great Lakes’ Glowing Rocks

Under UV light, some of them look downright magical. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

The Artist Who Does Extreme Close-UPS of Utility Poles

Rosamond Purcell finds stories, landscapes, and more on their mottled surfaces. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Sold: Letters Deciphered by a Groundbreaking English Codebreaker

Cagey about his methods, John Wallis was a bit of a cipher himself. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Grapefruit Is One of the Weirdest Fruits on the Planet

From its name, to its hazy origins, to its drug interactions, there's a lot going on beneath that thick rind. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Grapefruit Is One of the Weirdest Fruits on the Planet

From its name, to its hazy origins, to its drug interactions, there's a lot going on beneath that thick rind. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Roadside stand in rural SE Pennsylvania offers 320 varieties of tomatoes

This roadside stand packs 300-plus varieties of tomatoes, from "Maiden's Fire" to "Kaleidoscopic Jewel." | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

What Will Mexico City Do with 2k Mammoth Bones?

What is Mexico City going to do with 2,000 mammoth bones? | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

The Cider Makers Who Bury Their Booze

A Virginia cidery has adapted an 8,000-year-old winemaking method. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Did Early Humans Invent Hot Pot in Geothermal Pools?

A mystery microbe found at Olduvai Gorge inspired scientists to speculate about the origins of cooking. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

The bridges portrayed on Euro banknotes aren't fictional anymore

The bridges portrayed on EU currency aren't fictional anymore. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Body parts of atomic bomb victims spent decades abroad before being returned

How and why the harvested body parts of atomic bomb victims spent decades abroad before being returned to Hiroshima. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

Acorn Woodpeckers Have Multi-Day Wars, and Birds Come from All Around to Watch

A window into complex avian sociopolitical lives. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

A ‘Forgotten Holocaust’ Is Missing from Indian Food Stories

One of Bengal’s greatest tragedies is overlooked in the West. It’s missing from cookbooks and food writing, too. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

What Wildfire Archaeology Tells Us About the Burning American West

Archaeologists in New Mexico are studying past wildfires through tree rings and pottery sherds. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago

The End of Centralia’s Abandoned, Colorful, Anarchic ‘Graffiti Highway’

First the fractured stretch of road became a canvas, then a gathering place. Now it will become forest. | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 4 years ago