Author: Ms. R.

In the autumn of 79 AD, Pliny the Younger wrote a letter to the Roman historian Tacitus, detailing the early stages of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. From his villa in Misenum, across the Bay of Naples from the volcano, he described seeing a dark cloud, shaped like an umbrella pine tree, filling the sky over the mountains flanking the northern edge of Sarno River plain. What followed was something that no one in the region was prepared for…….

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On February 18, 2021, if all goes to plan, NASA’s Perseverance rover will land on Mars. While it’s poking around, looking for signs of past habitability, Ingenuity—a tiny, experimental solar-powered helicopter hitching a ride on its underside—will try to demonstrate the possibility of flight on another world for the very first time. We may be looking at the future of exploration on the Red Planet. Back here on Earth, others are already looking beyond Ingenuity. A next-generation NASA-funded Mars……

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Not much is known about the history of this site. The scant ruins of a medieval structure suggest the existence of an ancient rural church inside one of the largest caves of the Sant’Angelo Canyon. Like the nearby hermitages associated with Peter of Morrone, the hermit who became Pope Celestine V in the 13th-century, the site is an excellent example of Abruzzo’s rural and spectacular hermitages. The intrepid adventurer who enters the canyon will discover a simple stone altar……

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As visitors wander the streets of Jaffa Old Town, this fully grown orange tree that appears to float will certainly come as a surprise. However, the tree is actually suspended by chains, hanging roughly one foot above the street. Despite being created by Israeli artist Ran Morin in 1993, this installation somehow looks at home within the ancient streets of Jaffa. The tree is fed through a drip system and continues to produce fruit.  The roots are enclosed in……

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Hidden past vineyards and hilly fields, this location is often missed or completely disregarded. Not far from the popular town of Onetangi, a short drive down the remote gravelly roads of the Eastern part of the island takes visitors to the aptly named, Stony Batter Historic Reserve. As visitors walk in from the small car-park, they are greeted by large, volcanic boulders on each side before reaching the open-field battery. The area is complete with panoramic views of the……

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Dimitrovgrad is said to be the first socialist industrial town in Bulgaria. It started from scratch in 1947 when thousands of youth gathered at this spot and started a colossal building project to create a new city. The result was a utopian Socialist environment with straight streets, large squares, park areas, and districts that were segregated into different types of factories and workers. The new town was named Dimitrovgrad for the first communist leader of Bulgaria, Georgi Dimitrov. Not……

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Opened in 1930, the Metropolitan State Hospital (MSH) in Waltham, Massachusetts was once the largest, most sophisticated facility for treating the mentally ill in New England. At its peak, around 2,000 patients were residents at the hospital. Construction on the complex began in 1926, a few years after legislation passed in Massachusetts that mandated the state care for the mentally ill. The first building opened four years later and work continued through to 1935, at a total cost of……

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