Author: Ms. R.

Nigeria is separated by the Christian South and Muslim North. The political structure of the north consists of seven influential Muslim Emirs and other religious leaders working in parallel with the government.  Zaria, a large town in Kaduna state, is the seat of one of the seven Emirs. However, it also hosts a substantial migrant community from the south. This community is predominantly Christian, speak a different language, and face political and economic marginalization. Without the land and funds……

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The Crookston School was an educational institution for children of the former mining town of Wallyford. Established during the late 19th-century, it was the home of the World War I Crookston Memorial, which has since been relocated.  The school itself was abandoned around the 1970s, after which it fell into disrepair and was soon covered in graffiti. In 2015 and 2017, the ruins were damaged by arsonists. However, given its location on the site of the historical 16th-century Battle……

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The Temple of Hercules Victor is a small Roman temple located in the area of the Forum Boarium, along the Tiber river. This curious structure immediately catches the eye and is known as a tholos, a round Greek temple encircled by a colonnade. The temple was constructed around the year 120 BC, making it the oldest still-standing marble building in Rome, and the second oldest building in the city. It’s also the only surviving structure in Rome made out……

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This piece was originally published in Wired and appears here as part of our Climate Desk collaboration. Since 1980, the University of Tennessee’s Forensic Anthropology Center has plumbed the depths of the most macabre of sciences: the decomposition of human bodies. Known colloquially as the Body Farm, here scientists examine how donated cadavers decay, like how the microbiomes inside us go haywire after death. That microbial activity leads to bloat, and—eventually—a body will puncture. Out flows a rank fluid……

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Access to the correct time of day is something that has become so easy in our society that it is taken for granted. Yet this was not always the case. When it was installed in 1913, the Lund Observatory’s clock gave residents the most accurate reporting of the time in the area. For years, many locals set their own clocks to the timer that ticked away at the astronomy center’s front gate.  Though once a crucial part of daily……

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Back in the heyday of the locomotive train, the city of Edinburgh was served by a network of railway lines. This commuter pastime continued for several decades. The advent of the automobile caused a massive decline in rail travel starting in the 1920s. Miles of tracks would lie dormant for several years around the city. It wasn’t until the end of the 20th-century that many of these abandoned pathways were converted into walking and cycling routes. One such line……

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Driving down Highway 71 after a baron stretch of nothingness, visitors will soon come upon a few decaying homes. There’s little to no traffic here, as the town is barren and forlorn, frozen in time—a photographer’s dream. Founded in 1889, Ardmore was a classic 19th-century frontier town, mainly created as a stopping point for the New Burlington Railroad. The town was plagued by drought and the local creek was too acidic for human consumption. The steam trains would leave……

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