Author: Ms. R.

Quartz, silicon dioxide (SiO2) is one of the most common minerals in the Earth’s crust, and occurrences of massive quartz (so-called “bull quartz,” in miners’ jargon) are common. They are distinctive, the white quartz typically standing out prominently from the background of ordinary rock, and bull quartz also sometimes hosts valuable mineral deposits. The gold in the hard-rock mines of the Mother Lode on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, for example, typically occurs in quartz. So, when……

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Old McDonald had a farm. The company managed by his descendants is now the 14th-largest private landowner in the world. Hold your ee-i-ee-i-o’s: This is not the farmer of nursery rhyme fame. That apocryphal MacDonald probably was inserted into a traditional folk song in early 20th-century America. These McDonalds (without the interstitial “a”) have been farming in Australia since 1827, when the first cattle were shipped to Tasmania. A Cattle Empire In 1947, Jim McDonald purchased Brightlands Station, a……

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Butrint, located on the southern coast of Albania, is an ancient city that boasts a rich history and a unique blend of influences from various civilizations throughout the Mediterranean area. The site was first settled by the Greeks in the 7th century BCE and then became part of the Roman Empire in the 2nd century BCE. Over the centuries, Butrint was also influenced by the Byzantines, Venetians, and Ottomans. This mix of civilizations and diverse types of architecture makes……

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Summer in the United States means it’s time to hit the road in search of adventure, so we navigated the Atlas Obscura archive to find the best road trips stories, from the very first car journey from coast to coast 120 years ago, to the fastest ever (25 hours and 39 minutes) to one of the worst in history. And then there’s all the unexpected sites you’ll see along the way. Keep an eye out for a 6o-ton buffalo,……

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Andark was originally formed in 1976 as a commercial diving business in Southampton, England.  Andark divers would work on everything from surveying ship hulls to underwater construction. In 1980, the company diversified and started a scuba diver training program. In 2011, the business expanded yet again. On the high ground behind Andark, a small yet deep lake was constructed. This bowl-shaped lake, known as Andark Lake, became one of Europe’s first purpose-built scuba diving lakes. Today, Andark Lake is still……

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The city of Yokohama is home to a major international seaport, one of the busiest since 1859. Located close to its pier is the customs headquarters, an unusual historic building one might expect to find in Morocco rather than in Japan. Constructed in 1934, the Yokohama Customs headquarters is nicknamed “the Queen’s Tower” for its turquoise-domed minaret, and the rest of the building matches its style, with Moorish battlements and arched windows, partially inspired by ancient Indian architecture. There……

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It’s easy to forget amid summer road trips and back-to-school to-do lists that our Earthly home is just a floating speck of blue in the vastness of the universe, that our human lives are just a blink in our galaxy’s long history. To help you (and ourselves!) carve out more time to contemplate our place in it all, Atlas Obscura compiled this list of the best books about space, the universe, and beyond. Even if you’re completely new to……

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A 100-meter walk down the Rakiura Track from the car park reveals a giant chain emerging from the tussock and sinking into the sand. This sculpture plays on the idea that Stewart Island (Rakiura) is physically connected to the South Island. There is a matching sculpture on the South Island at Bluff.  According to Māori folklore, the South Island was demigod Māui’s canoe (te waka a Māui) and Rakiura was the canoe’s anchor stone. The sculpture is formally known……

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