Author: Ms. R.

This piece was originally published in The Guardian and appears here as part of our Climate Desk collaboration. In a dank, disused railway tunnel in West Sussex hangs a brown, furry parcel, the sole known representative of Britain’s rarest mammal. Scientists don’t like to apply emotive adjectives to animals, but if ever there were a lonesome creature, it would be this greater mouse-eared bat. The bat’s reappearance in December for its 20th winter has astounded its guardians, because of……

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Of the eight recognized species of honeybee in the world, none are native to North America. The ubiquitous and indispensable western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is actually an immigrant from Eurasia, introduced to the Americas by European colonists in the 17th century. There are, however, honey-producing bee species native to Central and South America, and you can visit an apiary showcasing six of them at La Meliponicultura in Mexico‘s Rancho Grande Valle Nacional. Many of these native bee species……

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A series of 25 large metal circles that stand in front of San Jose’s City Hall look totally innocuous in the daytime, but turn into a skater and photographer’s magnet at night. Zooming through the tunnel at speed almost feels like zipping through a wormhole, and synchronized music timed to the rippling lights makes for a trippy experience. Said tunnel is called the Sonic Runway, which was developed and installed by a group of engineers, animators, and artists. The……

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The Okochi Sanso gardens are located right inside the Arashiyama bamboo forest in northwest Kyoto, accessible through a small gate. The gardens were originally one of the homes of Japanese actor Denjirō Ōkōchi (1898-1962), famous for his part in several Jidaigeki period movies. After his death, the gardens were open to the public, and several buildings were marked as culturally significant. Today, the gardens are accessible to the public for a ￥1000 entry fee. The area is meticulously tended to……

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The petroglyphs at Mt. Irish are one of the few indigenous sites found in Nevada that give visitors an important look into the people that lived in the region since roughly 1000 BCE. The petroglyphs, pottery shards, and other items found at the site are believed to date back to between 1-1500 CE. The petroglyphs are carved into the rocks, where the so-called desert varnish is removed from the stone to reveal brighter colored rock beneath. Most of the……

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we travel to Niles, Illinois, home to an exact replica of Italy’s leaning tower of Pisa—only at half-size. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible site, and along the way you’ll meet some fascinating people and hear their stories. Join us daily,……

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Among our crosswords and other puzzles, we’ll be featuring logic challenges from Puzzle Communication Nikoli, a cult-favorite puzzle publication from Japan. A PDF of the puzzle, as well as the solution, can be downloaded below. Gesaku got his ideas from the things that he saw around him every day: the design of floor tiles on a subway platform or the ripples in a pond. Gesaku—the only name by which he is known—was a dedicated reader of Japan’s Puzzle Communication……

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Among our crosswords and other puzzles, we’ll be featuring logic challenges from Puzzle Communication Nikoli, a cult-favorite puzzle publication from Japan. After checking out this introduction to Nikoli, try our first Nikoli challenge, Tentai Show! In 1989, when Yoshinao Anpuku was a 21-year-old math student at the University of Kyoto, he came up with a puzzle, and sent it in to his favorite magazine, Puzzle Communication Nikoli. The logic-based challenge was in the style of others featured in the……

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