Say WOW

Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

Did the Dinosaurs Die on a Pleasant...

Spring was in full swing along the Tanis River that day. It curved lazily through forest and wetland on its way to the Western Interior Seaway, a shallow sea several miles away that covered much of what is now North America’s Great Plains. Winter’s chill, when temperatures dipped to just above freezing, was a distant memory, but the full heat of summer had not yet arrived. Plants were budding or starting to bloom, and turtles rested along the river……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Lowe’s posts strong Q4 results on strong...

NEW YORK (AP) — Lowe’s Cos., the nation’s second-largest home improvement chain behind Home Depot, offered an upbeat annual outlook after reporting strong fiscal fourth-quarter results that showed a still sizzling housing market. The report, released Wednesday, follows a robust quarterly report from Home Depot. Home improvement stores have been busy during the pandemic as people working from home took on new projects. Many also moved into new homes with more space for a home office. A high inventory…

Read More

CDC: Some people should wait longer for...

NEW YORK (AP) — Some people getting Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines should consider waiting up to eight weeks between the first and second doses, instead of the three or four weeks previously recommended, U.S. health officials said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday quietly changed its advice on spacing the shots. CDC officials said they were reacting to research showing that the longer interval can provide more enduring protection against the coronavirus. Research suggests that…

Read More

Alan Grossman to step down as head...

Alan D. Grossman, the Praecis Professor of Biology at MIT, has announced he will step down as the head of the Department of Biology before the start of the next academic year. He will continue to lead the department until the new head is selected. A search committee will convene later this spring to recommend candidates for Grossman’s successor. “Alan Grossman is an outstanding biologist who is, and has been, deeply committed to the research and educational missions of……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

The 1990s: Jordan era takes flight; Magic...

Michael Jordan had just won his first championship, beating Magic Johnson in the NBA Finals. They were poised to lead a Dream Team the world couldn’t wait to watch. Yes, the NBA rolled into the fall of 1991 with unlimited promise. Jordan, already basketball’s best and most popular player, was now on its top team. The 1992 Olympics were just a year away and for the first time would include NBA players, opening international doors the league previously couldn’t…

Read More

Villaggio Minerario Asproni in Iglesias, Italy

Asproni Mine Village was a place where mine workers of Serra Moddizzis lived from the end of the 18th to the half of the 19th-century. The mine was founded by Giorgio Asproni (1841-1936), and was a fully operational village, with all the services of a small town. The town included an elementary school for miners’ children, a post office, church, grocery store, a little hospital, and more. Asproni and his family lived here despite the relatively short distance from……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

A new look for the MITAA

How do you create a visual and messaging identity that not only reflects more than 150 years of MIT graduates but is also forward-thinking enough to represent the generations of alumni to come? That was the question the Alumni Association asked itself when beginning a rebranding process in 2019, aiming to deliver on one of the priorities named in the Association’s Strategic Plan: “Focusing communications and building a world-class brand.” To help find the solution, the Association tapped Pentagram, a…

Read More

Huly Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland

Not far from Edinburgh’s airport is this prehistoric site, which includes the remains of a cairn, along with standing stones. They have been dated to around the 25th century B.C., the United Kingdom’s transition from the Iron to the Bronze Age. This makes the Huly Hill roughly contemporary with Stonehenge, but more recent than other sites, such as Skara Brae on Scotland’s Orkney Islands. Animal bones have been excavated from inside the cairn, although evidence of human burials has……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Podcast: Lake Karachay

Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit Lake Karachay in Ozersk, Russia, the site of a former secret Soviet Union nuclear facility that’s inspired art despite the little that’s publicly known of the site. 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……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

The Italian Town Where You Can Eat...

Every morning by 3 a.m., at his shop in the northern city of Ferrara, Italian baker Sergio Perdonati recreates a Renaissance bread. Using a 90-year-old starter (which his father managed to save after the bakery was bombed during World War II), he rolls two lengths of dough, one beneath the palm of each hand, until they begin to curl. He then presses the two pieces together at the middle to form an “X” and pops it on a tray……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Richard Binzel: Eyes on the skies and...

Richard Binzel has long held a see-for-yourself attitude toward astronomy. It developed in 1970, when he received a Criterion RV6 telescope for his 12th birthday. It was on a cold Ohio night looking through that telescope at the rings of Saturn that he first realized he wanted to be a planetary astronomer. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, how fantastic planets are. That’s what I want to study when I grow up,’” says Binzel. It didn’t take him long to……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Viskafors Blå Får (Blue Sheep of Viskafors)...

When passing through the sleepy village of Viskafors and unexpectedly discovering a field with marine blue sheep next to the thoroughfare, you might think you have entered the Twilight Zone. No need to worry though, since this is a permanent art installation arranged by a local housing company. The sheep, designed by German artists Bertamaria Reetz and Rainer Bonk, are made of cast resin and have been hand-painted by people with intellectual disabilities. The color blue was chosen since……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Reloj Chino (Chinese Clock) in Mexico City,...

Between Mexico City’s Ottoman Clock and Chinese Clock, it may seem that all anyone gives Mexico to celebrate their independence is clocks. But beyond celebration, both clocks are also symbols of gratitude towards Mexico for their acceptance of migrants during the early 19th and 20th centuries.  The Lebanese and Turkish governments gifted their clock in 1910 to commemorate the centennial of the beginning of Mexico’s War of Independence; thus, the last imperial government of China gifted this clock in……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

James Cameron was just 16 years old in 1930, when he survived a brutal lynching attempt in Indiana that left two of his friends dead. The event set him on a decades-long course of activism and advocacy that eventually led him to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the culmination of his life’s work: America’s Black Holocaust Museum. Cameron founded the museum in 1988, and in 1994 expanded it to a larger building in the city’s Bronzeville District. Until the mid-20th century,……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More

Hemenway Park in Boulder City, Nevada

This small, clean, quiet park boasts a great view of Lake Mead. The park contains a playground for the kids, shade, benches, a gazebo, and a really nice bathroom. It’s a great place to spend a few hours lazing around. There is even a small snack bar that is occasionally open. The park’s main claim to fame, however, is the large herd of Bighorn sheep that spend a lot of time at the park. They come down from the……

This content is for Member members only.
Log In Register

Read More