Author: Ms. R.

For California’s fruit trees, 2021 was a thirsty year. Nearly 90 percent of the state experienced extreme drought. More than 70,000 farms, which grow a third of the country’s fruit and nuts, including $6 billion worth of almonds annually and nearly $1.6 billion worth of pistachios, scraped by on reduced water rations. By all indications, these severe water shortages are just a taste of what’s in store as weather patterns grow more extreme. Fruit and nut trees live, on……

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In 1986, at the age of 21, Alejandra Melfo moved to Mérida, Venezuela, the “city of eternal snows,” to study physics at the University of the Andes. There, in the mountain city, she often looked out toward the horizon at the vast Sierra Nevada de Mérida: a large, muscular, towering expanse three miles in the sky and blanketed by snow and the broad sheets of glaciers. Having just arrived from Uruguay, a country with no mountain ranges, she fell……

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Producer and actor Mary Ann Bloomfield waited in anticipation as dusk fell over the medieval plen-an-gwari amphitheater in St Just, in southwest Britain. She had just introduced the first performance of the Ordinalia trilogy, and as she had hoped, the open skies above the stage stayed clear and the audience quieted as the choir opened the show: “Y’n dallathvoz Dyw a wrug nev ha’n nor. Hag yth esa an nor heb roth, ha gwag, ha tewlder war vejeth an……

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When picturing the landscape of Scotland, most people probably think of the rolling green hills of the Highlands, perhaps a peat bog or a rocky seaside cliff. But as a place with thousands of miles of coastline, Scotland also has plenty of beaches, many of which have drawn comparison to those in tropical destinations thanks to their fine, white sand and clear blue or turquoise waters. Nowhere is this clearer than on the island of Berneray in the Outer……

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A prehistoric network of caves lies underneath Childersburg, Alabama. Originally known as Kymulga Cave, now called DeSoto Caverns, the impressive series of caves has played important roles in the history of local Indigenous cultures as well as Euro-American colonialism. The history of this cave system dates back to another era in Earth’s history. It sits within a bed of limestone that was deposited nearly 500 million years ago. The caverns themselves, which consist of a large central room and……

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The business district of Mumbai is known as Fort. The area is full of government and private offices, old heritage buildings, stunning architecture, cafes, restaurants, and tree-lined roads. The area got its name from a fort which was built here by the British during the 18th-century. In 1769, Fort George was built as an extension of the fortifications of Bombay (now Mumbai), in order to strengthen the defenses of the area. It was built in place of the erstwhile……

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Bachelor Loop is a 17-mile drive through Creede Colorado‘s historic mining district. The town was established in 1892 after silver deposits were discovered at various locations throughout the canyon, though the earliest claims to sites were made as far back as 1883. The subsequent mining boom caused the population of Creede to swell to over 10,000 before a sharp drop in silver prices the following year triggered closures. A majority of the town’s population departed the region. Mining eventually……

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Ballymeanoch, which means “the middle settlement” in Scottish Gaelic, is a complex selection of Neolithic structures located in Kilmartin Glen, made up of standing stones, a henge and cairns. The standing stones are thought to be the oldest structures at the site, estimated to have been built more than 4,000 years ago. The Ballymeanoch complex features a group of standing stones arranged in two roughly parallel rows. The tallest stone stands four meters high and is in the row of four……

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In a small courtyard that lies at the heart of Stirling Castle built for James V is a small, paved area that is very nondescript but is referred to as the Lion’s Den. While the name probably comes from the importance of the lion in Scottish heraldry, there is another theory behind the name. Some believe that this courtyard was once home to an actual lion. It’s said the lion was sent to James V as a present from……

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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 visit a stunning geological marvel just north of Dahab, Egypt, that has been called the deadliest dive spot in the world. But is that reputation deserved? 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……

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