Situated on one of the most expensive real estates in Tokyo, this Shinto shrine dates back to the eighth century, making it the oldest in the city. It also has become deeply associated with the famed Akihabara Electronic Town district nearby. The shrine was first built near what is now the Otemachi district. Due to the expanding Edo Castle, the shrine had to be moved to the former Kanda ward in 1603. It stood there for a little over……
Following World War II, Scotland planned five totally new towns in an attempt to relieve congestion and over-crowding in many parts of central Scotland. In 1968, one of these towns, Glenrothes, became the first new town anywhere in the world to take on a dedicated town artist. As a result of this choice, Glenrothes has an eclectic and somewhat bizzare collection of over 170 art works, all set within its carefully planned urban landscape. Wandering the lanes and backstreets of……
Creek Street is one of the most popular attractions in Ketchikan, Alaska, and right away, visitors get a sense of its kitschy history. You’ll note that everything is on stilts; legend has it that because prostitution was illegal on land, those stilts were the result of resourceful Alaskans finding a way to make it work. Creek Street was Ketchikan’s red-light district up until the late 1920s. A century ago, it was filled with bootleggers, fishermen, and brothels. The main attraction……
The MIT Supply Chain Management (MCM) master’s program has recognized 34 exceptional students from nine renowned undergraduate programs specializing in supply chain management and engineering across the United States. Twenty-one students have won the 2025 MIT Supply Chain Excellence Award, while an additional 13 were named honorable mentions. Presented annually, the MIT Supply Chain Excellence Awards honor undergraduate students who have demonstrated outstanding talent in supply chain management or industrial engineering. These students originate from the institutions that have collaborated……
The newly established Morningside Academy of Design (MAD) Professorships recognize outstanding faculty whose teaching, research, and service have significantly shaped the field of design at MIT and beyond. The appointments support a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration, mentorship, and the development of new educational approaches to design. These appointments mark the creation of the MAD Professorships and were formally announced on April 29 at the MAD in Dialogue event, where faculty members, introduced by their department heads, each gave a short……
Today, the structure at 12-14 Marshall Street in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, houses a church. But it was once the central headquarters of the Winter Hill Gang and the site of grisly acts of violence. In the 1960s and 1970s, the back room of Marshall Motors was where Howard T. Winter, John Matorano, and Whitey Bulger—who was once the second most wanted man in America after Osama Bin Laden—held court and presided over their empire. Their……
In 2001, Jack White, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The White Stripes, founded a record label in Detroit, Michigan known as Third Man Records. In 2009, White opened his first physical location for the label, in a run-down neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee, known as Pie Town. Today the Nashville location hosts a record store, offices, a distribution center, recording and photo studios, as well as a live music venue called The Blue Room. The record store……
Researchers from MIT and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have discovered that a class of peptides expressed in pancreatic cancer cells could be a promising target for T-cell therapies and other approaches that attack pancreatic tumors. Known as cryptic peptides, these molecules are produced from sequences in the genome that were not thought to encode proteins. Such peptides can also be found in some healthy cells, but in this study, the researchers identified about 500 that appear to be found only……
Those who grew up in the United States in the mid-1970s probably watched, or were at least familiar with, the television series Kung Fu. It starred David Carradine as a monk and kung fu expert traveling in the Old West in search of his brother. The show featured frequent flashbacks to his training at the Shaolin Monastery in China. Although the story was completely fictional, the Shaolin Monastery is a real place, believed to date back to the fifth……
One of the best ghost stories in history took place in this southeast county of Greenbrier, West Virginia. According to legend, in 1897, young bride Zona Heaster Shue was found dead in her home, lying at the bottom of the stairs. Initially, townspeople assumed she had died of natural causes, until Zona’s mother, Mary, reported multiple visits from Zona’s ghost saying that, actually, she had died at the hands of her enraged husband, Edward. At the Greenbrier County Courthouse,……
A few miles south of Senga Bay, along the western shore of Lake Malawi, lie the Marelli Islands—an uninhabited exclave of Lake Malawi National Park. Blue Zebra, the only resort allowed on the island, offers visitors the opportunity to experience the extraordinary biodiversity of Lake Malawi up close. Lake Malawi, once known as Lake Nyasa, is the planet’s ninth-largest lake. Containing more species of fish than any other lake in the world, Lake Malawi is a paradise for snorkelers,……
It’s been a scientific truth so universally acknowledged that it’s taught in classrooms and repeated in pop-science videos: An egg is strongest when dropped vertically, on its ends. But when MIT engineers actually put this assumption to the test, they cracked open a surprising revelation. Their experiments revealed that eggs dropped on their sides — not their tips — are far more resilient, thanks to a clever physics trick: Sideways eggs bend like shock absorbers, trading stiffness for superior……
Vintage hats and necklaces, glassware, local handmade crafts, trains, clocks, books, and more pack the shelves at Alderson’s, one of the oldest stores in West Virginia. Established in 1887 as J.M. Alderson General Merchandise, the shop was the go-to for sundries and other necessities of the time. Sarah Alderson, the present-day proprietor, is a direct descendant of Elder John Alderson, who founded the town itself in 1777. In 1930, the store burned down and was eventually rebuilt in its……
West Virginia is home to one of the longest bridges in the world. Spanning over 3,000 feet long and rising 876 feet high, the New River Gorge Bridge was built out of pure steel. Finalized in 1977 after four years of construction, the feat’s final cost came to $37 million. The privately owned Bridge Walk offers tours for those who are brave enough to cross the 24-inch wide maintenance catwalk. For the ultra brave, grab your headlamp and go……
For over 120 years, a church in historic downtown Fayetteville, West Virginia, has connected its community. Though it’s no longer used for worship, the Cathedral Café keeps tradition alive today as a popular breakfast, lunch, and coffee spot. Colorful stained-glass windows and vintage pendant lighting preserve the original ambiance. On one wall, hundreds of books fill the shelves, and are available to browse or buy (children’s books are free). The all-day breakfast menu is full of sweet and savory……
