LANGUAGE HISTORY  Martha Vineyard’s History of Sign Language Prior to the 1950s, the entire area of Martha’s Vineyard was once fluent in their own sign language dialect, though by the ‘70s, only a few speakers remained. Everybody signed to communicate (how else would you speak to your neighbors, parents or friends?)—but hardly anyone outside the community knew about the language. In 1950, the last fluent Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language speaker passed away. It would take 25 years for the language to reveal itself to off-islanders.  READ MORE → GASTRO OBSCURA The Triumphant Story of Britain’s Desi Pubs The Scotsman is one of the UK’s many desi pubs, located in Southall, a part of London with a high concentration of Asians (75 percent, per the last census). Desi pubs are Anglo-Indian boozers run by Asians, established a time when non-white Brits faced segregation. South Asians no longer face exclusion from pubs—which are so integral a part of British social life—but desi bars like The Scotsman remain, reflecting both the tensions and triumphs of a multiracial Britain. READ MORE → CUSCO, PERU Shadow Boxes of Almudena Cemetery Almudena Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Cusco and over the years has expanded up to seven acres. Reclaimed material from a convent destroyed by cannonfire was used to build parts of this 19th-century cemetery, where more than 23,000 people are buried, most in stacked crypts with shadowbox window displays created by the deceased’s families. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES Stories In The Stones Have you ever wondered why certain gravestones and funerary monuments look the way they do? In this course, Dr. Elise M. Ciregna will explore how to decode the stories in gravestones and deepen your understanding of America’s cemeteries. You’ll gain the tools to engage with gravestones in a new way and learn the foundations for doing genealogical research. ENROLL TODAY → BROOKLYN, NEW YORK Spritz Cookie Gravestone Spritz cookies are a Scandinavian Christmas tradition. The cookies are spritzen’ed, or “squirted,” through a press with patterned holes and dipped in chocolate or other flavoring. They are meant to be dry, crisp, and buttery, and Naomi Miller-Dawson’s recipe is decidedly not meant to be forgotten. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA TRIPS Wings & Wonders of New Zealand Explore New Zealand's South Island through the lens of conservation. Set out into the mountains, through breathtaking fjords, and around mighty glaciers, following and tracking rare endemic avian species. We’ll chat with field biologists, conservation-focused vintners, and ornithologists. BOOK YOUR TRIP → WILD SCIENCE Monkeys Love Their Alcohol In 1990, biologist Robert Dudley was watching spider monkeys plucking the ripe fruits of a hog plum tree when he wondered: are monkeys drawn to alcohol? 25 years later, this theory was turned into a book that hypothesized that humans’ proclivity towards alcohol first arose from our monkey ancestors smelling their way to ripe, nutritious, alcohol-laden fruits. Now, a new study conducted on Barro Colorado is the first to directly analyze and subsequently support Dudley’s theory. Proving the “drunken monkey” hypothesis, however, has been an exhausting—and messy—endeavor. READ MORE → MATAVUN, SLOVENIA Skocjan Caves Often referred to as the “Underground Grand Canyon,” this Slovenian cave system features one of the largest subterranean chambers in the world. Thanks to the amount of water that flows through the canyon, the caves hold a number of eye-catching geological features, and its unique spaciousness also hosts a number of species of bat, countless unique bio-organisms, and even a variety of fish that have never seen the light of day. READ MORE → SPONSORED BY DISCOVER SOUTH CAROLINA Guignard Brick Works By the banks of the Congaree River in Columbia, South Carolina, four squat brick kilns sit in a neat row on an unfenced, open lot. Wrapped in rusted metal bands, these kilns are all that remains of a 19th-century brick-making empire responsible for much of the state’s early urban development. LEARN MORE →