March 28, 2023

BREAKING BARRIERS  Forgotten Women Aquanauts  More than fifty years ago, five women descended into a submerged laboratory known as Tektite. It was the first all-female experiment in underwater living, and for fourteen days, the women embarked on research and countless scientific opportunities. Although the Tektite project may be little remembered today, its impact—including, notably, convincing NASA women could also go into space—has been quietly profound in the fields of research, exploration, and the history of women in science.  READ MORE →   GASTRO OBSCURA Sloths and Avocados Lestodons might sound like toothy, scaly dinosaurs. But these Cenozoic-era creatures were sloths, the direct ancestors of the ones still around today. Lestodons were much, much larger than your typical sloth; weighing from two to four tons, they roamed grassy plains in South America chewing on grass, foliage, and the early avocado. The result was the spread of avocado seeds all over South America. Thank a giant extinct sloth today. READ MORE →   MADRID, SPAIN Toilet Cabinet of Ferdinand VII When you think of toilets, you’re likely not envisioning anything particularly luxurious. But for King Ferdinand VII of Spain, his personal restroom was possibly the height of luxury. The Prado Museum has a fairly faithful reproduction of his bathroom, reproducing the cherry-toned colors of the walls at that time, most of the paintings that hung on them, and a luxurious latrine, which is made of mahogany and upholstered in velvet. READ MORE →   ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES Making Miniature Furniture Making miniatures is no small feat; crafting tiny worlds from scratch is both an art and a science, and it draws from a long history of reflecting realities and generating new ones. In this workshop designed for beginners, join Amanda Kelly of Panda Miniatures to learn how to create realistic, textured miniature furniture from scratch. Miniature makers of all levels are welcome! ENROLL NOW →   ATLAS OBSCURA PUZZLES Pointing the Way In 1999, the puzzle creator named Tempo came up with Yajilin, a puzzle that involved cells with numbers and arrows, mixed with the puzzle magazine Nikoli’s distinctive continuous loops. The result was a puzzle that can be reasoned out quickly, complex but with a difficulty that scales, which made it very popular. The goal of Yajilin is to both shade in black cells and draw a single, continuous loop through the remaining white cells, so that every cell of the grid is filled. How quickly can you solve it? PLAY NOW →   TOKYO, JAPAN K-Museum At the end of the Dream Bridge on the Ariake side, there is a unique building resembling a fallen spaceship. From 1997 to 2001 it was home to a facility called the K-Museum, which exhibited the public utility system of the Ariake district, showcasing the pipes and electrical conduits that make the city run. The museum failed to attract visitors, and in fact, has been “temporarily closed” for at least a few years. READ MORE →   FOOD ORIGINS Hawaiian Pizza Is From Ontario That’s right. Ontario, not Oahu. The Hawaiian pizza, an amalgamation of pineapple chunks and ham atop a regular cheese pizza, was concocted in 1962 in a restaurant serving typical mid-century food without any particular focus. It’s a niche pizza that divides people, but perhaps surprising that the classic union of ham and pineapple was an accident. Before you tear it apart (or tear into it), take a few moments to dive into its history here. READ MORE →   EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS Thorncrown Chapel This chapel is a beautiful glass church located in the Ozark Mountains that looks like something that either came from the future or was built by elves. Built in 1980 by E. Fay Jones, an architect who had apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright, the church is made almost entirely of materials taken from the local wilderness. READ MORE →