August 11, 2022

GASTRO OBSCURA  From PhDs to Pastries  There’s a scientific trend happening on social media, and it involves delicious, delectable pastries. Scientists, engineers, and researchers on social media are using flour and sugar to illustrate complex concepts. This can range from microbiologists demonstrating how mitosis works using peanut-butter cake, to pastries based on research about turning graveyards into protected environmental areas. As it turns out, you can have your cake and study it too.  READ MORE → RESURRECTING RIVERS London’s ‘Zombie River’ Around 200 years ago, London’s River Thames was both a hub of trade and transport and a dumping ground for human excretion and industrial waste: a glorified sewer, as it were. In 1957, the city’s Natural History Museum declared the river “biologically dead,” almost a hundred years after its stench earned the summer of 1858 “the Great Stink.” But this past November, a health checkup by the Zoological Society of London revealed what the group hadn’t seen in the River Thames for more than 60 years: promising signs of life. READ MORE → FERRARA DI MONTE BALDO, ITALY Santuario Madonna della Corona Built over 2,000 feet above sea level into a vertical cliff face, the Santuario Madonna della Corona (Sanctuary of the Lady of the Crown) looks as though it is nearly suspended in mid-air. However, the church does not actually hang on the sheer face but instead sits on a thin rock shelf that can only be reached by a thin path from below and a street from above. Perhaps don’t look over the edge. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES Designing Modern Floral Arrangements Flowers in bloom can tell a story of time and place. In this course, you'll join floral designer Arrin Sutliff to learn how to source, sculpt, and edit these stories using modern arrangement styles. You'll learn how to craft intentional lines, negative space, and depth; and there will be an emphasis on base mechanics, spending time understanding how to ensure your vessel can structurally support your design. ENROLL NOW→ AND YOU THOUGHT MEETING THE PARENTS WAS BAD 17th-Century Dating Practices If today’s complicated dating world disturbs you, imagine being a young woman in love in 17th-century Wales. You can’t wait to begin your life with your beau, but first, you need to prove to your parents that you’re ready to marry—by being bundled up in a sack and put to bed. This practice would generally keep today’s young person from ever dating again, but bundling seems to have been popular in Ireland, the rural United Kingdom, and the New England colonies from the 16th into the 18th century. READ MORE → RJUKAN, NORWAY Giant Sun Mirrors of Rjukan For six months each year, the rays of the sun, blocked by the surrounding mountains, never reach the small town of Rjukan directly. From late September to mid-March, only a gloomy half-light lies over the town during daylight hours. Except, that is, for a strange pool of light on the town square, a spotlight-like circle of sunlight spilling over some 600 square meters and a semi-circle of wooden benches. READ MORE → FREE MEMBERS-ONLY EVENT Into the Bonebed at The Mammoth Site Jump into an active dig site and discover what happens to a fossil after it's taken from the ground! During this exclusive virtual experience, Dr. Jim Mead, The Mammoth Site’s Director of Research, through various behind-the-scenes areas a one-of-a-kind dig site and museum. If you aren't a member yet, you can sign up during the RSVP process for this event. SIGN UP TODAY → CULINARY RECREATIONS Bog Butter For thousands of years people have been burying butter under the spongy surface of boglands, where organic matter doesn’t rot as it does elsewhere. Ireland’s bogs have produced millennia-old “bog bodies” (startlingly well preserved human remains), and ancient bog butter is discovered with some regularity. These large chunks of butter or beef tallow might be 2,000, 3,000, even 5,000 years old, and they are usually still (technically) edible, though they’re said to have a sharp, cheese-like smell. READ MORE → HIDDEN HISTORY Small Alleys, Big Stories In between the restaurants, shops, and landmarks of a city is a network of passageways often overlooked by curious travelers and residents alike. And while many alleyways are merely repositories for garbage and faded graffiti, a few are slender portals that reveal the history of a location and what makes a place truly unique. Here are 17 with their own surprising stories. READ MORE → SPONSORED BY THE MAINE OFFICE OF TOURISM Gulf Hagas While it may not boast the exact scale of Arizona’s Grand Canyon, Gulf Hagas has earned recognition as the “Grand Canyon of Maine,” at least, for being one of the deepest gorges in the state. What it may lack in relative grandeur is more than made up for in the range of old-growth forests, waterfalls, and geologic features dotting this unique pocket of Maine’s highland region. LEARN MORE →