January 25, 2023

PLANT EVOLUTION  Poop-Eating Carnivorous Plants  Look, carnivorous plants have it rough, what with their reputation for eating living organisms and all. But the truth is, they’re not that sinister. In fact, they’re marvels of resiliency that have adapted to some of the least-hospitable environments on the planet, taking in prey that slip into their traps. Now, a handful of pitcher plant species have taken their opportunistic eating one step further. In a recent paper published in Annals of Botany, a team of botanists detail how some pitcher plants have evolved to get their nutrients not from the animals themselves but the animals’ waste—specifically, the nitrogen-rich droppings of mammals. While perhaps not the most palatable of processes, in resource-poor ecosystems, it is nothing short of ingenious.  READ MORE →   HISTORY MYSTERY World’s Oldest Billboard The 5,000-year-old port city of Dholavira can be found on an island in the salt flats of the Great Rann of Kutch on India’s western edge. It has been described as “one of the best preserved urban settlements from the period in Southeast Asia” by UNESCO, and it’s home to what is one of the most remarkable discoveries in Indian archeology: what is believed to be the world’s oldest billboard. The only problem is: no one knows what it says. READ MORE →   HAMILTON, ONTARIO Tim Hortons No. 1 When National Hockey League player, Miles Gilbert “Tim” Horton, opened this first branch of his first eponymous restaurant in Hamilton, Ontario, on May 17, 1964, no one would have imagined that his name would become as synonymous with Canada as maple leaves, poutine, and hockey itself. Today, the franchise has grown into Canada’s largest fast-food chain, with over 5,000 locations in 15 countries—and you can visit the first shop where it all started, here at its original Hamilton location. READ MORE →   ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES Think Like A Museum Museums tell deliberate stories. The decisions that shape those stories—who tells them, what’s exhibited, and what’s omitted—often unfold outside of the purview of museum-goers. But what if we could bring museum-making into our own homes and worlds? In this course, the Director of the Museum of Broken Relationships in Los Angeles will help you explore what museums and collections really are, how they take shape, and how to responsibly curate one of your own. ENROLL NOW →   EVERYDAY WONDER How Awe Can Shape Our World Think of the last time something beautiful stopped you in its tracks. It could have come while you were marveling at a monument of significance, listening to a really good piece of music, or even something as simple as admiring a beautiful sunset. According to Dacher Keltner, a leading expert on the biology of human emotion and a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, these experiences share something—they’re encounters with awe. While the science of awe is relatively new, Keltner has been studying how this ineffable feeling has impacted our minds and bodies across history and cultures. READ MORE →   YORK, ENGLAND Lloyds Bank Coprolite This piece of fossilized Viking poop is so well-preserved, one paleoscatologist called it as “precious as the crown jewels.” Archaeologists have dated the dung back to the ninth century, when what’s now York was ruled by Norse warrior-kings. READ MORE →   IT’S FIVE O’ CLOCK SOMEWHERE Morning Pub Run There are only three historic London pubs left where the almost-gone tradition of having a beer with breakfast is alive and well. Yes, you read that right—beer with breakfast. As recently as 100 years ago, all London pubs opened in the morning, and they’d fill with people having an early drink. READ MORE →   FALMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS Rachel Carson Memorial Rachel Carson is known for being the editor-in-chief for all publications from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, publishing a handful of books that cemented her as one of the country’s leading experts on the ocean, and writing Silent Spring, which kickstarted the global environmentalism movement. This memorial is located at Woods Hole, a place which inspired Carson in her early days as a biology graduate—a fitting tribute to a woman who made the ocean, and the environment, just a little bit more familiar to us all. READ MORE →