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Danville, Alabama

Jesse Owens Museum

A fascinating museum near the birthplace of the greatest track and field athlete of all time.
Preserved specimens of depressed river mussels (<em>Pseudanodonta complanata</em>), a species that has nearly disappeared from French waters.
science

Found in the Seine: DNA From a Nearly Extinct Mussel

Scientists taking samples from the Parisian river didn't expect to find traces of shellfish that had all but disappeared from France.
Kim Willsher February 10, 2025
Fujisawa, Japan

‘Benzaiten and the Women of the World’

An eclectic fountain commemorating the 1964 Summer Olympics.
Yokohama, Japan

Noge-Miyakobashi Shotengai (Harmonica Alley)

This retro izakaya street is a unique legacy of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
A Belgian fan at the UEFA Euro 2024, European Championship, claims Flemish beef stew trumps coq au vin.
food

The Biggest Sports Rivalries This Year Are Between National Foods

Kielbasa vs. Fondue: Choose your fighter.
Diana Hubbell August 2, 2024
A young woman working out using boxing gloves and a punching bag in 1890.
ancient

The Women Who Overcame Insults and Even Death to Become Athletes

From bow-wielding Amazons to the trash-talking, 18th-century “Mother of Boxing.”
Sarah Durn February 16, 2024
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Jim Thorpe Museum

This small museum inside a larger sports complex honors the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the U.S., and his life of achievement and struggle.
Costumes and cheap beer are staples of most weird sports, says photographer Sol Neelman, but no one takes dressing up quite as seriously as contestants in one of his all-time favorite sports events: Kaiju Live Monster Wrestling (formally known as the Kaiju Big Battel) in Queens, New York.
space exploration

The Year in Weird and Wonderful Sports

From carriage racing to winter surfing to mashed potato wrestling, these competitions captured our imaginations in 2023.
Roxanne Hoorn December 21, 2023
NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins became obsessed with rugby after discovering the sport in college.
astronomy

Passing on the Olympics to Go to Space

Rugby and exploring the cosmos have more in common than you might think.
Jessica Watkins November 21, 2023
1996 Olympic Yachting Cauldron
Savannah, Georgia

1996 Olympic Yachting Cauldron

A monument to one of the few Olympic flames ever to be lit outside of the host city.
A <em>bouquiniste</em>, or traditional seller of vintage and antique books, on the bank of the Seine in Paris in August 2023.
islands

Wonder Is Everywhere: The Island of Cows, a Parisian Bookseller Revolt, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.
April White September 1, 2023
Medicine Hat, Alberta

Saamis Tepee

A standalone wonder amid the prairie badlands of southeastern Alberta.
Seoul, South Korea

Son Kee Chung’s Greek Helmet

This ancient Corinthian helmet is South Korea’s only national treasure of Western origin.
Athens, Greece

Panathenaic Stadium Passage

Gladiators once walked this ancient, subterranean passage.
Fakkelmannen
Oyer, Norway

'Fakkelmannen' ('The Torchbearer')

This mountainside mural of a person carrying a torch was created for the 1994 Winter Olympics.
Sheffield Ski Village
Sheffield, England

Ruins Of Sheffield Ski Village

Once a training ground for Olympic athletes, this artificial ski slope has fallen into ruin after a fire in 2012.
Luge, in this case two-man, was first introduced to the Winter Olympics in 1964 in Innsbruck, Austria.
sports

How in the World Did Luge Happen?

The secret of the slide, from ancient Germanic tribes to tony Alpine resorts.
Dan Nosowitz February 14, 2022
México - José María Subirach
Mexico City, Mexico

Ruta de la Amistad (Friendship Route)

A series of modernist, abstract sculptures form a route created as part of the 1968 Olympics' Cultural Olympiad.