natashafrost's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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knitting

You’ll Probably Never Get to See, Let Alone Touch, Sea Silk

Untangling the mysteries of the world’s rarest thread.
September 13, 2017
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elephants

When Under Threat From Poaching, Elephants Change Their Travel Habits

An amazing adaptation with a sad cause.
September 13, 2017
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greece

The Ancient Greeks May Have Deliberately Built Temples on Fault Lines

Then again, they may just have an awful lot of both.
September 12, 2017
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abolitionsim

The 18th-Century Quaker Dwarf Who Challenged Slavery, Meat-Eating, and Racism

Benjamin Lay is not to be overlooked.
September 11, 2017
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ants

So-Called Lazy Ants Are Good for Something, After All

Even shirkers have a place in the colony.
September 11, 2017
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cryptography

The World's Most Mysterious Medieval Manuscript May No Longer Be a Mystery

But we're not reading the Voynich manuscript quite yet.
September 8, 2017
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passports

The History of Passport Photos, From 'Anything Goes' to Today's Mugshots

People have always hated how they look in them.
September 8, 2017
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wolves

African Wild Dogs Vote on Crucial Pack Issues by Sneezing

Democracy is a blessing.
September 7, 2017
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technology

Clever Cockatoos' Tool Use Is Off the Hook

And puts young human children to shame.
September 6, 2017
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britain

Found: 1,600-Year-Old Mosaic, By Amateur Archaeologists

Experts are calling it the most exciting British mosaic discovery in fifty years.
September 5, 2017
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chess

Can You Solve the Million-Dollar, Unsolvable Chess Problem?

The queen of all puzzles.
September 1, 2017
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parenting

The Transcendental Ritual of Mongolian Camel Coaxing May Soon Be Lost Forever

Khuus, khuus, khuus.
August 31, 2017
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island castaways

Solving the Mysterious Disappearance of Two 18th-Century French Frigates

A lost 1818 newspaper article may be a critical clue.
August 31, 2017
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catacombs

Thieves Infiltrated the Paris Catacombs to Steal $300,000 of Wine

An underground oenological heist.
August 30, 2017
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chemicals

The Mysterious Coastal Cloud That Made Dozens Sick

Toxic haze on the British coast may have come from a passing ship.
August 29, 2017
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prank

When Virginia Woolf Dressed Up as an 'African' Prince to Fool the Royal Navy

The irony of a racist prank that sought to show up the British Empire.
August 29, 2017
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law

Why You Can't Always Trademark a Color

The complicated process of legally "shotgunning" a particular shade.
August 29, 2017
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storms

A 1,000-Year-Old Texas Oak Tree Stands Firm

A natural treasure is weathering the calamitous storm.
August 28, 2017
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psychology

Rhesus Monkeys See Faces in Objects, Just Like We Do

Yes, that coffee does look a bit like a face.
August 28, 2017
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suffrage

A New Statue Remembers A Forgotten, Working Class Suffragette

The controversial art of choosing who we do, or do not, commemorate.
August 25, 2017
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submarines

Scientists Decode the Wreck of H.L. Hunley

Solving the century-old mystery of what killed the Confederate submarine's crew.
August 24, 2017
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media

The Dying Art of Courtroom Illustration

Why there are no new artists in the gallery.
August 23, 2017
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marketing

Why Do We Love to Think of Places as People?

"Paris, I am in you" is just the latest manifestation of a long tradition.
August 23, 2017
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cows

The Unexpected Result When a Cow Faces Down a Pride of Rare Asiatic Lions

Exit, pursued by a heifer.
August 22, 2017