Stories - Atlas Obscura

Why a Computer History Museum Owns a Legendary Teapot

For computer-graphics researchers, it's both a tool and a meme.

Meet the Farm Animals That Help One of America’s Busiest Airports Run

At Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, these hungry herds serve an additional purpose beyond simple gardening.

The Key to Bodacious Blueberries Is a Bumper Crop of Bees

To attract them, though, it helps to have forest nearby.

This Brazilian Plant Regenerates Just a Day After Being Scorched by Wildfire

And its flowers bloom only a week later.

Meet the Man on a Quest to Document Every Apple in North America

And the mammoth book he wrote about it.

How America Got Its First Black Radio Station

In 1948, Memphis channel WDIA became a community voice and a rock 'n' roll star-maker.

Ethiopia’s Strange Volcanic Landscapes Are Irresistible to Scientists (and Tourists)

Dallol can teach us a lot about Mars, and it needs to be protected.

How a City Planner Spends 3 Days in Resurgent Buffalo

Revitalization evangelist Chris Hawley shares his "what once was old" agenda for Three Obscure Days in Buffalo.

The Cypress That May Have Inspired Dr. Seuss's 'The Lorax' Has Toppled Down

Now there's nothing left of its whimsical crown.

Prehistoric People Built Little Artificial Islands in Scottish Lochs

Researchers nudged the construction date of some these landmasses, known as crannogs, back to the Neolithic period.

Taiwan Is in the Clutches of a Claw Machine Craze

In arcades across the land, at all hours of the day, people vie for both novel and practical prizes.

Found: The Only Recording of Frida Kahlo’s Voice, Probably

In the recording, she likens Diego Rivera to a toad.

The Elaborate Yam Houses of the Trobriand Islands

Years of drought have left them tragically empty.

When the Māori First Settled New Zealand, They Hunted Flightless, 500-Pound Birds

The magnificent moa is no more.

China’s Bioluminescent Blue Tears Are Beautiful and Associated With Toxic Blooms

And scientists are making new discoveries about them using satellite imagery.

Minnesota Wants to Pay You to Care About Bees

Won't you please spare a thought (and some lawn space) for the rusty patched bumblebee?

Inside Burkina Faso’s Mosquito Dome, Where Venomous Fungus Is Put to the Test

An innovative research center dedicated to blood, biting, and beating back malaria.

The Struggling Vineyards That Helped Inspire Karl Marx’s Communism

Boozed-up intellectuals of the world, unite.