A rare kind of blue bear can be found chiefly in the national park that shares their name.

The "Gateway to the Arctic" connects Barrow's indigenous population with the sea and its traditional industry: whaling.

Massive mounds of golden sand look like a desert landscape randomly plopped in an Arctic forest.

This frozen tunnel in central Alaska is both an engineering feat and a valuable climate classroom.

The king of U.S. high points towers over every other peak on the continent.

Mind-blowing carvings and fantasy ice scenes grace the largest year-round ice environment in the world.

Rare documents, old instruments, and gruesome specimens showcase the history of military medicine.

The Uyghur settlement in the middle of a lake continues to raise questions.

The laboratory where the Soviet secret police invented exotic poisons used to kill dissidents in hideous and (mostly) untraceable ways.

An unused hyberbolic electricity pylon kept as architectural monument.

A replica of the straw hut where Vladimir Lenin lived in hiding, disguised as a hay farmer, in 1917.

Fascinating early attempt at a Jewish autonomous settlement.

Ukrainian defense contractor's center for studying "pyramid energy."

Inside the world's largest seed bank, WWII botanists elected to starve to death rather than compromise their collection.

A former military outpost of Ivan the Terrible, the 16th-century church contains some of the rarest examples of Eastern Orthodox mural paintings.

Russia's own leaning tower was built on a tragic historical fable.

An abandoned 14th-century castle and prison complex on a small island in the Neva River.

An unusual abandoned church damaged in World War II sits in a small village outside Moscow.

Site of the world's largest nuclear explosion.

Some Moscow residents once claimed the bizarre, contorted mass of metal on top of the building was used to manipulate minds.

This 15th-century cave complex is one of the very few monasteries to stay open throughout World War II and the Soviet regime.

A 360 degree battlefield experience.

What was once the base for Russia's first nature reserve is now a ghost town, right on the shore of Lake Baikal.

A uniquely authentic display of traditional Russian culture.