natashafrost's User Profile - Atlas Obscura

natashafrost

I'm a former writer for Atlas Obscura and present-day fan. Find me now @natashamfrost on Twitter.

www.natashamfrost.com

2017
joined atlas
obscura

countries
I've visited

places
I've been

places
I want to go

places
published

foods
I've tried

foods
I want to try

the year in wonder

The Year in Animal Accomplishments

Celebrating 10 of the greatest things creatures did in 2017.

December 14, 2017

A 17th-Century Portrait of a Glamorous Bearded Woman

Who was Barbara van Beck?

December 14, 2017

artificial intelligence

How AI Can Help Us Understand the World—Or Radically Misinterpret It

For the first time, neural networks are imagining things they've never seen before.

December 13, 2017

The Regional Scent Dialects That Help Otters Tell Friends From Strangers

You can learn a lot about someone from their accent.

December 13, 2017

A Six-Foot, 220-Pound Penguin Once Lived in New Zealand

The bird was almost twice the size of the largest living penguin.

December 12, 2017

Can an Anonymous Buyer Save a German Village on Its Last Legs?

For the tiny hamlet of Alwine, one bid stands between it and ruin.

December 11, 2017

A 16th-Century Book on Forest Laws Had Alarming Rules About Dogs

"Who may keepe dogges within a forrest?"

December 8, 2017

The Whistled 'Bird Language' of Turkey May Be Lost Forever

Mobile phones are putting this ancient form of communication at risk.

December 8, 2017

How the 18th-Century Gay Bar Survived and Thrived in a Deadly Environment

Welcome to the molly house.

December 8, 2017

The Traditional Pizza Making of Naples Now Has Heritage Status

Good news for Neapolitans, however you slice it.

December 7, 2017

What Is It Like to Be a Bee?

A philosophical and neurobiological look into the apian mind.

December 6, 2017

Misery Doesn't Seem to Improve the Quality of Art

Under scrutiny, the image of the tortured genius appears to fall apart.

December 6, 2017

national monument

Demystifying the Changes to Bears Ears National Monument

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

December 5, 2017

The Little Death of the Adult Movie Theater

The final erotic cinema in Paris is closing its doors after over 40 years.

December 4, 2017

Remembering Lilian Miller, the Pioneering Woodblock Artist Caught Between East and West

The many contradictions of a diplomat's daughter who wanted all her work destroyed.

December 1, 2017

How a Flipped-Over Giant Tortoise Gets Its Feet Back on the Ground

And why some find it harder than others.

December 1, 2017

Using a Particle Accelerator to See Inside a 1,900-Year-Old Mummy

We've come a long way from 19th-century mummy "unwrapping parties."

November 30, 2017

See a 94-Year-Old Sphinx Emerge From Californian Sand Dunes

A true relic of another age, when extravagant, overwrought blockbusters ruled the cineplex. Oh, wait.

November 29, 2017

The Lazy Zeppelins and Breakneck Boeings of the Shark World

Aircraft make surprisingly good analogues for the variety of sharks out there.

November 28, 2017

Care for a Taste of the World's First Tofu-Based Alcoholic Beverage?

Finally, you can get loaded on soybeans.

November 27, 2017

The Rise and Fall of the Leeches Who Could Predict the Weather

In Victorian England, was there anything leeches couldn't do?

November 27, 2017

The Struggle to Revive the Lost Native Language of Thanksgiving

Sometimes it is not easy to fulfill a prophecy.

November 22, 2017

Why America's Thanksgiving Turkey Is So Boring

The bland appeal of the Broad Breasted White.

November 22, 2017

The Secret to Dolphin Seduction Is the Gift of a Large Marine Sponge

Update your holiday wishlist accordingly.

November 21, 2017