Atmospheric Railways: The 19th Century Trains That Ran On Air

Dec 22, 2018

The 19th century ushered in a new form of transport—railways. Journeys that previously took weeks were now completed in days. Distances that...

Devil’s Tramping Ground

Dec 19, 2018

In the woods just outside of Siler City, North Carolina, lies a bare circle of earth about forty feet across where nothing grows except for ...

Betsiboka: Madagascar’s Red River

Dec 19, 2018

This image of the Betsiboka River’s estuary in northwest Madagascar provides tantalizing evidence of catastrophic erosion that has been pla...

Nova Scotia’s Christmas Gift to Boston

Dec 18, 2018

For nearly half a century, the Canadian province of Nova Scotia has been sending a gift to the people of Boston in the form of a Christmas t...

The Biggest Little Railway in the World

Dec 17, 2018

Last year, a team of British railway enthusiasts got together to engineer the longest miniature railway journey in the world. The tracks tha...

The Sydney Hospital Built By Rum

Dec 17, 2018

Two hundred years ago, Sydney was little more than a convict camp in desperate need of infrastructure, supplies and a hospital. The long jou...

William Clark’s Expensive Folly

Dec 14, 2018

In late 19th century New York, on an avenue dubbed the “Millionaire’s Colony”, there stood an insanely ornate house belonging to the wealthy...

Demon Core: How The Third Nuclear Bomb Destined For Japan Killed a Bunch of American Scientists

Dec 14, 2018

President Harry S. Truman knew that one bomb would not be enough to force Japan to surrender, so he ordered two. What many don’t know is tha...

A Nature Park in an Abandoned Railway Yard in Berlin

Dec 13, 2018

For more than a century, the Anhalter Bahnhof was the most important railway station in Berlin. Located at the heart of the German capital, ...

John Lethbridge’s Diving Machine

Dec 12, 2018

This strange apparatus hanging at the Cité de la Mer museum in Cherbourg, France, looks like some kind of a medieval torture device, but is...