atlasobscura.com on Hacker News

Black Hole of Los Alamos: Seller of surplus nuclear research materials (2011)(atlasobscura.com)

68 points by Bluestein 1 month ago | 15 comments

Why Do We Sleep Under Blankets, Even on the Hottest Nights? (2017)(atlasobscura.com)

45 points by downbad_ 5 months ago | 33 comments

In Kannauj, perfumers have been making monsoon-infused mitti attar for centuries(atlasobscura.com)

45 points by bcaulfield 6 months ago | 10 comments

Malm Whale(atlasobscura.com)

27 points by thunderbong 7 months ago | 10 comments

Mimes directing traffic in Bogotá had surprisingly loud impacts (2025)(atlasobscura.com)

100 points by IgorPartola 8 months ago | 22 comments

The Rebirth of Pennsylvania's Infamous Burning Town(atlasobscura.com)

67 points by pbshgthm 9 months ago | 27 comments

Why does the Salish Sea glow in the dark?(atlasobscura.com)

18 points by prismatic 10 months ago | 6 comments

For centuries massive meals amazed visitors to Korea (2019)(atlasobscura.com)

114 points by carabiner 1 year ago | 66 comments

A renovation project in Turkey led to the discovery of a lost city (2023)(atlasobscura.com)

76 points by areoform 1 year ago | 22 comments

Octobass(atlasobscura.com)

89 points by keepamovin 1 year ago | 23 comments

The wire that transforms much of Manhattan into one big, symbolic home (2017)(atlasobscura.com)

99 points by rmason 1 year ago | 212 comments

A man rebuilding the last Inca rope bridge(atlasobscura.com)

71 points by kaonwarb 1 year ago | 18 comments

Medieval Africans had a unique process for purifying gold with glass (2019)(atlasobscura.com)

124 points by mooreds 1 year ago | 79 comments

The Battle to Bottle Palm Wine (2021)(atlasobscura.com)

9 points by prmph 1 year ago | 11 comments

1,700 year old egg never broke(atlasobscura.com)

80 points by demadog 1 year ago | 26 comments

One Last Ride for Antarctica's 'Ivan the Terra Bus'(atlasobscura.com)

73 points by Thevet 1 year ago | 17 comments

When Crocodiles Attack: The Ramree Island Massacre (2013)(atlasobscura.com)

64 points by lifeisstillgood 1 year ago | 73 comments

How Louis Armstrong shaped the sound of Ghana(atlasobscura.com)

36 points by prmph 1 year ago | 5 comments

The Last Cowboy Boot Masters of El Paso(atlasobscura.com)

15 points by Brajeshwar 1 year ago | 1 comments

Volkswagen Sausage and the Enduring Appeal of Culinary Car-Industry Crossovers(atlasobscura.com)

15 points by CaptainZapp 1 year ago | 9 comments

The Curious Gems of the River Thames(atlasobscura.com)

66 points by alt227 1 year ago | 21 comments

Christmas Punch Requires a Formerly Forbidden Fruit(atlasobscura.com)

40 points by juanplusjuan 1 year ago | 15 comments

Threads of God(atlasobscura.com)

40 points by thunderbong 1 year ago | 39 comments

Eating Spaghetti by the Fistful Was Once a Neapolitan Street Spectacle(atlasobscura.com)

12 points by thunderbong 1 year ago | 4 comments

Martha's Vineyard Sign Language(atlasobscura.com)

46 points by tbodt 1 year ago | 9 comments

Teach yourself to echolocate (2018)(atlasobscura.com)

213 points by Anon84 1 year ago | 56 comments

19th Century Map Shows a Fictional Country Created by a Con Man(atlasobscura.com)

58 points by drdee 2 years ago | 15 comments

Lichens in cemetaries and a scientist who studies them(atlasobscura.com)

31 points by diodorus 2 years ago | 9 comments

Dogs and the Salem Witch Trials(atlasobscura.com)

19 points by Caiero 2 years ago | 4 comments

Foraging for America's Forgotten Fruit(atlasobscura.com)

20 points by samclemens 2 years ago | 5 comments

The fight to save Chile's white strawberry(atlasobscura.com)

97 points by ofou 2 years ago | 31 comments

What researchers learned from the oldest cookbook(atlasobscura.com)

12 points by Brajeshwar 2 years ago | 2 comments

In This Beautiful Library, Bats Guard the Books(atlasobscura.com)

71 points by Brajeshwar 2 years ago | 10 comments

Why Medieval Women Sometimes Fought in Bloody Trials by Combat(atlasobscura.com)

36 points by pepys 2 years ago | 14 comments

In pre-WWII Berlin, the shape of your roof was a political decision(atlasobscura.com)

69 points by amadeuspagel 2 years ago | 83 comments

One man's quest to restore the first-ever Air Force One(atlasobscura.com)

239 points by rmason 2 years ago | 64 comments

How the Hidden Sounds of Horror Movie Soundtracks Freak You Out (2016)(atlasobscura.com)

10 points by thunderbong 2 years ago | 0 comments

SS Warrimoo, the Ship That Existed in Two Centuries at Once(atlasobscura.com)

16 points by passwordoops 2 years ago | 9 comments

The ancient art of roasting agave(atlasobscura.com)

92 points by NoRagrets 2 years ago | 20 comments

Remembering the First 'Cold-Storage Banquet'(atlasobscura.com)

24 points by gmays 2 years ago | 5 comments

Found: Records of Pompeii's Survivors(atlasobscura.com)

10 points by strict9 2 years ago | 1 comments

Why Italy Fell Out of Love with Cilantro(atlasobscura.com)

159 points by pepys 2 years ago | 194 comments

Why Alaska Rivers Are Turning an Eerie Orange(atlasobscura.com)

74 points by rbanffy 2 years ago | 32 comments

The Dinner Party That Served Up 50k-Year-Old Bison Stew (2018)(atlasobscura.com)

66 points by cpach 2 years ago | 15 comments

Tea Punch Was the First Cocktail(atlasobscura.com)

22 points by pepys 2 years ago | 3 comments

Before 'Fans,' There Were 'Kranks,' 'Longhairs,' and 'Lions'(atlasobscura.com)

6 points by samclemens 2 years ago | 0 comments

Italian streets that don't exist on any map (2022)(atlasobscura.com)

92 points by fanf2 2 years ago | 29 comments

Bali's stone sarcophagi included global goods(atlasobscura.com)

60 points by Thevet 2 years ago | 15 comments

Pigeon towers: The rise and fall of a 17th-century status symbol (2015)(atlasobscura.com)

69 points by jihadjihad 2 years ago | 42 comments

How to Consult an Onion Oracle(atlasobscura.com)

17 points by Brajeshwar 2 years ago | 3 comments

Paris's Catacomb Mushrooms (2017)(atlasobscura.com)

92 points by jihadjihad 2 years ago | 38 comments

Can music make food taste better?(atlasobscura.com)

45 points by cainxinth 2 years ago | 22 comments

Roman Emperors' Outrageously Lavish Dinner Parties(atlasobscura.com)

25 points by diodorus 2 years ago | 11 comments

Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant: Finished in 1978 but never used(atlasobscura.com)

94 points by onnimonni 2 years ago | 105 comments

What's the fastest language in the world?(atlasobscura.com)

27 points by ColinWright 2 years ago | 33 comments

Philly Typewriter(atlasobscura.com)

44 points by scapecast 2 years ago | 8 comments

Dungeons and Dragons All Started in This Tiny Wisconsin Town(atlasobscura.com)

8 points by samclemens 2 years ago | 1 comments

Butterflies Full of Wasps Full of Microwasps Are a Science Nightmare (2021)(atlasobscura.com)

158 points by nxobject 2 years ago | 82 comments

When did dogs become our best friends?(atlasobscura.com)

127 points by diodorus 2 years ago | 192 comments

Sul Ross Desk(atlasobscura.com)

117 points by benbreen 2 years ago | 8 comments

The Mad Stone, the One-Time 'Cure' for Rabies(atlasobscura.com)

58 points by drdee 2 years ago | 14 comments

Antarctic Explorers Wrote Cute, Funny Stories to Hide Dangerous Stunts(atlasobscura.com)

90 points by Brajeshwar 2 years ago | 16 comments

Le Grand K (2018)(atlasobscura.com)

23 points by geox 2 years ago | 12 comments

How Copernicus took down Ptolemy's Almagest(atlasobscura.com)

35 points by Hooke 2 years ago | 37 comments

The Real-World Locations of 14 Sci-Fi Dystopias (2014)(atlasobscura.com)

146 points by BerislavLopac 2 years ago | 56 comments

The Weird and Wonderful World of Sex Under the Sea(atlasobscura.com)

13 points by fortran77 2 years ago | 4 comments

A 'scam manual' written to help immigrants not become victims(atlasobscura.com)

158 points by BerislavLopac 2 years ago | 94 comments

Gibellina, known as "Sicily’s Marfa", is looking for a revival(atlasobscura.com)

53 points by BerislavLopac 2 years ago | 38 comments

In Defense of Eating Brains(atlasobscura.com)

6 points by interesse 2 years ago | 6 comments

When every ketchup but one went extinct (2022)(atlasobscura.com)

77 points by AaronM 2 years ago | 114 comments

A case for the preservation of abandoned places(atlasobscura.com)

42 points by ecliptik 2 years ago | 31 comments

A brief history of the U.S. trying to add backdoors into encrypted data (2016)(atlasobscura.com)

502 points by whatever3 2 years ago | 174 comments

Atlas Obscura article from 2016 recounting the history of US government attempts, including by the NSA, to insert backdoors into encryption.

A 13th-century Arabic cookbook reveals the culinary life of al-Andalus(atlasobscura.com)

100 points by apollinaire 2 years ago | 18 comments

The Humble Brilliance of Italy's Moka Coffee Pot(atlasobscura.com)

232 points by BerislavLopac 2 years ago | 207 comments

Tiny Baroque Prints Once Served as Edible Prayers(atlasobscura.com)

41 points by prismatic 2 years ago | 6 comments

Why holes at the bottom of the ocean disappear and reappear(atlasobscura.com)

80 points by jyunwai 2 years ago | 14 comments

Spotted water hemlock: the most toxic plant in North America (2017)(atlasobscura.com)

92 points by PaulHoule 2 years ago | 122 comments

Flying Circuses(atlasobscura.com)

29 points by miohtama 2 years ago | 11 comments

The roots of ancient Rome's gladiator fights(atlasobscura.com)

26 points by diodorus 2 years ago | 43 comments

The Life and Death of the American Mall(atlasobscura.com)

21 points by mindracer 2 years ago | 39 comments

The Worlds of Monopoly(atlasobscura.com)

30 points by scapecast 2 years ago | 18 comments

The perils and pleasures of bartending in Antarctica (2017)(atlasobscura.com)

86 points by zdw 2 years ago | 24 comments

Most states start school too early in the morning(atlasobscura.com)

74 points by jseliger 2 years ago | 106 comments

How to celebrate the New Year in Greenland(atlasobscura.com)

7 points by Thevet 2 years ago | 0 comments

Scientists Finally Find Mysterious Mesospheric Ghosts(atlasobscura.com)

8 points by Brajeshwar 2 years ago | 1 comments

A cartographer drew a freehand map of North America (2019)(atlasobscura.com)

95 points by Tomte 2 years ago | 25 comments

'Glacier mice' baffle scientists(atlasobscura.com)

114 points by janandonly 2 years ago | 27 comments

The valley of the cheese of the dead(atlasobscura.com)

124 points by AaronM 2 years ago | 13 comments

Early On-Demand Music Streaming Required Lots of Nickels – Atlas Obscura(atlasobscura.com)

10 points by ohjeez 2 years ago | 1 comments

Decoding the gun-wielding angels of Bolivia(atlasobscura.com)

44 points by prismatic 2 years ago | 0 comments

The Muddled Origins of the Word 'Viking'(atlasobscura.com)

29 points by drdee 2 years ago | 21 comments

Hlava Franze Kafky (Franz Kafka's Head)(atlasobscura.com)

12 points by cwaffles 2 years ago | 3 comments

The Low Down on the Greatest Dictionary Collection in the World(atlasobscura.com)

19 points by apollinaire 2 years ago | 2 comments

Scotland's Oldest Tartan Rose(atlasobscura.com)

29 points by pepys 2 years ago | 3 comments

Canned food went from military rations to fancy appetizers(atlasobscura.com)

67 points by Brajeshwar 2 years ago | 53 comments

Many popular houses in 1920s L.A. were part of a scam(atlasobscura.com)

64 points by vo2maxer 2 years ago | 40 comments

How the 'queen of thieves' conned French riviera wealthy (2021)(atlasobscura.com)

29 points by Brajeshwar 2 years ago | 13 comments

Oldest Pyramid Found Not in Egypt or Americas, but in Indonesia(atlasobscura.com)

36 points by bcaulfield 3 years ago | 32 comments

Unearthing Gems in an Archive of Rock Star Interviews(atlasobscura.com)

38 points by bryanrasmussen 3 years ago | 5 comments

The fight between cataphiles and police in the Paris catacombs(atlasobscura.com)

108 points by dave1010uk 3 years ago | 34 comments

Family recipes that live on in cemeteries(atlasobscura.com)

11 points by samclemens 3 years ago | 1 comments

Thomas Edison's Concrete Houses(atlasobscura.com)

95 points by adrian_mrd 3 years ago | 74 comments

The Moose Boulder Hoax(atlasobscura.com)

40 points by apsec112 3 years ago | 10 comments

In ancient Egypt, soul houses and false doors connected the living and the dead(atlasobscura.com)

60 points by diodorus 3 years ago | 12 comments

The Quest to Recreate a Lost and 'Terrifying' Medieval Mead(atlasobscura.com)

80 points by rwmj 3 years ago | 32 comments

Slovenia’s beautiful beehives turn apiaries into art(atlasobscura.com)

167 points by Thevet 3 years ago | 17 comments

The Kakhovka Dam Disaster Revealed an Archaeological ‘Goldmine’(atlasobscura.com)

96 points by Brajeshwar 3 years ago | 80 comments

The possibly never-ending quest for the golden owl(atlasobscura.com)

52 points by Petiver 3 years ago | 18 comments

Playing cards that taught 17th-century cooks to carve meat (2019)(atlasobscura.com)

47 points by pepys 3 years ago | 21 comments

How to Ensure the Last Gas-Lamp Theater in the World Doesn’t Blow Up(atlasobscura.com)

10 points by bcaulfield 3 years ago | 1 comments

How iceberg won the lettuce wars(atlasobscura.com)

16 points by samclemens 3 years ago | 39 comments

Poland’s ‘anti-vampire’ graves(atlasobscura.com)

116 points by Vigier 3 years ago | 90 comments

Poor Clares Convent Cemetery(atlasobscura.com)

26 points by Thevet 3 years ago | 5 comments

How to Make Viking Funerary Flatbread(atlasobscura.com)

40 points by Caiero 3 years ago | 12 comments

Who was the Bell Witch?(atlasobscura.com)

53 points by gus_leonel 3 years ago | 17 comments

The history of spaghetti squash in America(atlasobscura.com)

39 points by pepys 3 years ago | 40 comments

Cities with their own psychological disorders(atlasobscura.com)

119 points by l3x 3 years ago | 96 comments

People in 1920s Berlin nightclubs flirted via pneumatic tubes (2017)(atlasobscura.com)

292 points by jakobdabo 3 years ago | 112 comments

Defenestration of Prague Window (2019)(atlasobscura.com)

54 points by pepys 3 years ago | 43 comments

The aloha shirt has many possible inventors(atlasobscura.com)

36 points by pepys 3 years ago | 29 comments