Seljavallalaug: Iceland’s Hidden Swimming Pool
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 19, 2019
Tucked in a narrow valley in South Iceland, a short hike away from the Ring Road that encircles the country, is an outdoor swimming—arguably...
Fata Morgana Mirage
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 19, 2019
The atmosphere plays unusual tricks with light in the polar regions, especially at sea, creating strange shapes like a looming island, a flo...
Döllersheim: The Village That Hitler Destroyed to Crush a Rumor
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 18, 2019
About one hundred km northwest of Vienna, in northern Austria, lies a small village called Döllersheim. Eighty years ago, this tiny Austrian...
The White Cliffs of Iturup Island
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 18, 2019
Stretching from Hokkaido, Japan to Kamchatka, Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the north Pacific Ocean, are a string of volcanic i...
China’s Trackless Trains
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 18, 2019
After two years of testing, a new futuristic train that runs on virtual tracks was launched for the first time in Yibin, in the province of ...
The Moon Villages of South Korea
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 17, 2019
After the Korean War ended in 1953, many war refugees and other impoverished people moved to the rapidly developing urban centers and began ...
The Elephant Bird
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 17, 2019
Not too long ago, a gigantic, flightless bird roamed the island of Madagascar. It stood nearly 10 feet tall and weighed 700 kg. For centur...
Haystacks of Rishikesh
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 12, 2019
Haystacks are often constructed around a central pole, or a tree. Bales of hay are loosely arranged around the central structure to prevent ...
The Hellfire Club And Caves
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 12, 2019
Throughout history men have formed clandestine clubs where rich young aristocrats met and indulged in drunken orgies, gambling and carousing...
Machine de Marly
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 11, 2019
Water features form an impressive part of the gardens in the Palace of Versailles in Paris. There are fountains, cascading waterfalls, calm ...
The Unbelievably Delicate Marble Sculptures at Cappella Sansevero
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 9, 2019
In the late 16th century, the Duke of Torremaggiore, Giovan Francesco di Sangro, after a miraculous recovery from a serious illness, erected...
Khuk Khi Kai, The Chicken Poop Prison
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 7, 2019
Chicken poop has a strong and suffocating smell of ammonia that’s hard to stand for more than a few minutes. The odor causes a variety of ad...
Medieval Book Curses
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 6, 2019
In the days before the printing press, book-making was a very laborious process. Each and every book had to made by hand, starting with the ...
Inuit Snow Goggles
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 5, 2019
This man, wearing a pair of strange goggles is not trying to make a fashion statement. He is just getting ready for a trek across the froze...
Abandoned Cars in Hawaii
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 5, 2019
In Hawaii, it is easier to dump your old car by the side of the road than have it legally disposed—an attitude that’s causing big headaches ...
The Mosaics of Villa Romana del Casale
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 4, 2019
Many Roman villas, private residences, as well as public buildings, were lavishly decorated with mosaic floors. Mosaics served as a symbol o...
The Pigeon Breeders of Cairo
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 3, 2019
Perched on rooftops across Cairo, like water tanks on elevated platforms, are rickety wooden cages where Cairenes keep their pigeons. Pigeo...
Vladimir Lukyanov’s Water Computer
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 2, 2019
Early computers were mechanical machines built using gears and levers. These parts or components could be moved with precision and were conn...
Repurposing Old Industrial Sites As Public Parks
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 27, 2019
The public park Landschaftspark in Duisburg-Meiderich, Germany. Image credit: mini_malist/Flickr Landschaftspark, or “landscape park”, of ...
Bomb Crater Garden
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 25, 2019
On September 20, 1940, just over a year after Hitler’s army invaded Poland triggering a six-year war, a German airplane dropped a bomb over...
