'The Brave Righetto' in Rome, Italy

The Janiculum has become a memorial park dedicated to the legacy of the Roman Republic, a short-lived republican government that took over the city of Rome from the Papacy in the years of the Italian Risorgimento. This led to the unification of the country in 1861. Since 1849, this hill has been adorned with several busts and equestrian monuments.  ...

16h

Tasmanian Devil Unzoo in Taranna, Australia

The Tasmanian Devil Unzoo is the first of its kind in the world: a zoo with no boundary walls or enclosures, allowing its animals to roam freely and come and go as they please. Owned and operated by the Hamilton family since 1979, the attraction was originally called the Tasmanian Devil Park and ran as a conventional zoo, featuring several orphaned...

1d

Students Are Getting Paid to Poop at a South Korean University

Flush an average toilet, and you’ll hear a wet woosh, as if someone is dumping a pot of water on the ground. Flush one of three toilets in a science building at South Korea’s Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, and it will sound a lot different—just a tiny trickle of water, nearly drowned out by whirring. “We use a vacuum,” explained...

1d

Bottomless Lakes State Park in Roswell, New Mexico

Despite their name, the bodies of water in New Mexico's Bottomless Lake State Park are neither bottomless nor lakes. The park is home to nine sinkhole-formed lakes, otherwise known as cenotes. These cenotes were made from limestone caves that eventually collapsed due to erosion from the Pecos River leaving what we see today. While they do have bottoms,...

1d

Watergate Fountain in Washington, D.C.

Designed by Italian architect Luigi Moretti with input from Hungarian-born developer Nicholas Salgo, this fountain was constructed between 1964-1971. The elaborate fountain in Watergate East, with its bidirectional, multi-tiered, oviform cascades of white—complete with a stoic, water-spewing lion, is a picture-perfect complement to the complex.  Watergate...

1d

For Italy's Musical Woods, Threats From Without and Within

At the edge of the road there is a heap of about 200 spruce logs, each approximately 30 feet long, all felled by a recent, severe winter storm. It’s late spring, but the wood is still covered with a dusting of snow. A middle-aged man on his knees, wearing hiking boots, jeans, and a waterproof jacket, is examining a section of one of the trunks, looking...

1d

Grotte di Osimo in Osimo, Italy

Under the ancient city of Osimo lies a dense network of tunnels, passages, and underground environments dug at various levels. They are connected vertically to each other by wells or chimneys. The labyrinth of caves connects to a few notable palaces such as Palazzo Campana, Palazzo Riccioni, Palazzo Simonetti, and Palazzo Gallo. The 88 caves and a dozen...

1d

The Architect's Daughter at First United Methodist in Boulder, Colorado

A local legend surrounds this church, constructed in 1891 in Boulder, Colorado. It is said that one of the stonemasons working the church suffered a terrible loss, when his young daughter Lula died before the completion of the church. Grief-stricken, he included a memorial to his late daughter, tucked away on the north side of one of the entryways to...

1d

Sifters Record Shop in Manchester, England

In 1977, a 29-year-old Pete Howard (now known as Mr. Sifters) opened his own record store using 700 of his own LPs. After multiple“punks,” as he called them, started coming into his store and causing mayhem amongst his collection, he moved Sifters from its original location in Burnage to Fog Lane in 1983, where it’s located to this day. The small...

1d

Sculptor's Cave in Duffus, Scotland

Sculptor’s Cave is located on a beach of the Moray Firth, near Covesea. Lying below the beachside cliffs, the cave is accessible via two separate passages. There is evidence that this cave was an important place of ritual practice in the past. Bronze Age artifacts and clay pottery have been found within the cave and more disturbingly, a large number...

1d