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It's remarkable how the coldness of space can evoke a tropical dive.
maps

A 19th-Century Family Portrait of Comets

The thrills and horrors of strange heavenly bodies, condensed into one attractive snapshot.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think June 2, 2023
cars

The Coast-to-Coast American Road Trip Is 120 Years Old

In 1903, a Vermont doctor bet $50 that he could cross America by car. It took him 63 days, $8,000, and 600 gallons of gas.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think May 26, 2023
The Seneca County Courthouse Complex in Ovid, New York, commonly known as “the Three Bears,” is a fine example of the Greek Revival style in the Military Tract, from which both the fad for classical place names and notions of classical architecture spread throughout the country.
maps

Why Does America Have So Many Towns With Classical Names?

There are nearly 100 named "Troy."
Frank Jacobs, Big Think May 19, 2023
This ancient dodecahedron found in Avenches, Switzerland, once the Roman city of Aventicum.
objects of intrigue

The Mysterious Dodecahedrons of the Roman Empire

The first of many of these puzzling objects was unearthed almost three centuries ago, and we still don't know what they were for.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think May 12, 2023
There were many hotspots of alleged witch activity in Central Scotland.
witchcraft

Explore This Map of More Than 3,000 Scottish Witches

An Edinburgh University project uses data to track the victims of Scottish "witch-prickers" in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think May 5, 2023
SS <em>Warrimoo</em> plied a trans-Pacific route from Canada to Australia, which means it crossed both the equator and the international date line on every trip.
maps

The Strange Tale of SS Warrimoo, the Ship That Existed in Two Centuries at Once

On New Year's Eve 1899, the captain of this Pacific liner steamed into history. Or did he?
Frank Jacobs, Big Think April 28, 2023
<em>The Vizier's Gambit</em> just doesn't have the same ring to it.
maps

How Did the Chess Pieces Get Their Names?

One player’s pawn is another’s farmer. And at one time, the queen was the virgin, and rather powerless.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think April 21, 2023
The so-called Edith Deviation follows a natural valley.
maps

Colorado Is Not a Rectangle—It Has 697 Sides

The Centennial State is technically a hexahectaenneacontakaiheptagon.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think April 14, 2023
The trees of the Lost Forty are in general taller than the surrounding woods.
forests

How a Map Mistake Saved a Forest of 300-Year-Old Trees

Minnesota's "Lost Forty" survived the lumberjack's ax thanks to a improperly drawn lake.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think March 31, 2023
The walled city of Foumban, founded in 1394, as depicted on the map.
objects of intrigue

How Njoya the Great Put His African Kingdom on the Map

A representation of the Bamum kingdom is a rare example of early-20th-century indigenous African cartography.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think March 24, 2023
The Saint-Bélec slab in full.
objects of intrigue

Europe’s Oldest Map Shows Tiny Bronze Age Kingdom

Discovered in 1900, the Saint-Bélec slab languished unrecognized in a castle basement for over a century.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think March 17, 2023
Century-appropriate Fox, with a throng surrounding a movie star, perhaps?
maps

‘Cockeyed’ Map Shows Both Glamour and Margins of 1930s Hollywood

Legendary cartoonist John Groth's pictorial map captures L.A.'s film factories in their Golden Age.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think March 10, 2023
The Black Sea at Cape Kaliakra, Bulgaria.
maps

The Paratethys Sea Was the Largest Lake in Earth’s History

The Black, Caspian, and Aral Seas are the last surviving fragments of a body of water that stretched from Austria to Turkmenistan.
Frank Jacobs, Big Think March 3, 2023
<em>Idea dell'Universo</em> Vincenzo Coronelli, Italy, 1683.
maps

An Illustrated Guide to Space Maps

Thousands of years of attempts to understand our place in the cosmos.
Jeremy Berke and Cara Giaimo May 25, 2023