Null Island: the most real fictional island you can almost visit

Null Island is located at a latitude and longitude of 0°

A buoy denotes the fictional island where the Prime Meridian intersects with the equator in the Atlantic Ocean. Nations had disagreed on where the "origin" of world maps should be located until the Prime Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time were established in 1884.

The art of 'undiscovering' phantom islands

Centuries of maps include islands and isles that appear to only exist on atlases. This article explores the discovery and "undiscovery" of such landscapes, which still persist despite modern technology. As recently as 2012, Google Maps showed an...

NASA plans to bring down the ISS at a location farthest from land

Point Nemo is located in the South Pacific Ocean at coordinates 48°52.6'S 123°23.6'W, approximately 2,688 kilometers (1,670 miles) from Ducie Island, Motu Nui, and Maher Island. The location has served as an underwater graveyard for hundreds of satellites and is expected to be harbor the International Space Station in 2030.

Disappointment Island

A shipwreck. A freezing island. No trees. No help. Just 16 sailors, stranded for 8 months on Disappointment Island in 1907.

The world's quirkiest time zones

In contrast to telling time by physical signs like the sun or stars, cultural time relies on political agreement and standards. The convention of time zones arose due to transportation and communication advancements, and while many work just fine, some are pretty wild. Chief among those is the time zone of the uninhabited Baker and Howland Islands in the central Pacific, which results in a technical 26-hour day.

British Columbia's 'Infinite Coast' is a hidden travel gem

The long expanse of Pacific coast north of the US border includes Victoria, Vancouver Island, the Great Bear Rainforest, fjords, whale watching, and 50 First Nations that manage the coastline. This site presents the region in an engaging interactive format to attract travelers looking for lesser-known areas of natural beauty.

Indian Creek Village: the exclusive billionaire island

Off the coast of Miami lies an island called Indian Creek Village. Spanning around 300 acres, the island is home to a few dozen homes owned by celebrities, sports stars, and tech founders. Only residents and verified visitors can enter this private space, protected by its own police force. Listen to this podcast episode for more information about the private island and why the wealthy love it.

A naked singularity is an infinitely dense point without a black hole's event horizon

Their existence would reveal where Einstein’s theory breaks down and quantum gravity takes over. The prevailing idea—cosmic censorship—suggests these singularities are always hidden behind black hole horizons, shielding the rest of the universe from their unpredictability.

A visual guide to Hollywood dystopias and their real-world locations

Even the most dire dystopias are grounded in the real world. That's especially true with dystopian movies, which turn real cities into near-future nightmares. This guide from Atlas Obscura takes readers on a tour through some of the most recognizable, from "Blade Runner" (filmed in Los Angeles) to "Total Recall" (Mexico City, Mexico), "The Matrix" (Sydney, Australia), and more.

Take a 3D underwater trip near the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, comprising more than 900 islands and almost 3,000 individual reefs. This video lets you tag along with divers as they explore the reef off the southern coast of Lady Elliot Island in full 3D (use the direction buttons in the upper left of the video, or your keypad).

Poems and stories inscribed on the walls of a US immigration island

What Ellis Island was to the East Coast, Angel Island was to the West. Just off the coast of San Francisco, this processing center became a detention center for those targeted by exclusionary immigration laws. Click here to read some of the stories left by the detained.

The most unique-smelling places on Earth

Have you ever picked a travel destination by smell? This Atlas Obscura piece cultivates a list of the most distinct-smelling spots in the world. Learn about these obscure scents to potentially book a trip to a spring that smells like rotten eggs, or a desert valley filled with frankincense trees.

O'Neill cylinders are free-space habitats that spin to create artificial gravity

Popularized in the 1970s by Princeton physicist Gerard K. O'Neill, the 15-mile-long structures would be manufactured from lunar and asteroid materials and house human colonies. His space colony ideas have since influenced works of science fiction.

Explore William Faulkner's fictional Mississippi county

Faulkner famously set his stories and novels in Yoknapatawpha County, a fictional slice of Mississippi based on his home county of Lafayette. This collaboration between an International Team of Faulkner Scholars and technologists at the University of Virginia allows readers to explore maps of the fictional county, pinpointing the locations of Faulkner's texts and visualizing the genius of one of America's greatest writers.

Why one city in Minnesota isn't on Google Maps

North Oaks, Minnesota, is a city of a little over 5,000 people that spans just nine square miles. It's also the wealthiest place in the state, which is part of the reason it's been able to stay undocumented by Google. In this short documentary, one man attempts to film it himself.

Touring the northernmost brewery in the world

Svalbard Brewery is located in the Arctic village of Longyearbyen—in a region known for polar bears, reindeer, and miles of uninhabited frozen tundra—and caters to a diverse, international clientele who appreciate the beer's unique ingredient: 2,000-year-old glacier water.

The Devil's Hole pupfish can be found in only one place in the world

The critically endangered fish species can be found in only one cave in the middle of the Mojave Desert called Devil's Hole. In 2016, three men broke into the protected area to purposefully harm the fish.

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Iceland, the last mosquito-free country, detected them in 2025

Recently several of the mosquito species Culiseta annulata were documented in Iceland—the last country that had not yet seen them, underscoring that climate change is shifting the bugs' patterns. Mosquitoes can hide out in human structures to survive icy temperatures. The bugs are now known to live everywhere except the continent of Antarctica.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

A temperature of absolute zero is impossible to reach

Zero on the Kelvin scale—equivalent to -273.15 degrees Celsius—describes a system where all atomic motion completely stops, which is forbidden according to thermodynamics. As of 2025, the closest scientists have gotten to absolute zero is 0.00000000004 K.

Explore key locations in Kurt Cobain's life with this interactive map

The "Grungeology" project maps out key moments, influences, and impacts of Cobain's life in and around Grays Harbor County. Click through the map's many historical spots and learn how Nirvana's band leader navigated his hometown as his fame and music grew.

The best beach in every US state

Not every state has coastline, but every state has a beach. This list highlights the best sandy shorelines in every US state, whether near the ocean, a lake, or a river.

What is Silicon Alley?

The term "Silicon Alley" refers to an area in New York City once known for its high-tech startups, especially during the dot-com boom. Silicon Alley ran from New York City's Flatiron District through Soho to the Financial District. After the dot-com bubble burst, tech companies spread out through the rest of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Learn more about the area and how it compared to Silicon Valley in this article.

Visualize the size of countries on the sun and other planets

Pluto is roughly the size of Australia. What about Namibia and Nepal? How small would North America appear on the sun? Compare the relative size of continents and countries with this easy-to-use interactive.

Once a year, Bali goes completely silent

Every March, the Indonesian island of Bali halts all commerce, travel, and recreation for a day of silence called Nyepi. This cultural ritual purges the island of evil spirits like ego and greed.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

What makes the world's biggest waves?

Some of the world’s biggest waves, routinely reaching 100 feet high, are formed near the town of Nazaré, Portugal. But what makes this area so prone to massive swells? While a number of factors are involved, the key feature is the Nazaré Canyon,...

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

Hurricanes, which rely on air consistently spinning in the same direction, cannot cross the equator because air curves in opposite directions north and south of it.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

Ebola species have historically been named after where they were discovered, stigmatizing residents who live there, including Bundibugyo, in Uganda.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.