How do maps get their place names in multilingual areas?

A collaborative map lets anyone rename the entire world in real time

Rename.world is a playful, community-driven project where users discover, claim, and rename locations across a live global map. It's kind of like Wikipedia meets Google Maps, filtered through the internet's love of chaos and whimsy.

Common mistakes we make about the world map

Maps have long loosely approximated what the world actually looks like. Here's a few common errors that persist due to outdated conceptions of the world.

The idea of a tongue map has been discredited (but taste sensitivity varies across the tongue)

The original tongue map, created by German researcher DP Hanig, recorded taste sensitivities reported in psychological studies. His findings were later translated and taken out of context, possibly giving rise to the faulty tongue map. In fact, taste receptors in the oral cavity respond to all tastes regardless of their location.

Language and region are fault lines in Ukraine's conflict

Ukraine's east and south—largely Russian-speaking—differ from the Ukrainian-speaking west and center. These geographic, linguistic, and cultural divides have become fault lines exploited by political and military conflict since 2014.

The bizarre 1920 proposal to form a pizza-shaped central European state

In light of the challenges of the Treaty of Versailles, which concluded the Great War, a mostly unknown author, and son of the map's printer, PA Maas suggested central Europe be integrated into a single state. With a central capital in Vienna, 24 Kantons, or regions, would radiate outward in pie-slice shapes.

The story behind the little Scottish village in the Italian Alps

High in the Italian Alps is Gurro, a small village with a distinct Scottish flair that can be found in its food, clothing, language, and music. At first glance, it may seem like a curiosity, but, as one resident explains in this short video documentary, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for how an Italian town became known as a Scottish hamlet.

Company names you may have been mispronouncing

Global company names often get Americanized or anglicized to the point where they’re unrecognizable. Here's a helpful explainer on how to say a dozen of them, from Adidas to Huawei.

Wikipedia edit wars often reflect a strong commitment to accuracy between editors

Battles over grammar and capitalization, names and nationalities, and British versus American spellings of words have taken place due to the collaborative editing nature of the site. The most seemingly trivial debates are catalogued on the site's "Lamest edit wars" page.

Some tourist hotspots are shunning tourists

Locals in Barcelona sprayed tourists with water guns while protestors in Mexico City demanded politicians work against gentrification. Despite the economic boost tourism provides, protestors believe tourism has contributed to housing shortages and rising costs.

Switzerland's currency is so strong that it could cause deflation

Economic instability in the United States in 2025 strongly benefited Switzerland, where the value of the franc relative to the dollar increased by about 12.7%. In response, the price of imports dramatically decreased, making goods overall much cheaper.

Coachella got its name from a typo

The Coachella Valley, the region of California where the annual Coachella music festival takes place, got its name from an unlikely place: a typographical error. The intended name was "Conchilla," which means "little shell" in Spanish, a reference to fossils found in the area. Paperwork at the printer was misspelled, however, and "Coachella" ended up sticking, all the way until it was officially designated a city in 1946.

The origins of British pub names

An estimated 50,000 pubs dot the streets and countrysides of Britain, many of which have histories going back centuries. This deep dive traces the origins of some of the most common pub names to the medieval era, including favorites Red Lion, Crown, and Royal Oak. Learn why such names were originally chosen and how they have come to evolve in recent centuries in this comprehensive overview.

No one's sure why it's spelled 'sundae'

There are several different folktales explaining the origins of the popular ice cream dish and its curious name. One claims an enterprising pharmacy used chocolate syrup instead of soda, which was banned on Sundays. Another claims the dish's unique spelling was to avoid offending religious folks who might object to an unholy reference to the Sabbath.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Railroads and long-distance communication led to the development of time zones

Noon had been determined independently at each location based on when the sun was highest in the sky, but this became impractical for standardizing transportation. British star-mapping and navigation advancements established Greenwich as the prime meridian through Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT.

The term 'gerrymander' dates back to a 1812 Boston dinner party

The term "gerrymandering" arose when Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry approved a state senate map with a district so contorted it resembled a salamander. Critics dubbed it the "Gerry-mander," cementing the term for partisan map manipulation.

Find more of your favorite novelists with this literature map

Find your next favorite novelist. Type in an author and this program will present a map of dozens of authors. The closer the names, the more alike they are.

Why English is so difficult to learn

As a language, English is a hodgepodge—a Germanic language heavily influenced by French and Latin. These combinatorial roots have left the language full of irregularities and inconsistencies, with complexities such as varying verb forms for...

How muscles get their names

There are more than 600 muscles that crisscross the human body, and each has a name that's more than a simple label. Muscle names also typically communicate the muscle's size, behavior, length, location, appearance, direction, and attachments to bone. These names usually have Greek or Latin roots, such as in the case of the deltoid muscles, which are named in reference to the Greek letter delta (𐤃).

Two doctrines of local governance determine how much power cities actually have

Under what is known as "Dillon's Rule," local governments can only exercise powers explicitly granted by the state. Under "home rule," cities have broader self-governing authority—but the balance between the two depends entirely on state law.

Pheasant Island is controlled by both the Spanish and the French

The two-acre plot of land is a condominium—a territory shared by two countries. Pheasant Island (which, curiously, is not home to pheasants) is a holdover from the end of the Thirty Years' War between France and Spain, when it was designated as a neutral area dividing the countries.

The 2026 Milan-Cortina Games are the most geographically spread out ever

As part of the planning committee's efforts to reduce costs and minimize infrastructure impact, existing ski resorts, rinks, and stadiums were used for the Winter Olympics in northern Italy. This inherently spreads events out, with venues scattered over a roughly 8,500-square-mile area of the country. See a map of the venues here.

A history of Eurovision controversies

The annual song contest spectacle is no stranger to controversy. This list breaks down some of the most scandalous, including claims that 2021 winners Maneskin were snorting cocaine, Georgia's 2009 rejection for submitting a protest song, and Jordan's refusal to recognize Israel in 1978.

Countries with either very low or very high religious diversity tend to be more peaceful

Research found a correlation between a country's relative stability and whether it has either very low or very high levels of religious diversity. Countries in the middle range—with moderate diversity and active competition between groups—show higher levels of conflict.

One man in Germany answers a large amount of Santa's mail

There are a few places in the world where much of Santa Claus's mail ends up, often because their name includes the jolly man's moniker. One of those places is Nikolausdorf, Germany, where Hubert Weddehage, a local government employee, has responded to Santa's mail for over 50 years.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

Volcanoes 'die' when their supply of magma runs out, if they are shifted away from their underlying magma reservoir, or if they get clogged by collapsing or their magma cooling back into rock.

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.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

Cultural norms about how to handle the bodies of loved ones in communities in West Africa have hampered Ebola responses.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

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.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

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