Latest stories
Amsterdam Central’s underwater bicycle park has room for 7,000 bikes
Beneath the water in front of Amsterdam Central Station is space for 7,000 bicycles. We follow the short journey from parking a bike to catching a train.
Latest stories
The royal mark on a British postbox points to its era
Similar red postboxes can carry royal cyphers that offer clues to the different periods in which they were made.
Why use a red flashlight when looking at the stars?
Once your eyes have adapted to darkness, keeping light dim and directed only where it is needed matters.
Pointing to documents with the Xerox Alto’s rolling mouse
The Xerox Alto of the 1970s demonstrated a way of working with things on a screen by pointing to them.
Paris’s green fountains were built for thirsty passersby
Behind the sculpture and flowing water was a practical purpose: making drinking water available on the street.
A book made by laying seaweed on blue paper
Anna Atkins placed algae specimens on light-sensitive paper and used sunlight to record their shapes.
Why parks and parking lots show different colors on satellite heat maps
Landsat thermal imagery shows how differently sunlit surfaces can warm up within the same city.
Why don’t British road signs use only capital letters?
Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert designed road signs around the brief time drivers have to read them.
Gardens of the past survive in catalogs that sold their seeds
The Smithsonian’s seed and nursery catalogs offer clues to the flowers and vegetables people could choose, and the qualities sellers emphasized.