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The hydrophobic bacteria that coat the ceilings of some dark lava caves produce a gorgeous golden sparkle.

How Bacteria Make This Underground, Awe-Inspiring Cave Shine Gold

These underground tubes at Lava Beds National Monument include sparkling gold ceilings that even NASA wants to study

Sponsor Content: Taiwan

Bike Through Towering Walls of White Marble in Taroko Gorge

Pedal in the cool shadows of sheer stone walls above the brilliant blue Liwu River

Miki Sudo takes on the 2013 women's champ Sonya Thomas. Sudo would grab Thomas' title by consuming 34 hot dogs to Thomas' 27.75.

Urban Explorations

How a Hot Dog Eating Contest Became One of the Fourth of July’s Greatest Traditions

Why the American dream is shaped like a hot dog

An iconic remnant of the space shuttle Challenger disaster, this flag-covered piece of fuselage was hidden away in storage until NASA's new memorial launched on June 27, 2015.

NASA’s Memorial Honors Lives Lost on the Challenger and Columbia Missions

The permanent exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida displays remnants of the shuttles and items from fallen astronauts

Two boxers spar in the ring in the outdoor gym Gimnasio de Boxeo Rafael Trejo in Old Havana, Cuba.

These Photos From Cuba Place You in the Boxing Ring

Photojournalist and wedding photographer Rebecca Barger captures vibrant images of local streets, architecture and athletes in Havana

Lee's Maycomb, indelibly evoked in the novel that sells a million copies annually, endures in the small-town reality of Monroeville.

What’s Changed, and What Hasn’t, in the Town That Inspired ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

Traveling back in time to visit Harper Lee’s hometown, the setting of her 1960 masterpiece and the controversial sequel hitting bookstores soon

The Hyperloop Will Be Only the Latest Innovation That’s Pretty Much a Series of Tubes

The idea of using pneumatics to send objects has been around for ages. But people?

The view inside Pompeii's old granary

The Fall and Rise and Fall of Pompeii

The famous archaeological treasure is falling into scandalous decline, even as its sister city Herculaneum is rising from the ashes

Photographer Joseph Michael explored the 30-million-year old limestone caves of New Zealand's North Island, a favored spot for glowworms, to create these dazzling long-exposure shots.

Captivating Long-Exposure Photos of New Zealand’s Glowworm Caves

These new shots show the otherworldly magic created by a carnivorous fungus gnat

An 1898 portrait of Twain painted by Italian artist Ignace Spiridon, which now hangs in the Mark Twain Library in Redding.

The Library Mark Twain Built

The author helped create a library in the last town he called home—and it’s full of great summer reading suggestions

Rumi Colca gateway, Cusco, Peru, 2014

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Inca Road

How the Inca Empire Engineered a Road Across Some of the World’s Most Extreme Terrain

For a new exhibition, a Smithsonian curator conducted oral histories with contemporary indigenous cultures to recover lost Inca traditions

A rendering of the installation, which officially launches June 28. Seventeen artist-made stars will glow each night in a constellation above an abandoned castle.

Urban Explorations

An Abandoned Island Now Glows Star-Bright Under a New Constellation

Artist Melissa McGill creates a luminous public art project above a ruined castle on a mysterious piece of land in the Hudson River

Monky’s street posters have become synonymous with the syncopated, high energy beat of a music genre, called Chicha.

When the Poster Promoting the Concert Is as Exciting as the Music, You Know You’re Listening to Chicha

The sounds, graphic art and the mestizo lifestyle that goes with the music is the latest revolt of the Peruvian masses

Lyra — A baobab in Botswana.

Stunning Photos of Africa’s Oldest Trees, Framed by Starlight

“Diamond Nights” captures the surreal beauty of ancient trees after nightfall

Katya and Blanca Canto pose with their carved gourds at their home in Cochas Grande.

A Look Behind the Peruvian Art of Gourd Carving

With magnificent hand carvings, artisans craft stories of celebration and tragedy into dried gourds—a tradition practiced for more than 4,000 years

Windows of Burano, Italy.

These Window Collages Are Serious Eye Candy

A Portuguese photographer provides a window into, well…windows

Rice Lake in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve.

Canada

One Vancouver Forest Played Just About Every Wooded Locale on “The X-Files”

If the truth is still out there, there’s a good chance it’s in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve

The famous Cyclone roller coaster in Coney Island, New York.

Urban Explorations

Ride America’s Most Historic Roller Coasters

This summer, ride the coasters that add history to their thrills

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