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Travel

Looking for a unique, useful gift for a traveler on your list? The Ostrich pillow may look unusual, but it's great for catching up on rest.

2014 Holiday Gift Guide

What to Give to the Traveler in Your Life

From clothespin reading lights to a clear-bottom kayak, gifts for every traveler (and price point)

The T5 Gallery located inside London's Heathrow Airport.

Stuck at the Airport? Why Not Take In an Art Exhibit

A missed connection or delayed arrival doesn’t have to ruin your time at the airport, especially if your airport has an art show

A system in testing off the coast of Cape Town uses an electric field to safely ward off predators.

An Electric Fence Wards Off Sharks

South Africa has begun testing a humane way to make its beaches safer

"The Traveler's Eye: Scenes from Asia," at the Sackler Gallery through May 2015, features more than 100 mementos from travels around the Asian continent. This postcard is from early-20th-century China.

Before Instagram, Memorializing Asia’s Most Traveled Roads

From Moroccan postcards to Japanese scrolls, the Sackler Gallery explores five centuries of travel around the Asian continent

The Lennon Wall, a public art landmark in Prague. This picture was taken in 2010, and shows the wall before it was painted almost completely white on November 17, 2014.

Prague’s Famous John Lennon Wall: Is It Over, or Reborn?

Art students painted over the famous landmark to make space for the next generation of artists—and people are already festooning the wall with new graffiti

The Mystery of Why This Dangerous Sand Dune Swallowed a Boy

When a boy suddenly disappeared into a sand dune, a scientist embarked on a quest to find out where he went

National Museum of Natural History physical anthropologists Lucille St. Hoyme, J. Lawrence Angel and Thomas Dale Stewart hold Hans Langseth's beard upon its arrival to the Smithsonian in 1967.

The World’s Longest Beard Is One Of The Smithsonian’s Strangest Artifacts

Kept in storage at the National Museum of Natural History, the world’s longest beard measures over 17 feet in length

The earliest surviving photograph, taken in 1826 or 1827, titled View from the Window at Le Gras.

Armenia: Smithsonian Guide

Where to See the Oldest Artifacts in the World

From a royal soccer ball to a very old book, see humanity’s history of innovation in ten amazing everyday objects

Nuenen, where Van Gogh lived from 1883 to 1885, is located within the Brabant province.

Experience Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ on This Beautiful Illuminated Bike Path

To mark the 125th anniversary of the artists’ death, a group of designers have lit a solar-powered path through historic Van Gogh sites

Everglades National Park is in critical condition due to poor water management, according to the IUCN.

A Third of Natural World Heritage Sites Are in Danger

From the Florida Everglades to Africa’s first national park, many crucial protected areas are in serious trouble

A wallaby in the mist on the Irish island of Lambay.

What the Heck Are Wallabies Doing in Ireland?

Normally spotted in Australia, the marsupial species is thriving on a remote island off the Irish coast

The almost mile-long East Side Gallery in Berlin is the longest remaining portion of the Berlin Wall, which once stretched 96 miles.

A Las Vegas Bathroom and 9 Other Unexpected Places to See the Berlin Wall

Twenty five years ago, the Berlin Wall came crumbling down. Today, segments can be found in over 140 memorials worldwide

Karo warriors, Omo Valley, Ethiopia. "Five warriors show off their gorgeous body painting and the ostrich plumes sticking out of their headplates, distinguishing adornments of their culture."

“I’ve Lived the Life of 500 People”: The Photography of Art Wolfe

Earth Is My Witness chronicles Wolfe’s 40-year career as a photographer

The installation, "A Room of Her Own: An Altar for My Mother," is on view through January 2015.

Halloween

An Awe-Inspiring Altar Remembers One Latino Artist’s Guiding Spirit

At the American History Museum, an installation reimagines the life story of a Latina artist and writer

Throwing money into the air during the celebration of the Hungry Ghost Festival.

Festivals of the Dead Around the World

In the United States, Halloween is mostly about candy, but elsewhere in the world celebrations honoring the departed have a spiritual meaning

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Halloween

This Grave Atlas Shows Where to Find the Distinguished Deceased

We know where the bodies are buried … take a virtual tour of world cemeteries that host famous artists and rogues

Geese lift off a lake in front of a sun pillar at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge near Mound City, Missouri.

American South

The Best Places in America to See Fall Bird Migrations

All across the country, birds are making the trek south for the winter—here are some of the best places to witness their journey

Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia

Halloween

World’s Most Beautiful Cemeteries

A visit to these hauntingly beautiful cemeteries illuminates more than just mortality

A shrine marking London's Cross Bones Graveyard.

Halloween

The London Graveyard That’s Become a Memorial for the City’s Seedier Past

Thousands of bodies from London’s first red light district are buried beneath a lot in the South Bank, an area under massive redevelopment

Google's newest Street View collection takes users to Gombe Stream National Park, where Jane Goodall pioneered her chimpanzee behavioral research. "Don't forget to look up," a Google project manager says.

Exclusive: The Chimpanzees of Gombe National Park Make Their Street View Debut

For its latest collection, Google traveled to the African rainforest where Jane Goodall pioneered her groundbreaking chimp research

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