Category: Architecture & Design
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Dual head-mounted listening devices
This dual-mounted listening device served as an aircraft detection device before the invention of radar in 1935. The Dutch military used the elephant-looking ears to detect approaching enemy aircraft by listening afar for engine sounds. There were various iterations of the acoustic locators. The Germans created a dual sight and sound system in 1917 that…
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Zhangjiajie’s Bailong Elevator is the highest outdoor elevator in the world 🇨🇳
The Bailong Elevator is the world’s highest outdoor elevator, an astonishing 1,080 feet tall. The glass double-deck elevator is built inside a massive sandstone column in a mountain range consisting of the National Forest Park in the Wulingyuan area of Zhangjiajie, China. Opened in 2002, the cliff-facing elevator allows 50 visitors at a time to…
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Watch styrofoam dancing to sound waves in a Kundt’s tube
Put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don’t care. What looks like a dubstep rave of little ghost people is actually styrofoam dancing to sound waves in a massive plexiglass pipe known as a Kundt’s tube. In 1866 German physicist August Kundt constructed the experimental acoustical apparatus to measure the speed of sound in…
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Meet Bolivia’s powerful female wrestlers, Flying Cholitas
Photographer Todd Anthony took pictures of Bolivia’s indigenous female wrestlers for his new project, Flying Cholitas. This unique group of athletes wear more than stylish dresses and beautiful petticoats — they come together to demonstrate pride in their history. Once colonized by the Spanish and rejected as lower-class citizens, pejoratively known as “cholita,” they have since…
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What cities look like at night without electricity
In his series Villes éteintes (Darkened Cities), French photographer Thierry Cohen imagines the world’s biggest cities at night without urban light. Cohen uses a special exposure technique called day for night which enables him to capture the cities in the daytime but increases darkness levels. Then, he combines the city skylines into the backdrop of…
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Mirrored ceilings at Zhongshuge bookstores, China
Zhongshuge Bookstore is a popular book chain in China. Each of its store’s leverages mirrors in its architectural design to give off a kaleidoscope effect on the interior. However, one of its stores in the city of Chongqing features a magical and elaborate bookcase. The location features a ceiling mirror that creates an optical illusion…
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Xavi Bou: If birds left tracks in the sky
Barcelona-based photographer Xavi Bou turns bird flight into art in a project he calls Ornitografías. Using his degrees in geology and photography and experience as a lighting technician in the fashion industry, Bou extracts high-resolution photos from video stills to illustrate the path of birds in motion. The result is a spectacular piece of art…
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Mysterious metal monolith found in remote Utah desert
As if 2020 couldn’t get any weirder, the Utah Department of Public Safety stumbled upon a mysterious shiny monolith among red rocks in the remote Utah desert. The crew spotted the “unusual object” during a routine flyover to survey the area for bighorn sheep. In a public statement issued on Tuesday, Utah officials announced that they’re keeping…
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Topiary sculpture of a sleeping baby bird
Here’s a bird you’ll never get tired of looking at. Children’s author and illustrator Claude Ponti’s gigantic topiary named Poussin Endormi or Sleepy Chick resides in Jardin des Plantes’ botanical garden in Nantes, France. The outdoor installation relaxes nearby Ponti’s zany other works, the sleeping koala. Who wouldn’t want these in their front yard? Check…