Don't Read This If You're Afraid of the Dark

A country whose capital, Paris, made history with its "City of Light" glowing streets is suddenly trying to dial them down. Starting this summer, a French decree mandates that public buildings and shops must keep lights off between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m in attempt to preserve energy and cut costs, and "reduce the print of artificial lighting on the nocturnal environment."

As France's move suggests, civilization's ever-growing imprint on the night sky has more than just stargazers concerned. In his new book, The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light, writer Paul Bogard bemoans how our last dark spaces are slowly being devoured by the "light trespass" of artificial rays. A team of astronomers recently projected that while the US population is growing at a rate of less than 1.5 percent a year, the amount of artificial light is increasing at an annual rate of 6 percent. It's more than just a nostalgia for primordial darkness that's eating at Bogard: Too much light causes animals to go haywire, derails natural cycles, and damages human health.

The Ten Scariest Aircraft Landings Caught On Video

Next time you feel like complaining about the Wi-Fi on your flight being slow, just remember it could have been worse. Much worse.

China Just Broke Ground on World's Next Tallest Skyscraper, and It Aims to Finish by February

Just as the weekend took off, so did the world's next tallest skyscraper. In China's 25th biggest city, Changsha, Hunan, ground has ambitiously been broken. In just the next seven months, Broad Sustainable Construction plans to erect its Sky City, a 220-story, 838 meter (2,749 feet) megatower.
 

Look Inside North Korea's Insane Ryugyong Hotel for the First Time

There’s no more fitting metaphor for North Korea’s Ryugyong Hotel than the fact that it’s shaped like the Simpsons’ Enron ride. Construction on the hotel began in 1987, and was supposed to be completed by 1989. By 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union — and the resulting loss of cash flow from Moscow — put a major pinch on North Korea’s funds, construction on what was to be the world’s tallest structure at its inception halted, leaving a giant skeleton of building towering over the glittery squalor of Pyongyang like a wireframe spaceship.

World’s Stinkiest Fruit Is Fermented Into Wine

There is a popular expression to describe the durian’s creamy yellow flesh: it tastes like heaven but smells like hell. Known as the king of fruits, the spiky delicacy has such a pungent smell that it is often barred from public places. But it boasts a loyal legion of fans who can consume the creamy yellow flesh by itself or in candy, pancakes or chips. There will soon be another option: wine.

The Pixel Painter

Top Books Derived from 11 "Top 100" Lists

•Catch-22 by Joseph Heller - (10/11 Lists)
•Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - (10/11 Lists)
•The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - (10/11 Lists)
•Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison - (9/11 Lists)
•Slaughterhouse-5 by Kurt Vonnegut - (9/11 Lists)
•The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - (9/11 Lists)
•The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner - (9/11 Lists)
•1984 by George Orwell - (8/11 Lists)
•Beloved by Toni Morrison - (8/11 Lists)
•The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - (8/11 Lists)
•To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - (8/11 Lists)
•The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway - (7/11 Lists)
•An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser - (6/11 Lists)
•Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - (6/11 Lists)
•Brave New World by Alduos Huxley - (6/11 Lists)
•Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell - (6/11 Lists)
•Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie - (6/11 Lists)
•My Antonia by Willa Cather (1918) - (6/11 Lists)
•On the Road by Jack Kerouac - (6/11 Lists)
•The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - (6/11 Lists)
•The Heart is A Lonely Hunter by Carson Mccullers- (6/11 Lists)
•The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - (6/11 Lists)
•The Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller (1934) - (6/11 Lists)
•Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston - (6/11 Lists)
•To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf - (6/11 Lists)
•Ulysses by James Joyce - (6/11 Lists)

The Best Food You Can Eat In Every State

From one coast to the other, America is packed with fantastic foods for feasting.

We picked the absolute most delicious morsel from every state. How many have you tried?

Jar~with~a~Twist

See Your Folks

Why are we doing this?

We believe that increasing awareness of death can help us to make the most of our lives. The right kind of reminders can help us to focus on what matters, and perhaps make us better people.

10 Lifehacks That Will Make Your Summer Even More Awesome

This Trailer for Gravity Will Make You FREAK. OUT!

Has Carl June Found a Key to Fighting Cancer?

A MUST READ!

Walter Keller had nearly lost his battle with leukemia when he went to Penn's Carl June and his group of researchers for a radical new cancer treatment. What happened next may change medicine forever.

‘Air rage tribe’: Chinese cabin crew learn kung fu as mobs of ‘unstable’ passengers attack staff over flight delays

Violent attacks have erupted at airports across China, with passengers venting their rage on hapless staff over a summer of grinding delays.

China has spent billions on building some of the largest and most modern airports in the world, but, much to everyone’s embarrassment, it seems unable to get planes to fly between them on time.

Yellowstone Park: Part One