Wine Color Taste Tests
The red and white blues
Even experts sometimes mistake red wines for white and white for red in blind taste tests when both wines are served at the same temperature. Is our perception of taste linked to color?
Winchester Mystery House
The building project of a lifetime
Something drove Sarah Winchester to keep adding to and remodeling a large house in San Jose, California, keeping it continuously under construction for 38 years. The result is mysterious indeed.
Halcyon Days
Why tranquility is for the birds
Yet another December holiday deserves shelf space at the greeting card store. According to legend, the two-week period on either side of the winter solstice is a time of smooth sailing.
Sugar Alcohols
The quest for healthier sweeteners
Neither sugars nor alcohols, the substances known as sugar alcohols are natural sweeteners that may be great for diabetics or bad for people on low-carb diets.
Silent Retreats
A different way of listening
If you like the idea of a quiet getaway to escape the chaos of modern life, you might consider taking it a step further. Give up speaking for a day or a week, and you could be surprised at what you hear.
Bodie, California
The liveliest ghost town in the West
In the Sierra Nevada mountains of eastern California lies the remains Bodie, once the state's second-largest city. A bustling mining town in its heyday, it's now lovingly preserved in a state of arrested decay.
Membership Libraries
Exclusive playgrounds for book lovers
Rare yet marvelous institutions, membership libraries are open only to those who have paid their annual dues. In exchange you get access to a place where books are taken as seriously as they should be.
The Trapeze
How Jules Léotard revolutionized the circus
It's hard to imagine a circus performance that didn't include a trapeze act. This apparatus, which has been around for nearly 160 years, was invented by the same guy (yes, a guy) who created the leotard.
Hikaru Dorodango
Mud balls as art
Mud isn't generally considered a very useful or beautiful substance, but one of the latest trends in art (especially popular among young Japanese children) is making elegant, shiny balls out of ordinary mud.
The Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers
How a Paris abbey became a science museum
An 11th-century Parisian abbey later became the home of a fantastic museum of arts and trades, which is to say, mostly inventions. But the exhibits aren't the only interesting things about the building.