Best World Articles & Videos on the internet • Discoverology

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Read the best world and travel articles from around the internet, or watch the most insightful world videos from platforms like Youtube, Vimeo or leading world publishers like BBC, The New York Times, The Guardian, Atlas Obscura, Washington Post and many more.

The Real Story Behind The Myth Of Area 51

The Real Story Behind The Myth Of Area 51

Science, World

For decades, Nevada’s Area 51 Air Force facility has represented the eye of a conspiratorial hurricane that swirls around “evidence” that aliens exist and are hiding behind its walls. Books, TV shows, and even massive online “raids” have tried to glimpse beyond its stark signs warning against trespassers.

Switzerland’s ‘Secret’ Fifth Language

Switzerland’s ‘Secret’ Fifth Language

Life, World

Head to medieval Basse-Ville, caught between the German- and French-speaking divisions of Fribourg, and you’ll find yourself in a no-man’s land where the two languages have become one: le Bolze.

Is This A Chinese City In Malaysia?

Is This A Chinese City In Malaysia?

Architecture, Cities, Videos, World

Forest City is being built in the Malaysian state of Johor in the southern part of the country. Here, the Johore Strait acts as a natural border between Malaysia and the independent city-state Singapore. It is one of the most ambitious urban development projects currently underway. An entire new city built from scratch.

The Whale Arctic Visitor Center By Dorte Mandrup

The Whale Arctic Visitor Center By Dorte Mandrup

Architecture, Nature, World

300 km North of the Arctic Circle, on the tip of the island Andøya lies Andenes. A small town located amid dramatic landscapes – both above and below the ocean’s surface. The new Arctic attraction, The Whale, tells the story of the big inhabitants of this underwater world, rising as a soft hill on the rocky shore– as if a giant had lifted a thin layer of the crust of the earth and created a cavity underneath.

Behind The Chinese Internet Wall

Behind The Chinese Internet Wall

Tech, World

What is happening on the other side of the barrier? There we find people who respond to state controls with creativity and spunk. While some spend their days trawling cat videos, others create oases of subversion within the reality that they’ve been dealt.

Yemen's Deadly Ghost Ship

Yemen's Deadly Ghost Ship

Nature, World

Five miles off the coast of Yemen lies a floating bomb. An oil storage vessel called the FSO Safer has been sitting more or less unattended in the Red Sea for half a decade. The abandoned oil tanker with over a million barrels of oil on board is an environmental catastrophe waiting to happen.

What Happened When A Tiny Nation Got Filthy Rich Overnight

What Happened When A Tiny Nation Got Filthy Rich Overnight

Videos, World

Nauru, an island in the South Pacific, is known for its high rate of poverty and unemployment. Only a few decades ago, the island was listed among world’s richest countries while it was a major phosphate exporter but as the resources exhausted, the national systems started to fail.

Building Egypt's $58BN New City In The Sand

Building Egypt's $58BN New City In The Sand

Architecture, Crime, Videos, World

Following a period of political instability that affected the progression of infrastructure projects, the country’s government took the decision to construct an entirely new capital in 2015. Located 45 kilometers east of the original Cairo, the as-yet-unnamed city has been under construction ever since.

Franck Bohbot

Inspiration
Franck Bohbot
Why America Doesn’t Win Wars Anymore

Why America Doesn’t Win Wars Anymore

Explainers, Politics, World

Dominic Tierney believes the US can still successfully fight the wars of yesteryear — World War-style conflicts — but hasn’t yet mastered how to win wars against insurgents, which are smaller fights against groups within countries. The problem is the US continues to involve itself in those kinds of fights.

Inside Belarus, Europe's Last Dictatorship

Inside Belarus, Europe's Last Dictatorship

Politics, Videos, World

In October 2016, Alexander Lukashenko swept to his fifth term as the Belarusian president, marking 22 years in power. The autocratic regime still employs the use of internet surveillance, censorship, and intimidation to exert control over its people and press.

Chasing Colombia’s ‘Cocaine Hippos’

Chasing Colombia’s ‘Cocaine Hippos’

Nature, World

After the Colombian National Police killed Escobar in 1993, zoos and private collectors acquired the animals, all except the hippopotamuses. They are only hippos in the wild outside Africa. Escobar started with four hippos. Today, a UC San Diego biologist estimates there are 80 to 100.

The Problem With Being A Long-Term Expat

The Problem With Being A Long-Term Expat

Life, Psychology, World

People on long-term foreign assignments often find it hard to adjust once they return home. Many leave their company within a few years, and some leave the country entirely. Long absences can play havoc with a person’s sense of identity, a feeling that is intensified by the length of time away and how often they visit home.

When The Sahara Was Green

When The Sahara Was Green

History, Nature, Videos, World

The climate of the Sahara was completely different thousands of years ago. And we’re not talking about just a few years of extra rain. We’re talking about a climate that was so wet for so long that animals and humans alike made themselves at home in the middle of the Sahara.

How One NASA Image Tells Dozens Of Stories

How One NASA Image Tells Dozens Of Stories

Nature, Science, Videos, World

In 2016, NASA used the Suomi NPP weather satellite to create a high resolution image of the earth at night. It can help us better understand the current developments and conflicts underway. The amount of light pollution is most severe in heavily populated areas, as well as in regions of high prosperity.

Repopulating A Japanese town

Repopulating A Japanese town

Cities, Videos, World

As the Japanese populace shrinks and ages, and young people leave the suburbs and rural areas for cities, more and more communities are becoming ghost towns. The municipality of Okutama, on the outskirts of Tokyo, has come up with a novel solution: Give away houses to young families for free.

Austin Rossborough

Inspiration
Austin Rossborough
These Death-Defying Human Towers Build On Catalan Tradition

These Death-Defying Human Towers Build On Catalan Tradition

Videos, World

Catalonia is ruled by the Spanish government, but its people have been constructing independent kingdoms for centuries. By climbing up backs and balancing on shoulders, Catalonians of all ages stack their bodies on-top each other to build castells, or human towers.

In Search Of Russia's Lost Gold

In Search Of Russia's Lost Gold

History, World

Before World War I, Russia possessed the third-largest gold reserve in the world, bested only by the US and France. During the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks captured the entirety of Tsar Nicholas II’s family gold reserve – or so they thought.

A Tribute To North Korea’s Air Koryo By Arthur Mebius

A Tribute To North Korea’s Air Koryo By Arthur Mebius

Photos, World

Intrigued by the dedication of an airline crew who only fly to two destinations, photographer Arthur Mebius documents the experience of flying with North Korea’s Air Koryo. The photo series ‘Dear Sky’ offers an insight to Air Koryo’s aircraft and crew, from the perspective of Mebius as a passenger.

Nina Dodd

Inspiration
Nina Dodd
Macau: The Story Of China's Golden Child

Macau: The Story Of China's Golden Child

Videos, World

On December 20th, 1999 the 25 square kilometer Portuguese colony on China’s southern coast was returned to China becoming the Macau Special Administrative Region. In the 20 years since the handover, Macau has transformed into the gambling capital of the world while some call it the Las Vegas of the East.

The One Route Ghost Airline Between Egypt & Israel

The One Route Ghost Airline Between Egypt & Israel

Videos, World

Air Sinai appeared on the Internet in February 2020 and for the scarce few who were in the know about Air Sinai, it was a real shock. What’s so special about this ghost airline and how come up until now it was impossible to book a flight without being transferred endlessly between travel agents?

A Trip To The Cirque Of The Unclimbables

A Trip To The Cirque Of The Unclimbables

Long Reads, World

It’s among the most beautiful eyefuls of landscape I’ve ever seen — its rock walls more overpowering than Zion’s, in Utah, its evening light more perfect than Hawaii’s, its peaks more menacing than Denali, and its stillness more complete than the deep rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula.

A Trans Judge Fights For India's Disenfranchised

A Trans Judge Fights For India's Disenfranchised

Crime, World

Swati Bidhan Baruah is Assam State’s first transgender judge, and the third in all of India In recent months, she’s been consumed with fighting the Supreme Court of India on behalf of at least 2,000 trans people who were left out in the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC) list.

Behind The Walls Of Brazil's Secretive Gated Communities

Behind The Walls Of Brazil's Secretive Gated Communities

Photos, World

Photographer Giovana Schluter grew up uneasy in one of Brazil’s many private neighbourhoods – artificial worlds built for the middle classes. So years later, she returned to a manufactured enclave just like the one of her youth, hoping to get to the heart of their emptiness.

"I Live Alone In An Island Paradise"

"I Live Alone In An Island Paradise"

Videos, World

In 1989, Mauro Morandi’s boat docked on Budelli Island off the northern coast of Sardinia, Italy. Discovering that the island’s caretaker was retiring within the next two days, Mauro decided to extend his stay indefinitely and step into the role himself.

Buried In Sand For A Millennium: Africa’s Roman Ghost City

Buried In Sand For A Millennium: Africa’s Roman Ghost City

History, World

Timgad is a lost Roman city on the edge of the Sahara desert in Algeria that remained hidden beneath the sand for nearly a thousand years. Positively obscure compared to the international notoriety of Pompeii, this ancient city is nonetheless one of the best surviving examples of Roman town planning anywhere in the historical Empire.

Coming Out Of The Shadows: What It Means To Be French And Chinese

Coming Out Of The Shadows: What It Means To Be French And Chinese

Long Reads, Politics, World

France is home to large Vietnamese and Cambodian communities who arrived in the country in great numbers following the wars in the former French colonies in the 1970s. People of Chinese descent have long faced prejudice and violence in France. But today a new generation is staking out its rightful place in society.

The Bizarre Bank Robbery That Shook An Arctic Town

The Bizarre Bank Robbery That Shook An Arctic Town

Crime, Long Reads, World

As one of the northernmost settlements on earth, the Norwegian hamlet of Longyearbyen has become a magnet for adventurous souls looking to start a new life. But when an unsettling crime happened, it brought home a harsh reality: in the modern world, trouble always finds you.

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