This past spring, the oldest continuously operated family-owned Chinese restaurant in the United States served its last plate of chop suey. Pekin Noodle Parlor had been an institution in Butte, Montana’s Chinatown since 1911, long outlasting the town’s gold-rush boom, but
In the days of popular retrofuturism—say, the first half of the twentieth century—people tended to imagine the world of tomorrow looking very much like the world of today, only with a lot more flying cars, monorails, and videophones. This is true whether those doing the
Few things in life are more exasperating than seeing the potential in someone you love and seeing them continually fall short of it, stumbling again and again over the same self-erected roadblocks of character and conduct, comporting themselves in a manner painfully inferior to
“A star located about 1,300 light-years from Earth shows signs of having devoured one of its planets — and is now gearing up for a second helping…” Scientists found signs of the meal by looking for “cosmic cookie crumbs” .
Nearly six decades since its founding, the legacy of the beloved program is explored in an exhibition at Columbia University’s Wallach Art Gallery.
Days after police arrested the graffiti artist who tagged a prominent bridge tower with a giant bird, some are calling on the city to preserve the work.
TIL about Fredkin’s paradox . “With this kind of decision, what Fredkin’s paradox tells us is if it’s very difficult to decide, it’s probably because the alternatives are equivalent, and therefore it doesn’t matter which one you choose.”
The Cuban artist's whereabouts remain unknown, as do his fate and that of more than 800 political prisoners on the island.
"Make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life."
One of the two men told investigators that the person who allegedly hired them for the job “thought we could have taken more.”
Though not made for public consumption, the darkroom work prints reveal his portraits as excerpts of a conversation, rather than memories snatched from the ether.
The Universe of Short Film is an amazing site for watching, sharing, and connecting around short films. This is really cool…not sure why the site isn’t better known.
Two projects examine the visual art and design that shape our perception of music, from Raymond Pettibon’s Foo Fighters record covers to the ephemera of bygone bands.
From XKCD, a tour of some of the Earth’s deepest and most notable holes , including mines, caves, boreholes, subway stations, lakes, tunnels, neutrino detectors, and, of course, the Mariana Trench. I was surprised to learn that a pair of boreholes, the Kola Superdeep Borehole
"I rarely paint a folktale exactly as it's written," Lee says. "I'm more interested in its symbols, emotions, and the questions it leaves behind." Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as
"Is all the beekeeping, baking and leatherwork just escapist fantasy or the start of a radically human approach to work?"
Ocean Vuong has a photograpy show opening at The Wadsworth Museum in Hartford, CT in August. Vuong used “portraiture, landscape, and snapshots to document queer and immigrant life in the Connecticut River Valley over two decades”.
"No matter how large the tissue of falsehood that an experienced liar has to offer, it will never be large enough ... to cover the immensity of factuality."
When A.I. Is a Member of the Family . How a family of three in a Cleveland suburb uses AI chatbots. This is wild .
"Civilizations are remembered through their monuments, but understood through the things they throw away," the artist says. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The
Eight art books reframe America 250 and stock photography in the age of AI.
"A couple of years after I began volunteering, I realized I was hell-bent on healing birds because they, too, had healed me—in more ways than one."
The best aerial photography reminds us that we don’t have to go all the way to space to experience a small helping of the overview effect . The 2026 Aerial Photographer of the Year contest celebrates the best photos taken from the air; here are a few of my favorites:
A list of the new foods on offer at the Minnesota State Fair this year . They’re all some variation of “jerked pork rolled in butter & sugar, deep fried in dill pickle batter, and served with a side of cheese curd mayo”; I’d happily try any of them.
Once Unimaginable, Publishers Are Preparing to Opt Out of Google Search . “We’ve been clear about what we want. We want a technical solution that allows you to be discoverable without having to give your content away for free.”
The Bozeman-based artist is known for his eccentric wooden works that draw on folklore, personal memory, and daily observations. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per
The world’s most significant and groundbreaking filmmakers of color will gather to showcase their work in Philadelphia August 6-9.
This might be my new favorite skate video ? It follows a pair of young skaters around the city as they chat about their friendship, share tips about living life, and try skating everything that is even remotely skateable. Best friends, Ari and Luca are two of the most
“It’s been called ‘one of the greatest cold cases of the 20th century.’ It remains unsolved. But what happened next is almost a worse crime.”
Can we agree to pause the AI race? “If we can’t, then we are not as sovereign as we imagine; if we can’t, a machine god has already taken over this planet, and it’s called the market.”
"Millions of songbirds in Southeast Asia are trapped and smuggled each year for keeping as pets or entering in competitions. Scientists warn that it's fueling a crisis."
The ‘worst’ and ‘best possible’ job at once: what it’s like to dedicate your life to documenting crimes against humanity - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon
Phoenix Ancient Art funneled objects of shaky provenance into dozens of museums. Why are many of them still there?
We are each a living story, written with those who raised us. But when my most loving co-author ghosted me, my story fractured - by David Robson Read on Aeon