Marlon Wright articles

Flying often comes with unexpected challenges, and luggage issues are among the most common. One increasingly common frustration is being asked to check a carry-on bag at the gate, only for it to go missing. Many travelers assume that since the bag was meant for the cabin, different rules apply. But what actually happens when the airline takes a carry-on and then loses it?

Deep inside the forested region of Campeche, researchers studying laser-based LiDAR data noticed shapes that did not match the surrounding natural land. The scans showed clean edges, elevated platforms, and geometric forms that suggested a large human presence once existed under the dense vegetation.

A dusty rock shelter in Oregon changed everything we thought we knew about ancient America. Archaeologists found camel teeth and stone tools buried under volcanic ash. The date? A staggering 18,250 years ago.

Pizza traditions stretch farther than city reputations suggest, and the proof sits inside kitchens scattered across the country. Luckily, every state has a pizza story worth hearing, and some of the best ones are found in small towns and unexpected corners of America.

Japan doesn’t just run differently—it feels like it was built with a different set of instincts. Travelers often expect culture shock in temples or traditions, but the real surprises live in everyday moments that reveal how deeply systems shape experience.

Across the country, dramatic formations rise, plunge, glow, echo, or twist in ways that rarely repeat themselves. Every state adds its own signature natural scene, each shaped by forces far older than the towns built beside them.

A hidden chamber beneath the famed ruins of Chichen Itza has yielded one of the most haunting and illuminating archaeological discoveries in decades. In 1967, builders unearthed an underground cistern near the site’s sacred sinkhole, packed with the remains of over 100 children. Recent DNA work on 64 of those remains, published in 2024, reveals a dramatic new truth: every one was a young boy, including two sets of identical twins. This isn’t just a cold scientific footnote. It actually offers a deep, human echo from a civilization many thought they understood

Just outside Elche, calm fields and gentle hills sit over an unexpected secret. La Alcudia conceals its history so thoroughly that its depth becomes visible only when the soil is opened for all to see. Layers of time lie there like folded pages, each preserving traces of earlier worlds. Across eight digging seasons, archaeologists uncovered a Roman bath complex of remarkable scale. Baths were shared throughout the empire, yet few in Spain survive in such size or with such preservation. The discovery revealed not a modest installation but a sophisticated public space shaped for regular use and community life. When excavation began, the extent of the complex remained unknown, but its centerpiece soon emerged: a massive natatio, an open-air swimming pool large enough to evoke scenes of Roman citizens moving through the water beneath open sky. Surrounding rooms traced a full bathing sequence, from warm spaces to cold plunges and steam rooms, all supported by a hypocaust system circulating heated air beneath the floors. With each season, new chambers and pools appeared, exposing a site built for a substantial population and functioning as an essential gathering place for relief, routine, and social connection.

As INRAP teams opened trenches in Marseille’s northern districts, the work initially looked like another routine intervention beneath busy streets. Layers of asphalt and industrial debris came away as expected, each tied to the city’s long expansion. But then a curious alignment appeared: evenly spaced pits forming a geometry too deliberate to ignore. What seemed like a minor irregularity expanded with every foot of soil removed. By the time the full pattern emerged, archaeologists realized they were no longer dealing with isolated traces. They were facing the layout of a Greek-era vineyard positioned 1.2 miles beyond ancient Massalia.