Oddity Central

Oddity Central

The Atlantic Road – Norway’s Amazing Island-Linking Scenic Route

Posted: 06 Jan 2014 03:00 AM PST

In 2005, the Atlantic Road was honored as Norway's Construction of the Year. The National Tourist Route runs between two Norwegian towns – Kristiansund and Molde – that are the main population centers in the county of More og Romsdal in Western Norway.

The Atlantic Road (Atlantic Ocean Road) is an 8.3 kilometer long section of County Road 64, running through an archipelago and passing by Hustadvika, an unsheltered part of the Norwegian Sea. The structure is built on several small islands and skerries that are connected by causeways, viaducts and eight bridges. The longest and most prominent of the bridges is the 260 meter long Storseisundet Bridge.

But mere facts about the Atlantic Road do no justice to its magnificence. You need to see pictures to realize just how breathtaking it is. An aerial view of this long structure snaking through the sea is simply breathtaking. It's hard for me to believe these pictures are real; they seem like someone's imagination manifested on my screen. Better still, you could visit the road yourself and drive across it to experience its complete beauty. In fact, the Atlantic Road has been declared the world's best road trip and is a popular site for automotive commercials.

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Romantic Bowerbird Builds Intricate Structures to Seduce Females

Posted: 06 Jan 2014 02:00 AM PST

The concept of bachelor pads isn't unique to humans. Male bowerbirds are amazing architects, but they reserve theirs skills for just one purpose – finding a mate. They construct such elaborate and dazzling nests to impress females, perhaps they could teach our men a thing or two about home décor.

Male bowerbirds use embellishments such as coins, nails, leaves, shells, seeds, flowers and live insects to weave their nests, called bowers. Bowers are U-shaped nests built with twigs and grass, and carpeted with moss. Each bower is an architectural marvel that stretches out 5 or 6 yards across, complete with a thatched roof and supporting pillars.

Blue is a very important color in the construction process. Male bowerbirds use several blue objects – berries, flowers, bottle caps and string – to attract prospective mates. Research has proven that females are attracted to bowers with the most number of blue decorations. Because blue objects are rare in a bowerbird's environment, a male who is able to acquire them and protect them is deemed superior.

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Mystery Surrounds Colombian Cemetery That Turns Buried Bodies into Mummies

Posted: 06 Jan 2014 01:00 AM PST

The ancient Egyptians spent centuries developing their mummifying techniques, but at a cemetery in San Bernardo, a small Colombian town, corpses somehow become naturally mummified in their coffins.

The phenomenon was first noticed 15 years ago, by grave digger Eduardo Cifuentes. "The burial pit was full of bodies," he said. "I didn't like stepping on them because they were humans like us so I started organizing them." It's only because of Eduardo's efforts that the mummies are being talked about. He said that the mummified bodies have been around since about 1957, but no one paid any attention to them. "I liked the idea of keeping them for posterity,” he said. With the passage of time, the mummies' clothes and skin have turned brown. Their skins look pasty and wrinkled.

Scientists have no idea why this is happening. The only other site in Latin America where natural mummification takes place is the Guanajuato, a town in central Mexico, where underground gas and soil conditions are the secret. But the same cannot be said for San Bernardo, because bodies are buried in chambers above the ground (as is customary in Colombia) so they do not come into contact with the earth.

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