Watch—and Smell!—the World’s First Multi-sensory Fireworks Display

Watch—and Smell!—the World's First Multi-sensory Fireworks Display

London was the place to be this past New Year’s Eve. While you had your ball in New York City and your party in Sydney, London was home to the world’s first multi-sensory fireworks display. You could literally taste the celebration.

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What London looked like in 1927 and 2013, side-by-side

The old town of London never changes. Or at least, it changes very, very little. Just watch this side-by-side footage showing life in 1927 London and life in 2013 London to see how much the city has stayed the same. And sure, the streets might have slightly newer cars on them with street lights and freshly painted lanes but many of the same buildings are still up in London after over 85 years and everything else seems pretty much exactly the same.

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A London Museum Where Machines Push Everything To The Limit

A London Museum Where Machines Push Everything To The Limit

The Kirkaldy Testing Museum in London was once where materials were sent to die: to be tested to their breaking points, often pulverized, shattered, broken in two from sheer strain, punched clean through, or stretched—ripped and shredded—by hydraulics.

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The marijuana economy in California, battling obesity in Oklahoma City, the real underground in Lond

The marijuana economy in California, battling obesity in Oklahoma City, the real underground in London, plus buildings that used to be Pizza Huts, and much more, all in this week’s urban reads.

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This London Tube Map Is Designed For Colorblind Travelers

This London Tube Map Is Designed For Colorblind Travelers

Harry Beck’s topological Tube Map is an instantly recognizable design icon, even for those who have never navigated the London Underground. Sure, the clean geometry makes it easy to figure out the best route, but it’s the variety of Pantone hues assigned to each line that gives it true at-a-glance readability. That is, if you’re not colorblind.

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How London Was Redesigned To Survive Wartime Blackouts

How London Was Redesigned To Survive Wartime Blackouts

One of the more interesting aspects of urban life during the bombing raids of World War II was the clever and strategic re-designing of the London streetscape so that residents could live in a state of blackout.

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How Corpses Helped Shape the London Underground

How Corpses Helped Shape the London Underground

As Mexico City archaeologists sort through the surreal array of Aztec sacrificial skulls recently uncovered while excavating their city’s subway system, it’s worth remembering that parts of the London Underground were also tunneled, blasted, picked, and drilled through a labyrinth of plague pits and cemeteries.

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This Is London’s Floating Bike Road Dream

This Is London’s Floating Bike Road Dream

A team of architects has updated and fleshed out its SkyCycle plan—a bizarre concept that would use the empty channels above some train lines to build floating, bike-only cycle superhighways.

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Houston struggles to save the Astrodome, London vows to make biking safer, L.A. sees light rail succ

Houston struggles to save the Astrodome, London vows to make biking safer, L.A. sees light rail successes, and San Francisco mounts a shitty campaign for its sewers. It’s Christmastime in the city for this week’s urban reads.

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It’s Only Mr. T! 30 Years Of Toys Confiscated From London Schools

It's Only Mr. T! 30 Years Of Toys Confiscated From London Schools

Yeah, it’s easy to romanticize the past, but there’s something almost sweet about Confiscation Cabinets, an exhibition at the V&A’s Museum of Childhood showing 30 years’ worth of contraband swiped from kids at over 150 schools in London.

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