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Pine Island seems like strange name for a New York hamlet entirely surrounded by dry land.

To build a bridge up to a fourth-story window, one has to have at least three neighbors on board with the plan.

Switzerland's military-trained citizens are armed to the proverbial teeth. Many Swiss defensive strategies, though, are far less visible than spiked ridges and openly carried weapons, including infrastructure carefully designed and built to self-destruct on demand.

This was a time when everyone had ringtones — when the song your phone played really said something about you. These 15-second melodies were disposable, yet highly personal trinkets. And it was all thanks to a man named Vesku-Matti Paananen.

In 1998, political leaders in Northern Ireland signed a peace agreement. They hoped it would end the sectarian violence between Catholics and Protestants who'd been fighting each other for decades. At the root of the conflict was the question of whether Northern Ireland should reunite with the rest of Ireland — or whether it should remain part of the United Kingdom.

Sand is so tiny and ubiquitous that it's easy to take for granted. But in his book "The World in a Grain," author Vince Beiser traces the history of sand, exploring how it fundamentally shaped the world as we know it.

As a customer, you would never have to interact with a single person if you didn't want to. You could hop in, grab a custom-made quinoa bowl and then go back to work.

Froebel arguably ended up having more influence on the world of architecture and design than any single architect — all because Friedrich Froebel created kindergarten.

Some linguists argue that our experience of reality itself is shaped by language, which might explain how Japanese stoplights end up being a kind of in-between "bleen?"

It sounds like the stuff of fiction: secret markings telling fellow vagabonds where to sleep safely or find other useful resources for survival.

Various countries have evolved different color schemes and markings.

Regional architecture is shaped by all kinds of things: weather, soil conditions, available materials, building codes… and superstitions.

By whatever name, these zones can serve aesthetic functions and help improve pedestrian safety, acting as a barrier between sidewalks and traffic as well as reducing the risk of vehicular puddle spray.

Across the United States, electric scooters have been springing up overnight on city streets and sidewalks, leading to a combination of praise and condemnation from urban dwellers and local municipalities.