A Geeky Guide to the Scientific Wonders of North America - Atlas Obscura Lists

A Geeky Guide to the Scientific Wonders of North America

From geological mysteries to atomic age attractions, Science Friday highlights 30 places every science nerd should visit.

To scientists and the curious-minded, the world can be a lot like a laboratory, with scientific wonders hiding in the most unexpected places.

In an inconspicuous, working fire station in Livermore, California, you can view a lightbulb that has been burning for 112 years. Along the cliffsides near Lake Superior, you can hike to a disappearing waterfall that baffles both researchers and Minnesotans. Standing in Chichen Itza, Mexico, you can bask before the ancient ruins of a Mayan astronomy observatory. These are a few scientific secrets highlighted by the public radio show Science Friday.

To add a spark of scientific wonder to your summer vacation, Science Friday spoke with Atlas Obscura’s Dylan Thuras and Ella Morton who shared some of their favorite nerdy spots in North America. SciFri staff and listeners also pitched in peculiar places in the Atlas, from radio silent zones to petrified forests.

Inyo County, California

Sailing Stones of Racetrack Playa

The rocks in this arid basin leave trails of movement behind them.
Field, British Columbia

Yoho National Park

Fossils, railroads, and waterfalls!
Shoreham, New York

Tesla's Wardenclyffe Laboratory

An unrealized dream to wirelessly electrify the entire Earth.
West Windsor Township, New Jersey

'War of the Worlds' Monument

A bronze monument to the infamous radio broadcast in the real New Jersey town where the fictional Martians crash-landed.
Pasadena, California

Mount Wilson Observatory

This former stomping grounds of the most eminent astronomers of the early 20th century.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Wagner Free Institute

A rare view of a preserved Victorian science museum.
Oracle, Arizona

Biosphere 2

A reproduction of earth's many biomes.
Holbrook, Arizona

Petrified Forest National Park

See massive fossils that are over 200 million years old in northeastern Arizona.
Jadwin, Missouri

Welch Spring Hospital Ruins

Once an ambitious nature spa, these forest ruins now provide a serene monument to failure.
Mammoth Lakes, California

Devils Postpile National Monument

Towering basalt columns, a creation of fire and ice.
Chicago, Illinois

International Museum of Surgical Science

A monument to the art of slicing people open.