Biodiversity Heritage Library’s Immense Free Image Archive

A collection of images, diagrams, sketches and research surveys believed to be “the world’s largest open access digital archive dedicated to life on Earth,” the Biodiversity Heritage Library is comprised of over 55 million pages of literature. The library (with ephemera dating back to the 15th century) has made over 150,000 illustrations from their collection available for free, high-resolution download. There are also a number …

Lisbon Triennale Surveys Ornament in Architecture

The theme for this year’s Lisbon Triennale—”The Poetics of Reason”—poses the question of whether or not ornament is integral to architecture. Positioning photographs and up-close sculptural renderings of classical Victorian structures and their decorations alongside an international assortment of patterns, prints, decorations and furniture, the curators encourage visitors to understand architecture and ornament as two separate entities. The former is rooted in reason, while the …

Link About It: This Week’s Picks

Mesmerizing footage of the sun, health benefits from magic mushrooms, the history of food photography and more

29 Nigerian English Phrases Added to the Oxford English Dictionary The latest update to the Oxford English Dictionary includes 29 words, phrases and colloquialisms from Nigerian English—most of which have been used for decades, and have been adopted by English-speakers elsewhere. Some words already exist in English, but have a different meaning; such as “gist,” which in Nigerian English “is a noun which means ‘rumor’ …