Tuesday, November 10

A daily field guide to visual culture

Since 2009

A shaft of daylight falls through a hole in the roof of Hang Son Doong cave in Vietnam, lighting a small human figure standing on the rock below.

Travel

The Crown Jewels of Planet Earth

Twenty-seven of the richest places on the planet, from the largest cave on Earth to the edge of space.

Nov 914 min read

A Field Guide to the People You Love: The Moss & Fog Holiday Gift Guide 2026

Our 2026 gift guide, sorted by the people on your list: the host, the design obsessed, the wanderer…

Nov 43 min read

The village of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas on Tristan da Cunha, a scatter of small houses on a green coastal plateau between steep slopes and the open South Atlantic

Travel

The Hardest Places on Earth to Reach

Twelve remote places you can still get to, exactly how to do it, and seven more on the…

Oct 2911 min read

Latest

New on Moss & Fog

Extreme close-up of a human eye with a grey-blue iris flecked with burnt orange around the pupil

Science

The Eye Is The Only Part of Your Brain You Can See

Your retina is part of your brain, your cornea breathes air, and every blue eye goes back to one person. Eight things about the human eye that surprised us.

Nov 104 min read

Photography

Fog Moves Like the Ocean Over Marin, If You Leave the Shutter Open

Nick Steinberg has climbed Mount Tamalpais hundreds of times to photograph fog pouring over the hills like surf.

Nov 93 min read

Wide night view of Mount Merapi's smoldering summit releasing a faint glow of volcanic activity beneath a dark, starlit sky over Central Java, Indonesia.

Space

The Night a Green Meteor Seemed to Fall Into Mount Merapi

Gunarto Song had his shutter open for four seconds when a meteor lined up with the mouth of Indonesia's most…

Nov 93 min read

Two branched ears of miracle wheat drawn side by side on cream paper, each splitting into several bearded heads, from an 1880 French lithograph

History

A Farmer Found a Sack of Seeds in His Attic. They Grew Into Miracle Wheat

An Italian farmer planted a forgotten sack of seeds on a hunch and grew six-foot wheat with seven ears on…

Nov 75 min read

A chrome Tower Optical coin binocular viewer on the stone summit parapet of Whiteface Mountain, looking out over Lake Placid and the Adirondack peaks under big clouds

History

Classic Landmark Viewfinders Are Up for Sale, for a Pretty Penny

Tower Optical is restoring a few of its retired coin binocular viewers from the Empire State Building, Niagara Falls and…

Nov 66 min read

Pull up a chair

The most delicious corners of our archive, from a croissant that swallowed a cookie to the Negroni and its century behind the bar. Come hungry!

Food & Drink

Browse seventeen years by color

Pick a color and we pull the stories where it fills the frame.

Red Orange Gold Green Teal Blue Violet Pink Brown Night Fog

Classic tin toys live on for the holidays

Product Design

Around now, years ago

Favorites we ran at this time of year, one from each year, still worth your time.

These biodegradable sandals have a billboard to match

2025

The guides, our long reads

Where seventeen years of stories are gathered into one place each.

Or wander by subject in the Atlas, by feel in the Senses, or by color further up.

The Shop · Curated Objects

Objects Worth Keeping

Twelve things with a maker behind them, chosen the way we choose what runs on the site: because someone got it exactly right.

Giant Sequoia Pinecones, Set of Three $12

Mossy Walls Room and Body Spray $20

Luna Moth Pin $13

Thick Lines Tree Souvenir Patch $8.50

Minty Hot Cocoa Tin, Milk Chocolate Mint $17.25

The Outdoors Oracle $29.95

Sapele Balance Stones, Set of Five $79

Field Studies Vol. III: The Rare Ones (Set of Four Printable Art Prints) $6

Max Dinnerware, Bowls (Set of 6) $60

Sold out Rare Trees $40

Sold out Pocket Terrarium, Self Sustaining Miniature Ecosystem $11

Sold out Cabin Porn $40

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