Last June, freelance journalist Esther Honig asked artists from 19 countries around the world to Photoshop her face to make her “beautiful.”

Shortly afterwards, her close college friend Priscilla Yuki Wilson released her own experiment on biracial beauty.

Inspired by the efforts of these two women, Marie Southard Ospina decided to do a similar test — but with a "plus-sized twist."

Ospina, an associate fashion and beauty editor for Bustle, wanted to replicate the experiment with a focus on the relationship between weight and beauty. 

"I was fascinated by the way that editors altered her [Esther Honig's] actual bone structure and frame, especially considering she is quite a slender woman," Ospina told Business Insider.  "I was curious to see how editors around the world would 'fix' a photo of me, what with my having characteristics so often deemed as 'flaws' — like a double chin and a chubby face."

Growing up in the Western world has made her very aware of how her size is seen as a negative. "Stereotypes include, but are not limited to: laziness, selfishness, stupidity, naiveté and even a lower socioeconomic class," she explained in Bustle.

Ospina set out to challenge the notion that "thin is the only beautiful," and sent her picture to 21 Photoshop experts around the world. While the results of Ospina’s experiment are drastically different from Honig and Wilson’s, the images are just as fascinating. 

Scroll down to see how Photoshop experts from different countries perceive beauty. 

Here is Ospina's original image:

India

Latvia

Italy

Mexico

Macedonia

Ukraine

United States

Pakistan

The results of the experiment shocked her. When Ospina received the images from the different countries, she noticed that only three had made her look visibly thinner (Ukraine, Mexico, and Latvia).

Ospina says that she was extremely positive about the results, since many editors were “in favor of preserving natural beauty.” She even reached out to three different Photoshop experts in Iceland, and all of them refused  to Photoshop her — citing reasons such as, “I don’t believe in re-touching a person’s natural beauty." 

"The project was more a mission in body confidence — to try to shed light on the fact that beauty is such a hard word to define, and that perhaps we shouldn't try to," Ospina told Business Insider.

"The fact that people have responded so positively to it makes me feel like we're ready for a variety of imagery in our media. Like we're ready to see size diversity celebrated in the day-to-day." 

The editors were of varying skills and were each paid $5-$30 for the Photoshop work. To read more about Ospina’s Photoshop experiment, click here. 

SEE ALSO: A Biracial Woman Asked Designers Around The World To Make Her 'Beautiful' Using Photoshop

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Is this the best art project ever? 

Future Time Machine: Future Time Machine seeks to create a dialogue with the past and future by harnessing the power of compounded interest to amass enough money to create a fully functional time machine. An investment of $1000 will be put in a legal trust for 500 years. Assuming a modest 4% annual return, the investment will be approximately 328 billion dollars in the year 2515, at which point it will be spent on scientific research and the construction of a time machine. First stop for the time machine will be 2015 with a reception for the time travelers. There will be a variety of speakers lecturing on the ethics of time travel and what the future may have in store.

The steps of this project are:

1. Get $1000
2. Put in a trust invested in (presumably) an index fund
3. In 500 years, have someone build a time machine with the money
4. Back in 2015, have party, see people from the future

WHAT COULD GO WRONG?!?! Actually, though, thinking about what kinds of things could go wrong is what makes this so great. As a financial journalist, my first question is: who is going to get rich off stealing this money, and how long is it going to last? My bet is 20 years. And it will be stolen by the lawyer in charge of the trust. But who knows!

The project was just given a grant by the Idea Fund, part of a Houston-based arts group called Diverse Works. Idea Fund gives grants to projects that are "artist-generated, or artist-centered projects that exemplify the unconventional, interventionist, conceptual, entrepreneurial, participatory, or guerrilla artistic practices that occur outside of the traditional frameworks of support." 

(h/t Ben Davis)

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Bookstores can be a destination. 

From Venice to Mexico City, check out some of the most interesting book retailers out there. 

1. Libreria Acqua Alta, Venice, Italy. 

This bookstore features classic volumes of American and Italian books packed in traditional Venetian gondola boats. But the show-stopping attraction is the back of the bookstore, which opens up to a beautiful canal.

“It’s a bookshop right on the canal that floods every year, so the eccentric, stray-cat-adopting owner keeps his books in boats, bathtubs and a disused gondola to protect them,” writes Paris Review. 

The store is also lauded for its extensive art and postcard collections. 

2. John K. King Used And Rare Books, Detroit, Michigan. 

This houses more than a million books in an abandoned glove factory in Detroit's industrial wasteland.

"Cardboard signs, musty paperback aromas, and a hand-scrawled map out of a Wes Anderson panic attack are your only tour guides as you lose track of time and the person you came with," writes Megan Cytron at Trazzler.

3. Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastricht, Holland. 

This epic bookstore is a converted Dominican church from the 13th century. The serene alcoves of the church now serve as reading nooks. 

"A superb example of adaptive re-use, the Selexyz Dominicanen infuses rich and historic architecture with plentiful shelves ripe with information," writes Diane Pham at inhabitant.com. 

4. BookPeople, Austin, Texas. 

Texas' largest independent bookstore is situated in the trendy Market District of Austin, Texas. The store prides itself on its knowledgable staff and epic selections. 

"Tending to more books than anyone could read in a lifetime – from international bestsellers to a remarkable showing of local authors, BookKids to MysteryPeople—plus almost daily events and a quirky collection of toys, BookPeople’s wonderful staff are on their toes expanding horizons and making literary dreams come true," the Austin Chronicle raves. 

5. Strand, New York City. 

This East Village retailer boasts 18 miles of books. 

"Its prices and selection are seldom beat, and there's still the unique thrill of finding a copy of The Grapes of Wrath once belonging to the Rikers Correctional Library in their 49-cent bin," writes Gothamist. 

6. Livraria Lello & Irmao, Porto, Portugal. 

This gorgeous, 100-year-old bookstore is known for its stunning architecture and "stairway to heaven." 

"Once inside, there is the curvaceous red stairway connecting the two levels (inspired on the Parisian Galleries Lafayette), the heavily decorated walls and ceilings, and the magnificent stained-glass skylight with Lello’s motto vecus in labore will no doubt impress you," one visitor writes on bookstoreguide.org. 

7. The Bookworm, Beijing, China. 

The Bookworm is both a lending library and a bookstore with a ridiculously expansive collection. There's also a gourmet European cafe on the premises. 

"We love this Beijing spot when we're craving a double-dose of intellectual stimulation and decent café food. Thousands of English-language books fill the shelves and may be borrowed for a fee or read inside. New books and magazines are also for sale," writes Fodor's Travel. 

8. El Ateneo, Buenes Aires, Argentina. 

This bookstore is housed in an ornate theater building from the 1920's. Customers can sit in still-intact theater boxes to relax and browse their books. 

"While the selection of books on offer is standard chain store fare, bibliophiles will find the staggeringly opulent display of books to be reason enough to pay El Ateneo Grand Splendid a visit," according to Atlas Obscura. 

9. Cafebreria El Pendulo, Mexico City, Mexico. 

This bookstore and cafe has ample greenery inside. 

"At once bar, cafe and bookstore, the Cafebreria El Pendulo offers a well air conditioned abode for reading and lounging, and living plants decorate the interior," The Huffington Post writes. 

10. Books & Books, Coral Gables, Florida. 

This Miami-area bookstore is especially known for its great selection of art titles and is housed in a stunning building from the 1920's. 

"No local author considers himself “made” until he’s read at Books & Books, and no lit-minded visitor considers a vacation complete until he’s browsed for autographed stock in at least one of the stores," CBS Local writes, adding that the store has constant special events. 

11. Shakespeare and Company, Paris, France. 

The original Shakespeare & Company  on Paris' Left Bank was a hangout for Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and James Joyce, but closed during World War Two. 

The store re-opened in 1951 and has become a popular favorite because of its ambience and selection. 

"Time has not sundered the love-in between literature and Paris's Left Bank," writes Time. "The Shakespeare and Company bookstore has long been a fixture of the affair."

12. Politics & Prose, Washington D.C. 

This bookstore in the nation's Capitol is best-known for its amazing line-up of speakers. Past guests have included J.K. Rowling and Bill Clinton. 

"Priding itself on its well-read staff and inside-the-Beltway speakers, this bookstore dating to 1984 makes its home in a nondescript neighborhood north of the Van Ness metro," writes Travel & Leisure. "Politics and Prose combines impressive on-site inventory with a pleasant downstairs cafe."

13. Bart's Books, Ojai, California. 

Bart's books is the largest outdoor bookstore in the world, and is situated in a picturesque town in Southern California. 

"Bart’s Books is a beautiful outdoor bookstore where you can sip lemonade in the courtyard surrounded by a maze of bookshelves, play a game of chess in the shade or read a short story under the apple tree," writes travel and lifestyle blogger Messy Nessy Chic. 

14. Corso Como, Milan, Italy. 

This gorgeous bookstore, named one of the 10 most beautiful in the world, doubles as a flea market and is sure to keep everyone entertained. 

"Corso Como is a wonderful low profile high-end fashion, café, bookstore, and art hub in one of the nicer parts of Milan," a fan of the store writes on Yelp. "If you're not careful you can walk right past this place, but when you enter into its gates you know you are in for an experience."

15. Barter Books, Alnwick, UK. 

This shop used to be a train station, and miniature trains still go around the shelves. The architecture, which includes rounded ceilings and decorative lighting, is stunning. 

"The books range from such categories as paperback and fiction, poetry and plays, history, philosophy or women studies to crime, biography, business and economics and even such topics as transport, maritime, gardening, needlework, etc.," according to bookstoreguide.org.

"Barter Books also has open fires in the winter, a station buffet with a menu made up of home-made and/or locally sourced food (both hot and cold) and speciality coffees and teas, and a children's room filled with toys," according to the guide. 

16. Prairie Lights, Iowa City, Iowa. 

This bookstore is next door to the University of Iowa's famous Writer's Workshop, a program with famous alums including Kurt Vonnegut. 

"Owned by a pair of poets, the shop features 40,000 titles leaning heavily toward fiction, travel, children’s, and—no surprise—poetry," writes Travel & Leisure magazine. 

17. Boulder Books. 

This eclectic bookstore is known for its indie vibes and knowledgable staff.  It's also a hub for famous authors' readings and book signings. 

"Despite its size, Boulder Bookstore has the feel of that around-the-corner gathering place that is a favorite to frequent, linger, read, visit and shop," writes CBS Denver. 

Authors who have visited in the past include Christopher Moore, Joyce Carol Oates, Deepak Chopra, Garrison Keillor, Jon Krakauer, Mitch Albom, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Prachett, and Sherman Alexie.

18. Powell's Books, Portland, Oregon. 

This former car dealership takes up an entire city block and boasts more than 1 million titles. 

"The sixty-eight-thousand-square-foot space is divided into nine color-coded rooms, which together house more than 3,500 sections," writes Poets & Writers. "From the moment you walk in, it feels as if you could find anything there."

SEE ALSO: Photos From This Year's Outrageous Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

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These days women have a new choice when it comes to birth control: their smartphones.

Using a fertility-tracking app like Kindara can help a couple get pregnant or avoid pregnancy. Kindara has helped more than 30,000 women get pregnant so far. CEO William Sacks says the company recently got curious about the thing that makes them pregnant: sex.

So he and his team analyzed 1.5 million bits of data that app users collected about their sexual activity over the last 22 months and discovered some surprising insights.

The most popular time of the year for sex is right now. The winter holidays.

This also explains why Sept. 16 is the most common day for babies to be born, Kindara says.

The weeks around Christmas and the New Year are by far the most popular time of year to have sex...

Americans work notoriously long hours compared to most of the developed world. 

But some states are busier than others. 

To find out which state's residents put in the longest hours, Business Insider took a decade's worth of data (2003 to 2013) from the American Time Use Survey and calculated the length of the average workday of survey respondents who reported spending any time at work, in all 50 US states. 

Here are the ones the work the hardest:

• North Dakota: 8 hours, 2 minutes per day

• New Mexico: 7 hours, 49 minutes per day

• West Virginia: 7 hours, 49 minutes per day

• Hawaii: 7 hours, 45 minutes per day

• Georgia: 7 hours, 43 minutes per day

• Alabama: 7 hours, 42 minutes per day

• Virginia: 7 hours, 41 minutes per day

• Wyoming: 7 hours, 41 minutes per day

• Arkansas: 7 hours, 40 minutes per day

• Texas: 7 hours, 37 minutes per day

Perhaps surprisingly, North Dakota tops the list.

As The Washington Post has pointed out, a few factors make the average workdays in this upper Midwestern state especially long: 

• North Dakota is the center of the American shale oil boom, creating tons of wealth and work. Oil jobs starting at $100,000 have created boomtowns across the state.

• Loads of (mostly male) oil workers have flocked to North Dakota, where they work super long hours before retiring in "man camps" in the evening. 

• At less than 700,000 people, North Dakota has the third-lowest population of US states, making the average easier to swing. 

But all that work doesn't seem to have taken a toll on well-being. Interestingly, North Dakota is also the happiest state in America. 

SEE ALSO: What Life Is Like In North Dakota, America's New Happiest State

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Lingerie company Dear Kate has a new approach to what type of support women need when it comes to intimate apparel. 

Founder and CEO Julie Sygiel developed underwear with a "silky soft, patent-pending fabric" that is wicking, stain releasing and leak resistant.

Using the same technology, she's created the first ever line of yoga pants designed to be worn without underwear.

Produced by Sam Rega. Additional camera by Alana Kakoyiannis.

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Iceland is a place of surreal beauty. 

The incredible landscape of the island is staggering. Most of the country is an uninhabited moonscape of craters, bright green moss, towering glaciers, volcanoes, hot springs, and fields of lava rock. 

It is so other-worldly that it is often the backdrop in sci-fi films. Iceland was the inspiration for Tolkien’s stories and is sometimes even used as practice for moon-landings. 

Plus, the people are really, really nice — and I should know since I'm from there.

Here are just a few reasons why Iceland is the most wonderful country on Earth.

1. Because in the mid-1970s Iceland built a geothermal power plant, and accidentally created one of the most visited places in the world: the Blue Lagoon. 

Spillover water from the geothermal power plant created pools in the surrounding lava fields, and when people began to swim in those waters they found that it would heal skin ailments, so they opened it to the public.

2. Because “The Journey To The Center Of The Earth” begins in Iceland. It might be a fictional Jules Verne novel, but you can go to the actual place — it’s called Snæfellsjökull. 

3. Because Icelandic children save Puffins. 

Every August, millions of newborn puffins leave the cliffs of the Westman Island to fly over the north Atlantic. But many will get distracted by the lights of the town of Heimaey and wind up on the streets, so people of the town will scoop them up and take them to the seashore to put them back on the right track. Over the years, it has become a special activity for children.

4. Because Icelanders believe in “hidden people” that live underneath rocks.

It is said that the often-harsh landscape of Iceland inspired the stories of hidden people. While this may seem like a strange belief, it is actually used most often to halt new construction developments, which helps to conserve the natural landscape of the country (seriously!).

5. Because there are thousands of waterfalls throughout the country. Iceland is home to the most powerful waterfall and the largest waterfall complex in Europe. 

6. Because the most famous restaurant in the country is a small hot dog stand in downtown Reykjavik. 

Hot dogs from Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur are basically the national dish of Iceland — not fermented shark. 

7. Because it is the land of the midnight sun. 

To celebrate the summer’s midnight sun, Iceland holds a music festival in Reykjavik called Secret Solstice. The sun doesn’t set during the three day festival. 

8. Because downtown Reykjavik looks like a wonderland of different candy-colored houses. 

9. Because Iceland is ranked as one of “the happiest places on earth,” by the World Happiness Report. It is also ranked as the world's friendliest country. 

10. Because it is so safe that the Icelandic police publicly apologized last year for killing someone for the first time in its history.

11. Because the Icelandic police also have a great sense of humor and a very silly Instagram account.

A photo posted by Lögreglan á höfuðborgarsvæðinu (@logreglan) on Oct 10, 2014 at 1:03pm PDT

12. Because Iceland is a volcanic island that is constantly growing.

13. Because the terrain of Iceland is so different and vast that it also has the largest desert in Europe. 

14. Because they still speak Icelandic, which is a language that has been largely unchanged for over a thousand years. In fact, Icelanders today can still read the ancient Sagas. 

15. Because it is called the best country in the world for women. For six years in a row, Iceland has been rated as the country with the world's smallest gender gap. 

16. Because this is the only traffic you will run into. 

17. Because Iceland is the only place in the world where you can take an elevator directly into a volcano’s magma chamber.

18. Because Iceland has never had a military, or entered into a conflict (expect for a brief conflict that was literally called the “Cod War,” and yes it was about fish). 

19.Because it is one of the best places to catch the Northern Lights. 

20. Because comedian Jon Gnarr ran for Mayor of Reykjavik, the capital city, on a joke campaign called the “Best Party” — and actually won. One of his promises was to put a polar bear in the local zoo. 

Plus, he dresses in drag to support the pride parade in Iceland:

21. Because nearly all of the homes are heated by geothermal energy. 

22. Because Iceland has a higher percentage of writers in its population than any other country in the world. Icelanders also published the most books per capita. In 2011, Reykjavik became a UNESCO City of Literature.

23. Because Icelanders understand that their country is dark and cold for a lot of the year, so they have outdoor geothermal heated pools open all year round, regardless of the weather. 

The custom of bathing in hot springs dates back to the Vikings, but today you can find heated outdoor pools scattered all throughout the cities. Icelanders basically treat the outdoor pools like bars — a place where people meet and gossip after work.

24. Because the landscape of Iceland is so lunar-like that both Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong practiced for the moon landing there. 

(Recognize this place? You may have seen it in Interstellar). 

SEE ALSO: 24 Reasons Sweden Is The Most Delightful Country On Earth

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VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a technology that allows you to connect to any private network from whenever you have internet access, from corporate networks to public or hotel WiFi. Connecting through a VPN automatically encrypts your data, hiding it from hackers or identity thieves.

It works by creating a secured group of devices that can communicate anonymously across a public network (the Internet). They're a must-have if you use public WiFi, where you are most vulnerable to attack. Check out this article on Medium to see why.

Use the tools below (thanks to our friends at Stack Commerce) to protect yourself from hackers looking for your information and identity online. 

VPN Unlimited

This 3-year plan of VPN Unlimited means you can surf the web with peace of mind. This plan has unlimited tat usage and works with a high speed connection. It's got severs around the world, too.

Get 70% off the VPN Unlimited Premium Plan for 3 Years ($19)

TigerVPN

Similar to VPN Unlimited is TigerVPN. You can use it to anonymously browse on nearly any device. It's more expensive than VPN Unlimited, at $49 for 2 years, but it boasts a 256-bit encryption and no data cap, plus it works in 40 countries.

Get 72% off 2 Years of TigerVPN ($49) 

BolehVPN

BolehVPN is one of the top VPN providers on the market, using a super secure AES algorithm. Lifehacker praises BolehVPN for the people working behind the scenes, on top of the great technology.

To use BolehVPN you need to have an iOS device with OS 6.1 or later, Androids with 4.0 or later, a Mac with 10.6 or above, or a Windows computer that has XP or above.

Get 31% off BolehVPN for 2 years ($110).

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Google has countless features that we never knew existed– you can set up an alarm in the Google Search, go into space and even play around with LEGOs. 

Produced by Matthew Stuart

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"Home" can mean a wide array of things. Far more than four walls and a roof, home is a sanctuary and a shelter. No two are the same.

And some are more unique than others.

From domes to caves, treehouses to igloos, people across the globe live in unconventional dwellings.

Here are some of the strangest.

This house in Abuja, Nigeria, is partially built in the shape of an airplane. The house was built by Said Jammal for his wife, Liza, to commemorate her love for travel.

Source

The Heliodome, a bio-climatic solar house near Strasbourg, Eastern France, is designed as a giant three-dimensional sundial, set on a fixed angle in relationship to the sun's movements. It is built to provide shade during the summer months, keeping the inside temperature cool. During Fall, Winter and Spring, sunlight enters the large windows as the sun's position is lower in the sky, thus warming the living space.

Liu Lingchao, 38, carries his makeshift dwelling as he walks along a road in Liuzhou, China in 2013. Five years ago, Liu decided to walk back to his hometown Rongan county in Guangxi from Shenzhen, some 462 miles away, where he once worked as a migrant worker. With bamboo, plastic bags and bed sheets, Liu made himself a five feet wide, six and a half feet high "portable room," weighing about 132 lb, to carry with him as he walked more than 12 miles a day.

After more than five years and more than 600 million views, YouTube superstar Bethany Mota's legion of fans have gotten to know her pretty well.

But when we caught up with Mota at the IGNITION 2014 event she revealed two things her fans might be surprised to learn about her.

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What happens when you combine the faces of 400 CEOs? 

A startling picture of just how similar, and pale, our modern leaders are.

SumoCoupon, the money-saving coupon company, used the face-manipulation software Psychomorph to "average" the faces of 400 executives in 10 different industries, from nonprofits to entertainment to transportation. They also averaged the age and income of CEOs in each industry. 

Some of the results are to be expected (e.g., startup CEOs are about 15 years younger than the rest), while others are more surprising (female leaders in politics seem to have shorter hair than the other women).

See the images below.

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You don't have to finish the bottle just so it won't go bad. These three devices will help you keep your wine 'fresh' for a few days longer. Thanks to Town & Country Magazine.

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