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Feb 15, 2020
Whales in winter
Wintertime brings large numbers of humpback whales to the icy waters off the Norwegian coast, where they feed on herring and krill—and delight whale watchers with powerful leaps, tail-slaps, and glimpses into their underwater world. Male humpbacks are famous for their haunting songs, which can last up to 20 minutes and be heard over great distances underwater. Scientists aren"t sure why exactly the males sing these ballads, but some theorize it"s related to courtship. That sounds romantic enough, but ladies take note—the humpback isn"t one to settle down. It"s a migratory animal that swims up to 16,000 miles a year, traveling from southern breeding grounds to Arctic waters like these.
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Feb 14, 2020
Two rocks and a heart spot
If you really want to earn someone"s affections, fly them to Corsica, rent a car, and take a drive on the only road that cuts through the red volcanic rocks of Calanques de Piana. Some call the naturally occurring rock formation in today"s Valentine"s Day photo "the two lovers," while others call it "the heart of Corsica." (Spot the heart?) Like most affairs of the heart, the path to this geological valentine is circuitous—it"s a winding road, sometimes too narrow to share with oncoming vehicles (the occasional pullovers help). Our vantage point may be a good spot for you to pull over, especially if it"s sunset, to see the rocks aglow as the sun creeps west toward the horizon.
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Feb 13, 2020
Midwinter freeze
Abiqua Falls in Oregon is a beautiful example of a basalt column amphitheater. Over 90 percent of all volcanic rock is basalt, but only a small fraction of it forms into the hexagonal columns that you see here. When molten lava hits the atmosphere, rapid cooling causes it to contract into these characteristic columns. It"s just part of what makes Abiqua Falls so spectacular.
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Feb 12, 2020
Wake up, it s Darwin Day
On Charles Darwin"s birthday, we celebrate Darwin Day—and, of course, there"s no better place to do that than the Galápagos Islands. Darwin is best known for his theory of evolution by natural selection, which he published in his 1859 book "On the Origin of Species." During his travels to the Galápagos Islands years earlier, Darwin observed creatures that were similar from island to island but had slightly different adaptations to better survive in their specific environments. This became a key component of his research. The islands are home to thousands of unique species, including this Pinzon Island tortoise, which we see hatching from an egg at the Charles Darwin Research Station.
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Feb 11, 2020
Celebrating women in science
For the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we"re visiting the Great Barrier Reef with oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle. This photo is from the 2014 documentary film "Mission Blue," which follows Earle, a legendary marine biologist, environmentalist, and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. The film focuses on Earle"s campaign to create a global network of protected marine sanctuaries. Sometimes called Her Deepness, Earle has made immense contributions to science over her career. From leading groundbreaking research in deep ocean science to becoming the first female chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Earle is recognized as one of the world"s preeminent oceanographers.
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Feb 10, 2020
This park is Superkilen
The half-mile-long linear urban park called Superkilen was designed to inspire residents and visitors to congregate together in Nørrebro, one of Copenhagen"s most culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhoods. What was once a public space battling gang activity, graffiti, and vandalism, is now an example of "extreme public participation." The people who live around Superkilen helped design it, adding cultural objects that represent their homelands—more than 60 countries.
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Feb 9, 2020
Hollywood s big night
It"s Oscars night in Tinseltown, and we"re offering you a moment"s escape from the paparazzi to gaze over the glittering megalopolis of Los Angeles—and to get an unfamiliar view of a familiar landmark. The Hollywood Sign originally read "Hollywoodland" when it was erected in 1923 and festooned with light bulbs to advertise a real estate development. But within a few years, as the silent-film era gave way to "talkies," the sign evolved into a popular tourist attraction. Falling into disrepair in ensuing decades—at the peak of its decay, the sign was missing its third "O" altogether—the original was demolished and a sturdier version built in 1978.
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Feb 8, 2020
Lanterns alight in Pingxi
Today"s Lantern Festival marks the final day of Lunar (aka Chinese) New Year celebrations, which began back on January 25. The day of the festival is filled with dancing, firecrackers, children"s games, and food. Nighttime brings a quieter, more thoughtful way to start the new year. After sundown, celebrants may gather at a designated area to light and release paper lanterns into the dark sky. Many think of the lantern as symbolic of the "old you"—and by letting the old you go, the past is released and you can start the new year fresh. This multiple-exposure composite image shows the trail of "sky lanterns" as they"re ascending over Pingxi, a district in Taiwan.
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Feb 7, 2020
Frozen fun in the Canadian cold
Not far downriver from Montreal, where the banks of the St. Lawrence River widen as it approaches the Atlantic, lies Quebec"s picturesque and often chilly capital. Quebec City, one of the continent"s oldest European settlements, is often called the most European city outside Europe. It"s the only North American city outside Mexico whose fortified walls still stand, and its winding streets showcase a French-tinged exemplar of old Romantic architecture (typified by the steep-roofed Château Frontenac in the photo"s foreground).
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Feb 6, 2020
A hint of spring
Native to Western Europe, and especially popular in Great Britain, snowdrops are the bulb you"ll want to plant if the cold, drab landscape of winter gets you down. These small bulbs bloom very early—sometimes as soon as January—and are commonly associated with the promise of spring. But plant enough of them, or come across a naturally occurring patch, and it can look like a light dusting of winter snow has coated the ground. Need a little hope to get you through this last stretch of winter? Look no further than the lovely snowdrop.
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Feb 5, 2020
Frozen beauty
Located on the North Saskatchewan River, Abraham Lake is an artificial lake and Alberta"s largest reservoir. Even though it"s man-made, it takes on the blue color of other glacial lakes in the Rocky Mountains. In winter, the lake draws nature photographers interested not just in the wildlife and spectacular landscape, but also the lake"s odd appearance when it freezes over. Bacteria on the lake bottom feed on dead organic matter and release the methane bubbles you see here. When the surface water freezes, the bubbles get trapped, creating a photographer"s dream. They may be beautiful, but these frozen bubbles can be dangerous because they"re highly flammable. If you happen to be lighting a match nearby, you"ll want to watch out or the released methane could explode. The bubbles aren"t so friendly to the environment, either; methane in the atmosphere is a major part of global greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change.
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Feb 4, 2020
Rock of ages
We"re here at Sigiriya, or Lion Rock, in Sri Lanka, for the South Asian nation"s Independence Day, celebrated annually on February 4. Sigiriya towers 600 feet off the ground, jutting dramatically out of the heart of this island country and serving as a formidable monument to the past. The king of Sri Lanka himself, King Kashyapa, who ruled from 473 to 495 CE, once made this the site of his new capital. He ordered that his palace be constructed atop the rock and about halfway up, he had a large gateway carved into the side of the outcropping in the shape of a lion (hence the name). His fortress was abandoned when he died, and the site later served as a monastery. These days it"s a tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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Feb 3, 2020
The moai you know
Roam around tiny, remote Easter Island and you"ll find almost 900 of the stern stone faces called moai. They seem ancient as the pyramids, even a little alien, but they were actually sculpted between 500 and 800 years ago from compacted volcanic ash that"s as terrestrial as it comes. You"re seeing six of the 15 moai that stand on Ahu Tongariki, the largest ahu (stone platform) on the island. These statues were toppled in the 18th or 19th century along with other moai island-wide for reasons not fully known to scholars, though earthquakes or possible tribal infighting are postulated. The statues were later buried by a tidal wave and lay in ruins until the 1990s, when they were excavated and placed back on the ahu.
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Feb 2, 2020
Hut, hut, hike!
Meerkats, also called suricates, are highly social animals that enjoy playing together and grooming each other. Members of the mongoose family, they live in mobs (yes, that"s what a group of meerkats is called) of 20 to 50 individuals that work together and share underground burrows to stay cool in the African heat.
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Feb 1, 2020
Mapping courage in the Seventh Ward
To mark the beginning of Black History Month, we"re visiting a highlight of Philadelphia"s famous Mural Mile. The larger-than-life figure depicted on the left in this mural is W.E.B. Du Bois, trailblazing scholar, sociologist, author, and co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It was here, in Philadelphia"s Seventh Ward neighborhood during the late 1890s, that Du Bois conducted a detailed study of an African American community. He used methodologies—including detailed data visualizations—that were decades ahead of his time, mapping out every household and documenting the challenges that residents encountered as they tried to achieve success and happiness in the decades after Reconstruction and the dawn of the Jim Crow era.
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Jan 31, 2020
Dance of the egret
They say, "Dance like nobody"s watching," but here in Florida, this reddish egret could very likely have an audience of birders. The species has a reputation for bold, energetic feeding behavior that can resemble a frenetic dance. As it stalks its prey in shallow water, the reddish egret is prone to prance, stagger, and leap, while strategically positioning its wings to block the glare of the sun and boldly stab at fish. It"s one of many species that make Florida a year-round delight for birdwatchers.
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Jan 30, 2020
The Pearl of Siberia
Russia"s Lake Baikal is a record-holding wonder: It"s the world"s oldest (25 million years), deepest (over 5,000 feet in some parts), and largest freshwater lake (more than 20 percent of the Earth"s fresh surface water by volume). Baikal lies in the deepest continental rift on Earth, and because the rift is geologically active, the tectonic plates continue to move farther apart.
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Jan 29, 2020
Staircase of turquoise pools
While it"s snowy and cold in much of the Northern Hemisphere this time of year, December and January are popular months to visit Guatemala, where the skies are clear, but everything is still green and lush from autumn rains. Nestled in the Guatemalan jungle, Semuc Champey is a hotspot for adventurous tourists. Its name means "where the river hides under the stones" in Q"eqchi", a Mayan language spoken by local communities.
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Jan 28, 2020
US Coast Guard: Protecting us for 105 years
In recognition of the modern US Coast Guard, formed on this day in 1915, we"re featuring the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, one of many lighthouses managed by the USCG. How did Cape Disappointment get its name? A British fur trader in 1788 mistook the mouth of the Columbia River for a bay and was disappointed because his ship couldn"t pass due to the river"s shallow bar. Many ships would eventually sink in these dangerous waters, but this lighthouse has warned off countless others since it was lit in 1856, making it the first lighthouse in the Pacific Northwest. Most of the lighthouses in the US have been built and maintained by the US Coast Guard and its predecessors.
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Jan 27, 2020
Thomas Edison s bright idea
On January 27, 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for an electric lamp using "a carbon filament or strip coiled and connected to platina contact wires." This wasn"t exactly the first light bulb, but it was the first practical and inexpensive one, a key technological innovation that introduced a new era. To mark the day, we"re looking at the bright lights of New York City and its surrounding area, as seen from the International Space Station.
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Jan 26, 2020
It s Republic Day in India
For India"s 70th Republic Day, we"re featuring an uncommon view of the Taj Mahal in Agra. It"s on this day that India celebrates its official beginning as an independent democratic republic after having endured nearly a century of British rule. Republic Day events include presentations of the Padma Awards (national service honors), a Republic Day parade in New Delhi, and other ceremonies.
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Jan 25, 2020
Happy New Year! (Again!)
For the first day of the Chinese New Year, we’re showing the southern fortification of the Xi"an City Wall as it was decorated and lit up for last year"s lunar new year party. The south gate was rebuilt in 2014 and is often used to stage the fireworks show that rings in the Chinese New Year, which falls between late January and early February. Why a different new year celebration date? It comes down to the sun versus the moon: While the widely used Gregorian calendar is based on the Earth"s rotation around the sun, the lunar calendar is marked by the phases of the moon. So, the Gregorian new year always falls on January 1, while the lunar new year date moves around from year to year. Either way, we"re excited to have another excuse to throw a party.
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Jan 24, 2020
Sunlight sets Iceland s Eyjafjallajökull aglow
This is the sun-soaked ice cap of Iceland"s Eyjafjallajökull. Remember the name? It"s that unpronounceable volcano that made you miss your connecting flight back in 2010. That eruption and the vast ash cloud it belched over the North Atlantic was the biggest disruption to air traffic since World War II. And this relatively small but volatile island may yet waylay the world again: Eyjafjallajökull is a lightweight among the 32 active volcanic systems dotting the Land of Fire and Ice—its much larger neighbor Katla has been closely monitored since the 2010 incident.
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Jan 23, 2020
Across the great plains of Africa
This time of year, from late January to early March, babies arrive on the Serengeti. At the height of the wildebeest calving season, thousands of calves are born every day. Moments after birth, these youngsters can walk, and in just a few days, they"ll be able to run fast enough to keep up with the herd. That"s a good thing. Calving season isn"t just a draw for safari tourists wanting a front row seat at the start of the circle of life, but also for predators like lions, cheetahs, and hyenas on the hunt for easy prey.
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Jan 22, 2020
A horse of many colors
Whitehorse, Yukon"s only city and the largest in northern Canada, will have just seven hours of daylight today, but nature has a way of compensating for this injustice. The area enjoys frequent and spectacular light shows, thanks to the aurora borealis. The mechanics of northern lights are still not fully understood, but scientists agree that solar winds—big pulses of energy from our sun—pass through the Earth"s magnetic fields, especially at the polar regions, resulting in shimmering colors.
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