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Jun 30, 2021An impactful day

We"ll be the ones to drop the news on you: It"s Asteroid Day! Today you"re invited to explore a realm of science usually encountered only through white-knuckle action flicks: asteroid impact avoidance, or the study of what the heck we do if we spot a big chunk of space junk hurtling right at Earth. That"s right, don"t worry: People somewhere are coming up with plans for this.Desktop Version

Dec 19, 2022Northern cardinal in winterberry bush

This scarlet winterberry shrub is the perfect hiding place for the northern cardinal. What better spot for singing in the winter holidays? Winterberry is a deciduous holly that"s native to North America and can be a modest shrub or a tree reaching up to 15 feet. The yellow and green flower clusters that bloom in spring give way to bright red berries in winter.Desktop Version

May 31, 2023World Otter Day

Watching sea otters playing in the water is always a treat. But while they look cute, these furry critters are also the top predators in their food chain, "otterly" vital to keeping ecosystems in balance. Sea otters eat sea urchins and without them, sea urchins spread across the sea floor, destroying crucial kelp forests which provide food and shelter for many other aquatic animals. Unfortunately, sea otters are one of five otter species listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Five others are listed as near-threatened and two as vulnerable. Of the 13 otter species worldwide, only the North American river otter’s population is considered to be stable. On the last Wednesday in May, World Otter Day seeks to raise awareness about the threats to otters, and how to protect them.Desktop Version

Oct 11, 2021Indigenous living

Just north of Ketchikan, Alaska, is Totem Bight State Historical Park, a 33-acre space dedicated to preserving elements of the Indigenous Haida and Tlingit cultures of this area. Visitors can walk through the low door of the Clan House to see how families from the tribes once lived. The park also boasts a collection of 14 traditionally crafted totem poles based on 19th-century originals. The order and positions of the symbolic faces on the poles show the progression of a specific story that can be interpreted by those who know how to "read" the carvings.Desktop Version

Dec 12, 2023Poinsettia Day

During the holiday season, poinsettias brighten up homes in suitably festive coloring, serving as symbols of goodwill. December 12 marks National Poinsettia Day, a special occasion to celebrate this holiday favorite. The plant was introduced to the US by Joel Roberts Poinsett, a botanist and former minister to Mexico who died on this day in 1851. Poinsettias can be found growing in the wild from Mexico to Guatemala. The ancestors of the modern, commercially available version have been traced to the Mexican state of Guerrero. The crimson-leaved plant was used by the Aztecs as a red dye and as a fever-reducing medicine.Desktop Version

Oct 24, 2019Bridge of Hillsborough County

The Hancock-Greenfield Bridge (aka County Bridge) has offered a picturesque passage over the Contoocook River in southern New Hampshire since 1937. It was built to replace another covered bridge that had been destroyed in a flood. But why even build a covered bridge? In a word, longevity. The roof and walls help protect the timber supports from rot. For comparison, an uncovered wooden bridge lasts an average of 20 years, while the covered variety can reach 100 years or more.Desktop Version

Feb 24, 2020Wind horses carry wishes for a new year

For the first day of Losar, or the Tibetan New Year, we"re paying a visit to these Buddhist pilgrims at the Ganden Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet. Losar is celebrated for 15 days, but most events occur in the first three days. They include wishing family members a prosperous year, praying at monasteries or temples, exchanging gifts, burning incense, chanting, wrestling, horse racing, and more. Celebrations for the new year end with Chotrul Duchen, or the Butter Lamp Festival. The pilgrims in today"s image are releasing prayer flags called "wind horses" or lungtas, a ritual they perform for Losar and during the rest of the year as well. Upon releasing the prayer flags, the pilgrims ask the mountain deity to "increase their fortune like the galloping of a horse and expand their prosperity like the boiling over of milk."Desktop Version

Aug 23, 2019Harvest time in the Palouse

The Palouse region of the inland Pacific Northwest is an unusually hilly prairie that straddles the state line between Washington and Idaho. Farming seems an unlikely endeavor here, but the land, and the weather patterns, make it ideal for wheat and lentil farming. This time of year, the soft white wheat harvest is on, as the crop turns from green to gold, and for the farmers, from harvest to profit. Before Europeans and early US settlers arrived, the Palouse was occupied by the Nez Perce people, who bred and raised horses with spotted coats—a breed that would eventually come to be known as "appaloosas"—a gradual permutation of the name "Palouse."Desktop Version

Apr 30, 2021The Spirit of Harlem by Louis Delsarte

On International Jazz Day, we"re looking at "The Spirit of Harlem," a glass mosaic mural by artist Louis Delsarte. Located near the legendary Apollo Theater in New York City"s Harlem neighborhood, it depicts, among others, jazz greats Cab Calloway and Count Basie. Originally commissioned in 2005, the mural was covered up in 2017 when a new store moved into its location. After a petition and protests, the retailer worked with Delsarte to restore the mural and add a new plaque dedicating it to the Harlem community. Delsarte, whose other works include a 125-foot-long mural at the Martin Luther King Jr. Natatorium in Atlanta, died in May 2020.Desktop Version

Nov 21, 2021The Great Glen

Was this photo taken in a peppermint forest? This rare and delicate hoarfrost may look like a confectioner"s coating, but it"s just the ice that forms when the Scottish Highlands" fog mixes perfectly with a sharp cold snap.Desktop Version

Jul 5, 2022Fannette Island, Lake Tahoe

Tucked into a tiny bay of a grand alpine lake is this granite bump called Fannette Island, the only island in Lake Tahoe. The massive lake lies in the Sierra Nevada at an altitude of 6,225 feet, straddling the state line between California to the west and Nevada to the east with near perfect symmetry. Fannette Island is in Emerald Bay, on the California side of Tahoe"s southwest shore. A narrow inlet, seen here at the top center of this image, connects Emerald Bay to the rest of the lake, whose natural beauty draws visitors in all seasons of the year.Desktop Version

Jan 17, 2022Martin Luther King Day

Sculptor William "Bill" Tarr created the large, untitled memorial that welcomes students to Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Campus in Manhattan. The steel block features quotations from King and famous phrases from the civil rights movement. It was designed to weather over time, changing in color and texture as it ages. The school was founded in 1975 and is now home to seven distinct high schools, each focusing on a different discipline, including law, technology, and the arts.Desktop Version

Feb 7, 2022Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa, Canada

Today we"re at the iconic Rideau Canal Skateway in Canada"s capital city of Ottawa. Each winter a 4.8-mile section of the canal downtown is converted into the world"s largest—and second-longest—outdoor skating rink. Rideau was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007, and most years this rink section becomes a featured attraction of Winterlude, a free annual festival that usually attracts visitors from across the country for the first three weekends of February.Desktop Version

Oct 10, 2021A shell of many colors

We could perhaps fool you and claim you"re viewing a long-lost Jackson Pollock canvas, but it was Mother Nature who painted this blackfoot paua (aka rainbow abalone) shell. And modern art it ain"t: Fossils from similar marine gastropods date back at least 65 million years.Desktop Version

Jun 21, 2019Ode to the sun

Today marks the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere—the longest day of the year and, for most of us on this side of the globe, the first official day of summer. (Iceland, being Iceland, celebrates the first day of summer in April, an old Viking tradition.) What better way to celebrate this day of sun than with Reykjavik’s Sun Voyager. Though it looks a bit like a Viking ship or maybe a fish skeleton, sculptor Jón Gunnar Árnason created it to be a dream boat and an ode to the sun. Sounds good to us. Join us in celebrating the sun today.Desktop Version

Dec 24, 2022Christmas Eve

This isolated cove on "the Last Frontier" is the least likely place you"d expect to find a Christmas tree decorated from head to toe with lights aglow. Amalga Harbor lies about 15 miles north of Juneau (one of the few coastal state capitals in the US) and shows that the public expression of Christmas cheer knows few limitations–and may include use of a small barge. This photograph was taken from nearby Ernest Gruening State Historical Park, which was named for the former governor of the Alaska Territory. Gruening led the territory from 1939 to 1953 before becoming one of the state"s first US senators when Alaska became a state in 1959. After his political career ended, he and his wife lived in a cabin that was preserved as part of this historic site.Desktop Version

Aug 31, 2018Let’s have a ball

You know a game must be fun if it’s stuck around for eight centuries–and that’s how long folks have been playing lawn bowling (in some form or another). It was the invention of the lawn mower in 1830, allowing for smoothly cut bowling greens, that really popularized the sport. Our homepage features the balls called ‘woods,’ or ‘bowls,’ that competitors use during game play. The objective is to roll the grapefruit-sized balls toward a smaller ball called a ‘jack,’ and points are awarded to the players who come the closest. Fancy a game?Desktop Version

Jan 2, 2024Prayer flags in Phobjikha Valley, Bhutan

This kaleidoscopic column is made up of prayer flags, blowing in the breeze in the Phobjikha Valley, Bhutan. Prayer flags come in five repeating colors representing different elements in nature, blue for the sky, white for air, red for fire, green for water, and yellow for earth. The fluttering fabrics, inscribed with spiritual scripts, are usually raised during times of prosperity, such as on Bhutan"s Nyinlong, their traditional day of solstice, which takes place today. As the flags fade over time, adherents believe this signifies that the prayers have been heard and are being carried away by the wind, infusing the surrounding area with positivity and spirituality.Desktop Version

Aug 28, 2018Class, please take out a No. 2 pencil…

In some parts of the US, students have already returned to the classroom, while others are frantically squeezing the last drops of freedom from summer break as they prepare to start a new school year. One school supply that unites most students is the classic, yellow-coated, No. 2 pencil. For centuries, the pencil was a tool so vital that many would use theirs until only a tiny stub remained. An entire market for various pencil accoutrements existed in the 18th and 19th centuries, including a pencil grip called an ‘extender’ that allowed you to use the last bit of a pencil so as not to waste what was, at the time, a precious commodity. Think of it in terms of all the things you buy to enhance your mobile phone or tablet, and then imagine that the pencil once held equal value as a communication device. (In our hearts, it still does.)Desktop Version

May 8, 2023Arches National Park, Utah

This stunning structure is Delicate Arch, the most famous of 2,000 stone arches scattered around Arches National Park in Utah. It is made up of Entrada Sandstone, the grains of which once formed a massive desert. They were cemented together by minerals, forming sandstone riddled with tiny holes. Over millennia, the rain seeped in and slowly dissolved the rock from the inside, forming these eye-catching sculptures. Most of the arches in the national park are formed from Entrada Sandstone and were once buried by other rock layers. They won"t last forever, but over time, new shapes will emerge from the layers of rock below to replace them. Every year, close to 1.4 million people visit the park to see Delicate Arch and this slowly shifting landscape for themselves.Desktop Version

Sep 25, 2019Chilling out in the Arctic

Surfers from Norway and around the world gather each September in Unstad, a tiny village in Norway"s Lofoten Islands, to compete in the Lofoten Masters, which bills itself as the world"s northernmost surfing competition. Described by some as home to the best surf break in Norway, the island village, where sheep easily outnumber villagers, boasts two surf shops to help both novices and experts prepare for the extreme conditions. And surfing isn"t just a summer sport at this famous beach located inside the Arctic Circle—during winter months, surfers come here for the unique experience of surfing under the aurora borealis.Desktop Version

Jul 16, 2018Instant romance

If you visit the Lost Angeles County Museum of Art, you’ll be able to walk through this art installation made from 202 street lights arranged in a tight grid. Over the course of about 20 years, artist Chris Burden collected 1920s- and ‘30s-era street lights, which he meticulously restored, painted, and installed in 2008 as ‘Urban Light’ at LACMA’s entrance. This year, for its 10-year anniversary, the 309 incandescent light bulbs of the sculpture were replaced with more efficient LED bulbs designed to emulate the soft light of the original bulbs and to reduce harmful emissions.Desktop Version

Dec 16, 2021Dancing in The Nutcracker

If it"s December, then countless dance companies are likely performing "The Nutcracker." The ballet has become an iconic holiday entertainment staple, produced around the world. This photo captures a scene from the 2016 production by the English National Ballet at the London Coliseum. The company has been performing "The Nutcracker" during the Christmas season since 1950.Desktop Version

Jun 3, 2021Get on your bike and ride

In honor of the UN"s World Bicycle Day, we"re at Triglav National Park in Slovenia, with a bird"s-eye view of riders crossing this dubious-looking wooden suspension bridge over the blue glacial water of the river called Soča. Protecting some of the most magnificent mountain landscapes of the Julian Alps, Triglav is the country"s only national park, but it"s a stunner. Running along Slovenia"s northwestern border with Italy, Triglav was first protected as a "conservation park" in 1924, then made a national park in 1981. The park gets its name from the mountain at its heart, Triglav, long considered a symbol of Slovenia and of Slovene identity.Desktop Version

Nov 7, 2022Lunar eclipse

If you missed the first full lunar eclipse of the year back in May, you"ll get another chance tonight as the second blood moon (as lunar eclipses are often called) of 2022 takes to the sky over the Pacific region. Tonight"s display can be seen from Asia, Australia, North America, and parts of northern Europe and South America. If you"re lucky enough to find yourself under a clear sky, the view might look something like this image, taken over Mount Crested Butte, Colorado, during the lunar eclipse of September 27, 2015.Desktop Version

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