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A courtyard scene from Spain
A courtyard scene from Spain
For centuries people have lavishly decorated the courtyards of Córdoba, in southern Spain"s Andalusia region. Here in the San Basilio neighborhood of the city’s old town, the densely packed whitewashed houses look out onto courtyards and patios embellished by hanging flowerpots and trailing plants. The sculpture on today’s homepage, by artist José Manuel Belmonte, pays homage to the caretakers who pass along the tradition.Desktop Version
An improbable tribute for Towel Day
An improbable tribute for Towel Day
"Space," Douglas Adams observed in his comic sci-fi novel "The Hitchhiker"s Guide to the Galaxy," "is big. Really big. You just won"t believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you might think it"s a long way down the road to the chemist, but that"s just peanuts to space." So, in his fictional universe, Adams invented the Infinite Improbability Drive as a way to cross its vast distances in a nothingth of a second. And, in one memorable passage, to convert two approaching nuclear missiles into a bowl of petunias and a sperm whale. Thus, today"s image of the Earth"s largest toothed whale is our tribute to Adams on the 20th annual celebration of Towel Day (it"s surprisingly difficult to find a really great image of a bowl of petunias).Desktop Version
Mont-Saint-Michel
Mont-Saint-Michel
Rising majestically out of the bay, Mont-Saint-Michel is once again a true island, at least during high tides. A crude, elevated causeway built in the 19th century once connected Mont-Saint-Michel to the mainland, allowing visitors to walk across to the spectacular rock. But in 2014, the causeway was removed and replaced by an elegant, curving bridge above the tidal flats. Now water flows freely around the monument at high tide, making the tiny island fortress a real island for the first time in more than a century.Desktop Version
Birds of the Drömling
Birds of the Drömling
Common cranes (aka Eurasian cranes) often gravitate to wet open fields, bogs, and marshes. This flock is congregating in the Drömling wetland in Germany. The most widely distributed of all the 15 species of cranes, its native range covers a wide swath of Europe and Asia, with the largest breeding populations in Russia and Scandinavia. As winter approaches, common cranes make the long journey south, often in large flocks of about 400 birds, to North Africa or parts of southern Europe and Asia in search of more civilized temperatures.Desktop Version
Merry and bright
Merry and bright
Germans began decorating Christmas trees with candles as far back as the 1700s, but people wouldn"t begin stringing trees with electric lights until the late 1800s. Thomas Edison created the first practical incandescent lights and used them to decorate his Menlo Park laboratory for Christmas in 1880. Then three years later, the vice president of Edison"s company, Edward H. Johnson, had Christmas tree bulbs especially made, which he used to decorate the tree in his New York City home. Nevertheless, electric lights didn’t catch on as a holiday decoration among the general public until 1895, when President Grover Cleveland asked that the White House Christmas tree be illuminated by hundreds of multicolored electric bulbs.Desktop Version
Hut, hut, hike!
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.Desktop Version
Happy Star Wars Day!
Happy Star Wars Day!
Sprinting over the sands, this grey seal reminds us of Luke Skywalker"s zippy landspeeder vehicle from the first "Star Wars" flick. But unlike Luke, it"s not bound for Tosche Station to pick up some power converters—just to the sea for a fishy snack.Desktop Version
Mount Logan in Yukon, Canada
Mount Logan in Yukon, Canada
Today we"re visiting Canada"s tallest mountain, the 19,551-foot-high Mount Logan, which is part of the St. Elias Mountain range. Located in Yukon, the smallest and westernmost of Canada"s three territories, this majestic peak is also the second tallest in North America—only Alaska"s Denali is taller.Desktop Version
Birds of a feather
Birds of a feather
Today is World Migratory Bird Day in Latin and South America, so to honor the occasion we"ve chosen these flamingos, rising above the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela. Changes in daylight hours and food availability can trigger seasonal migrations in many bird species, including flamingos. American flamingos like these will migrate relatively short distances, usually to ensure a steady food supply. Found mainly throughout the Caribbean, their range extends as far north as southern Florida.Desktop Version
Native American Heritage Month
Native American Heritage Month
Here in the Volcanic Tablelands near Bishop, California, is Sky Rock, a set of ancient petroglyphs that face the heavens. The volcanic rock formations of this area have made it a premier rock-climbing destination. But long before sport climbers flocked here, it was (and still is) home to the Paiute-Shoshone peoples, who are thought to have created these petroglyphs and many others throughout the tablelands.Desktop Version
Cheese! We ll go somewhere where there s cheese!
Cheese! We ll go somewhere where there s cheese!
Ahh, the pastoral countryside of the Yorkshire Dales in Northern England. Dewy mornings, grazing farm animals, hand-built dry stone walls, and…cheese? Well, if you"re a fan of the beloved British claymation series "Wallace & Gromit," you may have first heard of this area of the Dales, Wensleydale, because of its local cheese. In fact, the animated duo"s notorious affinity for the local curd—which Wallace likes because producers thought saying it makes his face look "nice and toothy"—became so widespread that it helped the Wensleydale cheesemakers stave off bankruptcy.Desktop Version
A red knot on the Shetland Islands, Scotland
A red knot on the Shetland Islands, Scotland
This little bird with its 20-inch wingspan weighs about as much as a stick of butter, but it has the stamina of an Olympian. Each fall, red knots are known to fly more than 9,000 miles from the Arctic to South America–and in the spring, they do the journey in reverse, for a roundtrip of more than 20,000 miles. The most famous red knot, known as ‘Moonbird,’ is so named because the total of its known migrations have exceeded the distance to the moon. Moonbird was first banded in Rio Grande, Argentina, in 1995 and has been sighted many times in the years after–amazing scientists and birders alike.Desktop Version
Happy 800th, Salisbury Cathedral
Happy 800th, Salisbury Cathedral
We"re in the English county of Wiltshire to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Salisbury Cathedral—the towering marvel of Early English Gothic design rising behind these contentedly grazing sheep. The massive church"s first foundation stones were laid here in Salisbury—then called New Sarum—on April 28, 1220. The structure itself dates back even further, the bulk of it having been moved over a mile piece by piece from the former Roman stronghold of Old Sarum.Desktop Version
This view is brought to you by…
This view is brought to you by…
Hocking Hills State Park, for National Public Lands Day. Hocking Hills is a 2,356-acre park in southern Ohio offering over 25 miles of hiking trails that pass by unusual rock formations, recess caves, and stunning waterfalls. This is Upper Falls, at one of the park"s most popular hiking destinations, Old Man"s Cave. This huge recess cave, as the legend goes, was named for a hermit who lived here in the 1800s. Then there"s Devil"s Bathtub, Conkle"s Hollow, and Rock House—sites worthy of a visit for their names alone, though the scenery won"t disappoint.Desktop Version
Punakaiki on South Island, New Zealand
Punakaiki on South Island, New Zealand
This portion of New Zealand"s South Island coast features plenty of strange geology. The Pancake Rocks, so named due to the stacked, flat layers of sediment and stone, were once underwater. As the Tasman Sea receded, the unusual rocks became the Punakaiki region"s shore. Erosion created openings along the cliffs called "blowholes." When the tide comes crashing in, water sprays up through the openings, and if you"re standing too close, you"ll get soaked.Desktop Version
Happy anniversary to the National Park Service!
Happy anniversary to the National Park Service!
On the National Park Service"s Founders Day, we"re here on the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona peering out at the stunning vista. Can you see the rectangular hole in the canyon wall near the top of the image? That"s Angels Window. Brave hikers can make their way up to the trail above it, but the window itself is best viewed from various points along the North Rim. Far down below is the Colorado River. Beginning about 6 million years ago, it gradually carved downward through countless layers of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rock. The Colorado and its tributary streams continue to deepen and widen the Grand Canyon even today.Desktop Version
Why you should thank a nurse today
Why you should thank a nurse today
Artist Tristan Eaton created this mural, "Now & Forever," as part of a big thank you to nurses and other medical personnel during National Nurses Week last year in New York City. At the time, the city was the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, and an army of nurses, doctors, and other hospital staff delivered critical care under dire conditions. Now a year later, nurses continue their vital work of providing care for the residents of New York and everywhere else. National Nurses Week is observed annually from May 6-12 to honor the crucial role that nurses play in health care—as if we needed any reminder of that after the year we"ve had. Still, we invite everyone to thank a nurse this week for their skill, professionalism, grit, and warmth. Our debt to them is deep.Desktop Version
Looking down upon Edinburgh
Looking down upon Edinburgh
We"re kicking off festival season in Edinburgh, Scotland, with this view of the capital city from Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park. Throughout the month of August, the city is hosting a staggering number of music, theater, opera, dance, and other types of performances as part of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which is the world"s largest international arts festival.Desktop Version
Antarctica Day
Antarctica Day
The most isolated continent in the world is hands down the polar desert that is Antarctica, the coldest, driest, and windiest continent on Earth. Inhospitable as it sounds, Antarctica, which lies almost completely below the Antarctic Circle, is also a place of stunning beauty as evidenced by this image of Paradise Harbour, aka Paradise Bay, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctica is also extraordinarily vulnerable to the effects of climate change, worth remembering today on Antarctica Day, which marks the anniversary of the signing of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. The international agreement protects Antarctica as a scientific preserve.Desktop Version
From Sputnik to extraterrestrial storms
From Sputnik to extraterrestrial storms
NASA’s solar-powered Juno probe took this photo of a massive storm near Jupiter’s north pole. Juno’s been collecting data and taking incredible photos of Jupiter since 2016, showing us detailed evidence of the turbulent atmosphere surrounding the largest planet in our solar system.Desktop Version
An underwater rainbow
An underwater rainbow
You might look twice if you passed by this Technicolor sea creature gliding through the ocean water. In celebration of World Octopus Day, we"re marveling at a photograph of the rarely seen blanket octopus, near Palm Beach, Florida. The blanket octopus gets its common name from the sheets of webbing that stretch between some arms of the female, like the one pictured here. When threatened, it spreads out its arms, creating a blanketlike silhouette to intimidate would-be attackers.Desktop Version
Happy Bee Day to you
Happy Bee Day to you
If flowers are the starring cast of nature"s big spring show, then bees are the crew. Honey bees are always buzzing in the background, pollinating not only our photogenic petaled friends, but also food crops that make up a third of humans" diet. But when seen in front of the camera, they"re hardly bee-listers: Today"s pollen-coated photo subject was certainly ready for her close-up.Desktop Version
The Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland
The Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland
Throughout history, humans have crafted legends to explain natural phenomena that defy our understanding. A prime example is the Giant"s Causeway in Northern Ireland where some 40,000 basalt columns spring from the ground at the shore. Scientists tell us these columns developed 50 to 60 million years ago, when lava erupted from volcanic fissures, then cooled and contracted, cracking into hexagonal structures.Desktop Version
Castle Frankenstein in Darmstadt, Germany
Castle Frankenstein in Darmstadt, Germany
To celebrate Frankenstein Day, aka the birthday of writer Mary Shelley, we bring you this moody photo of Frankenstein Castle at Darmstadt, Germany. A man named Johann Dippel lived here once, and is said to have been involved in attempts to reanimate body parts of the deceased. Sound familiar? That may be because Dippel’s life is thought to have influenced the creation of the novel ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley. While scholars debate the real-life inspirations, we do know that Shelley was just 19 when she crafted the story, essentially written on a dare made by poet Lord Byron. While spending a rainy summer on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, Shelley (nee Godwin), her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Byron, all decided to try writing ghost stories. Mary Shelley outdid them all by creating the well-known story of the mad doctor who brings the dead back to life. Her book is often cited as the first true work of science fiction.Desktop Version
What s better than a smile?
What s better than a smile?
How about two smiles? Some would say there"s plenty to be glum about these days, but to help you grin and bear it, we"re sharing this pic of a pair of hyacinth macaws in Brazil"s Pantanal region as they say "cheese" for the camera.Desktop Version