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Oct 24, 202075 years of the United Nations

We"re looking at the New York City skyline with the UN"s headquarters in the middle for United Nations Day, marking the anniversary of the date when the UN Charter entered into force. This year is a milestone 75th anniversary of the United Nations, which replaced the League of Nations as the world"s largest and most powerful intergovernmental organization. To mark the occasion, the UN launched its UN75 global dialogue initiative in January, and discussions have taken place around the world in settings ranging from classrooms to the UN General Assembly. COVID-19 has made some of these events a logistical challenge, but it"s also highlighted the need for countries to work together to face global issues. The UN website allows anyone to participate, with tool kits for dialogue, issues briefs, and other resources.Desktop Version

Jan 24, 2021These patterns tell a story

Is it possible for an article of clothing to express the essence of an entire people? Well, not usually, but for the Indigenous Guna people of Panama, the colorful handwoven textiles seen here may be an exception. Molas, which means "clothing" in the Guna language, are traditionally displayed on both the front and back of women"s blouses. Even today, many Guna women prefer to wear them instead of modern attire. The textiles often feature abstract geometric patterns, as well as images from nature such as turtles, flowers, birds, and fish. Guna women of yesteryear were known to paint their bodies with those same geometric patterns and designs, and by the late 1800s they had begun weaving them onto cloth instead of painting themselves. Today, the production of molas is still generally done by women, who use an intricate process called reverse appliqué, where as many as seven layers of fabric are sewn together to form a panel, which is then hand-cut to create the vibrant designs.Desktop Version

Mar 2, 2022Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier is the crown jewel of its namesake national park, designated March 2, 1899, by President William McKinley. It was just the fifth national park in the United States. Beyond the mountain, the 369-square-mile park also includes valleys, waterfalls, old-growth forest, and pristine alpine meadows famous for summer wildflowers.Desktop Version

Aug 27, 2021Yabba-Dabba-Doo!

This rock-solid house in the Fafe mountains of northwest Portugal looks like it could be the home of a modern Stone Age family. Known locally as Casa do Penedo (House of the Rock), its prehistoric appearance has drawn comparisons to the Flintstones" dwelling in the fictional town of Bedrock. But the secluded stone structure on our homepage is very much real—it was built as a rural retreat in the Portuguese countryside in the 1970s. The building is sandwiched between four boulders that serve as the foundation, walls, and ceiling of the house, blending in as part of the beautiful natural landscape.Desktop Version

Sep 24, 2018Mooncake time

In ancient China, moon worship was tied closely to fertility and the harvest. So the full moon that happened closest to the fall equinox became the holiday now called Mid-Autumn Festival, also called Moon Festival by some. Originally a celebration of the harvest and a plea to the gods for rains to ensure a good harvest next year, the festival has become a more secular bit of autumn fun, with children and adults alike eating sweet mooncakes, lighting lanterns, and giving thanks for all they have. Really, they had us at ‘mooncake.’Desktop Version

Nov 8, 2018Manatees rebound

We’re in Florida’s Blue Spring State Park for Manatee Awareness Month. As winter approaches, Blue Spring becomes a safe harbor for manatees, aka sea cows, looking for warmer inland waters. It’s also a protected area for the manatees, where they can eat and swim without fear of injury from boats. In fact, researchers identify many of the manatees in Blue Spring by the scars they bear from accidental boat collisions and motor blade cuts. Identifying individual manatees has been crucial to tracking the population rebound of this once endangered species. A 2016 census of manatees in Florida’s springs counted 6,250 of the large, surprisingly graceful beasts.Desktop Version

Aug 22, 2018Summer’s in home stretch

When people talk about the ‘dog days of summer,’ they’re referring to the sultry, hot days of the season that sometimes seem to stretch on forever–just like those long legs on the star of today’s homepage. This is a maned wolf, also known as a ‘fox on stilts,’ and it’s the largest species of canid in South America. As a canid, it belongs to the same family as the domestic dog, wolf, and coyote, and we think it makes a fun spokescritter for summer’s ‘dog days.’Desktop Version

Oct 31, 2020Twas a night just like tonight

In the late 18th century, a wealthy landowner built an estate in County Antrim in what is now Northern Ireland. To make a scenic but imposing entryway, he had 150 beech trees planted on either side of the road (90 trees survive). The trees grew to form the Dark Hedges—an arboreal tunnel leading up to the property. In the right conditions—say a gloomy autumn night with the moonlight casting shadows through the tree canopy—this road can be a little spooky.Desktop Version

Oct 28, 2018Do spirits haunt the Gardens of Versailles?

That’s not a ghost in our homepage picture; it’s just a statue (at least, we think it is). But it’s easy to imagine ghosts wandering the vast gardens here at the Palace of Versailles, about 12 miles outside of Paris. One ghost in particular has a reputation for showing herself. In 1901, on a sultry August afternoon, two visitors to the Gardens of Versailles claimed to have witnessed the gardens magically transform to their 18-century grandeur. Then, they said, they encountered the ghost of Marie Antoinette, whom they spotted calmly lounging and drawing in her sketchbook. The queen of course had been guillotined a century earlier. The story was later adapted as an opera, which debuted in 1991.Desktop Version

Jul 3, 2019Keep calm and drive on (slowly)

Following its winter closure due to heavy snowfall, the Transfăgărășan in Romania is now open for business. Also known as the DN7C highway, the road cuts through the Făgăraș Mountains, offering stunning views of waterfalls, glacial lakes, and lush valleys—plus steep drop-offs and hairpin turns to amp up the drama. Back in 2009, Jeremy Clarkson, co-host of the British TV show "Top Gear," called this twisty route the "best road in the world," which helped turn it into a major tourist draw. The Transfăgărășan reaches elevations just shy of 6,700 feet and has more tunnels and viaducts in its 55 miles than any other road in this mountainous country. But proceed with caution. The speed limit is a sensible 25 mph. And watch out for herds of sheep that use it as a path to greener pastures, and don"t mind blocking traffic as they amble there.Desktop Version

Jul 4, 2020Happy Independence Day!

Across the United States on July 4, we celebrate the adoption on this day in 1776 of the Declaration of Independence, one of the best break-up letters ever written. In this pronouncement, the Second Continental Congress put Great Britain on notice that the 13 American Colonies were no longer subject to its rules or rulers and were forming a new country, the United States of America. Declaration signers, recognizing the importance of the moment and the message, anticipated that generations later, we would remember and celebrate "from one end of this continent to the other." The celebration we"re looking at here is at the National Mall in Washington, DC, with fireworks rising above the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, and reflected on the Potomac River.Desktop Version

Apr 29, 2020Spring comes to 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 soil and weather patterns make it ideal for growing certain crops, especially wheat and lentils. This time of year, when the wheat and barley crops are young, the hills brighten to fresh shades of green.Desktop Version

Jul 24, 2021Can you see the family resemblance?

In honor of Cousins Day, we"re hanging out on a limb with these four Javan tree frogs in Indonesia. Tree frogs are smaller than your average terrestrial frogs because they spend the majority of their lives perched in trees, and their weight must be fully supported by twigs and leaves. At the rounded ends of their froggy fingers and toes are disc-shaped adhesive pads that help them to maneuver about on trees. While most tree frogs (there are 800 species all over the world!) are green, brown, or gray, these Javans are bright and colorful. This is so they can blend into their jungle environs and avoid notice by predators such as snakes, spiders, bats, and owls.Desktop Version

Sep 25, 2018Walking among the giants

Sequoia National Park was founded on this day in 1890, and while the park’s 128 years is nothing to sneeze at, some trees in the giant sequoia grove had called this home for thousands of years before they were given the protection of a national park. The Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park is where General Sherman, the largest tree in the world, stands. It is estimated to be 2,300 to 2,700 years old—a silent witness to both natural and human history. By the time Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa ‘found’ the Pacific Ocean in 1513, General Sherman had been growing for more than 1,500 years.Desktop Version

Nov 7, 2021Mack Arch Rock

Much of the Oregon coast is characterized by colossal rock formations, known as sea stacks, jutting dramatically out of the Pacific. The sea stacks you see here run next to a grassy promontory in the southern part of the state that overlooks a mostly inaccessible stretch of coastline.Desktop Version

Sep 28, 2018Southern right whales sail home to South Africa

Each year during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter and early spring months (June through November), southern right whales migrate from the far Southern Ocean near Antarctica to the coast of South Africa to mate and calve. Their tendency to swim in shallow waters near the shore—and their curiosity around boats—delight tourists here, and has made the town of Hermanus, South Africa, an international whale-watching hot spot. The town even employs its own ‘whale crier,‘ who sounds a horn when a sighting is made. Today marks the start of the Hermanus Whale Festival, a celebration of these mighty migrants.Desktop Version

Nov 11, 2018Poppies for Armistice Day

This is part of ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red,’ an art installation created by Paul Cummins and Tom Piper to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of World War I. Crafted of thousands of ceramic poppies, the touring exhibit has been seen by more than 4 million people in 16 locations around the United Kingdom. One large section of the installation, ‘Wave,’ is currently at the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, England, which is where our image was photographed. We’re showing it today to honor Armistice Day, the day exactly 100 years ago when the Allied Forces and Germany signed an armistice that ended the war. The US renamed the holiday Veterans Day in 1954 to honor veterans of all its wars. To the roughly 20 million veterans in the US today–thank you.Desktop Version

Feb 7, 2023Village of Labro, Italy

Join us for a journey to a tiny Italian village about 40 miles northeast of Rome. Labro, which covers about 4.4 square miles, was founded sometime between the 9th and 10th centuries and was assigned to a powerful aristocratic family by Emperor Otto the Great. Perched atop a wooded hill, the Nobili-Vitelleschi castle originally served to secure the border and control communication routes in the valley below.Desktop Version

Mar 11, 2021Welcome to the drainpipe of the Pacific

We are standing here on the craggy Oregon coast looking out to Thor"s Well with the help of a photographer"s telephoto lens. Only the most daring of visitors would get this close to the gaping sinkhole at high tide. One misstep combined with a forceful surge from the raging Pacific Ocean, and into the plunging well we"d go.Desktop Version

Oct 27, 2018Don’t get lost in there

Look closely at today’s homepage picture and you might spot some adventurous folks searching for the way out of this elaborate corn maze in Northern California. Corn mazes—known as ‘maize mazes’ in the UK—are a popular fall-time tradition that allows for much creativity. A Massachusetts farm draws visitors to its Tom Brady tribute maze, designed to look like the Patriots quarterback throwing a football. And a farmer in Illinois built a 6.5-acre maze shaped like a vintage Indy 500 race car. We’re still holding out for a corn maze inspired by search engines. Anyone game?Desktop Version

Sep 4, 2019Social climbing

March 2019 saw the opening of a structure called "Vessel" that overlooks the Hudson River in New York. "Vessel" is a 16-story, honeycomb-looking staircase that’s meant to be climbed. Its 154 flights of stairs are interconnected, much like Indian stepwells, which lent inspiration to designer Thomas Heatherwick. Not to worry. For those who would rather skip the 2,500 steps, they can reach the top via elevator.Desktop Version

Jul 3, 2020Dog days of summer

The weather is warmer, and the days are longer, which can only mean one thing—the dog days of summer have arrived. These Cape foxes are helping us celebrate the dog days with their frolicking in the Kalahari Desert. They may not be the kind of "dogs" you typically think of, but Cape foxes are from the same family (Canidae) as the pooches you know and love. Partly to escape the heat in the desert scrubland it prefers, the Cape fox is most active just before dawn or after dusk, commonly spotted during the early mornings and early evenings.Desktop Version

Jan 20, 2022Penguin Awareness Day

Let"s hear it for our poster penguin on Penguin Awareness Day. This cheerful specimen is an Adélie penguin, a species commonly encountered along the coasts of Antarctica this time of year. Breeding season for these birds begins by October, when they gather in colonies of thousands, coupling off and constructing nests made of stones.Desktop Version

Jan 10, 2022Ski touring in Austria

The High Tauern mountain range above the Austrian spa town of Bad Gastein is one of many regions around the world that attract brave ski-touring enthusiasts, like the three skiers crossing the ridge here. Ski touring is a sport for only the most skilled athletes since it usually involves navigating remote alpine territory and climbing with mountaineering gear, generally without removing your skis.Desktop Version

Oct 3, 2024Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India

Let"s explore the Taj Mahal, on the banks of the Yamuna River in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. This ivory-white marble mausoleum was commissioned in 1631 by Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, to honor his late wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.Desktop Version

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