Photo of the Day: Emergency Rescue
One of two people rescued from a sailboat, right, uses a line to make his way onto the beach on Willoughby Spit in Norfolk after they were rescued from the boat that foundered in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. A rescuer, left, waits for the second person to exit the boat. (Bill Tiernan/TheVirginian-Pilot) Click photo to zoom.
Inside Aisha Gaddafi’s Palace
Aisha Gaddafi: Claudia Schiffer of North Africa. Aisha Gaddafi, daughter of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and director of the Libyan Waatassimou Charity association, attends the end of the 6th international women’s Koran reading competition in Tripoli August 30, 2010. Continue reading »
Sun Rising Over the Bubble
At first glance this may appear to show a sun rising over a distant planet. But on closer inspection it becomes apparent that Richard Heeks’ macro photographs are simply bubbles glistening in the sun. The 38-year-old from Exminster, near Exeter, says: “Sometimes I stand back and just watch a bubble as it hangs in the air. I walk around it, admiring it, and I see how the light plays on it. And sometimes I photograph a bubble and see things I didn’t expect to see. I didn’t realise these bubbles would look like planets until I caught one or two good ones and then looked at them carefully on the camera screen.” Who needs the Hubble Telescope when you’ve got the Bubble Telescope? (Richard Heeks / Barcroft Media)
‘Drool in the Pool’ Day in Kansas
Savannah Pearce plays with her dog Sabali during the Pooch Plunge at the Lawrence Aquatic Center in Lawrence, Kan., Monday, Aug 22, 2011. Dogs are allowed in the pool the day after it closes for the season. (Orlin Wagner / AP) Continue reading »
Photo of the Day: Deepwater Dweller
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released this photo, taken in 2002 about one mile deep near a huge underwater volcano near Monterey Bay, which shows this strange marine animal, thought to be a new species that has yet to be described or named. It is a type of mollusk, called ‘nudibranch’, that sheds its shell early in life. Scientists think there are millions of species, like this one, that have yet to be named or even discovered. (NOAA)
Lemurs Beat the Heat with Frozen Fruit
A pair of ring-tailed lemurs enjoy frozen watermelon for lunch at the Bioparco Zoo in Italy on Aug. 21. Due to very high temperatures over the past few days, zoo staff have provided animals with extra portions of frozen fruit to help them cool down. (Giorgio Cosulich / Getty Images) Click image to zoom.
Monkeys Play Soccer at the London Zoo
The Bolivian squirrel monkeys played with a toy soccer ball as photographers snapped away at the London Zoo in England on August 18. The zoo has a total of 22 squirrel monkeys, with 5 babies having been born in 2011. Male monkey Bounty has fathered eleven baby monkeys in the last three years since his arrival, enough to make up a football team. His latest offspring named Rolo was the eleventh and arrived last month. (Ben Stansall / AFP – Getty Images) Continue reading »
One of the Most Beautiful Places in America

(creative commons / jkdevleer04)
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is a United States National Lakeshore located along the northwest coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan in Leelanau County and Benzie County. The park covers a 35-mile (60-km) stretch of Lake Michigan’s eastern coastline, as well as North and South Manitou Islands. This northern Michigan park was established primarily because of its outstanding natural features, including forests, beaches, dune formations, and ancient glacial phenomena. The Lakeshore also contains many cultural features including the 1871 South Manitou Island Lighthouse, three former Life-Saving Service/Coast Guard Stations and an extensive rural historic farm district. Continue reading »
Photo of the Day: Dangerous Kiss
A python regius inspects the head of a bunny on August 17, 2011 in Leipzig, eastern Germany, during a photocall to promote the “Hund & Heimtier” pet fair. Organisers of the fair running from August 20 to 21, 2011 expect among others about 5,000 dogs to be presented. (PETER ENDIG/AFP/Getty Images) Click image to zoom.
Colombian Tigrillo Cat Found in Medellin, Colombia
Medellin, Colombia: A domestic cat nurses a baby margay (Leopardus Wiedii) in a pet shelter. The baby margay, locally known as tigrillo, was found in the suburbs and taken to the shelter were it could be fed by the surrogate mother until it is released back to the wild. Continue reading »
The Scarecrow Festival in Kettlewell, England
A scarecrow dressed as the former News International Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks, and another made from corks and dressed as a bartender stand as part of the annual scarecrow festival in Kettlewell, England. (Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images) Continue reading »
The Cat Scan
Famous and absolutely amazing ‘The Cat Scan’ Tumblr reborn! Got a cat? Got a scanner? Scan your cat and send a scan to ‘The Cat Scan’. Continue reading »
Photo of the Day: Wooded Walk in Nepal
A Nepalese devotee walks to a temple to offer prayers on the occasion of the Janai Purnima festival, or Sacred Thread festival, in Kavre district, 28 miles east of Katmandu, Nepal, Aug. 13. On Janai Purnima, Hindus take holy baths and perform their annual change of the Janai, a sacred cotton string worn around their chest or tied on the wrist, in the belief that it will protect and purify them. (Laxmi Prasad Ngakhusi / AP) Click image to zoom.
Small Wonders in the Water
The Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition puts a spotlight on the world’s best pictures of small wonders in fields ranging from biology to materials science. To whet your appetite for the next crop of winners, Nikon has put together a summertime selection of eight photomicrographs of aquatic subjects.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water … here’s a picture of the pectoral fin of a whitespotted bamboo shark embryo (Chiloscyllium plagiosum). The image was captured by the University of Cambridge’s Andrew Gillis using stereomicroscopy with fiber-optic lighting. (Dr. Andrew Gillis / University of Cambridge) Continue reading »
Spy Games: Images from the Secret Stasi Archives
Spies from former communist East Germany demonstrate the art of disguise by donning fur wigs, fake mustaches and dark glasses in a Berlin exhibition of recently uncovered and once highly classified photographs. German artist Simon Menner, who put together the exhibition “Pictures from the Secret Stasi Archives,” said it should show how something that seems harmless, such as these images that could be shots from a spy film spoof, can harbor danger. Continue reading »


























