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White Desert National Park, Egypt
White Desert National Park, Egypt
Snow, in the desert? Not quite. Today we"re in Egypt"s White Desert, which gets its colorful name from an abundance of chalk, limestone, and quartz rock formations that give the sand its special hue. Tourists flock to this place to see these naturally occurring structures, honed over thousands of years into unique shapes through a process known as differential weathering. Located about five hours to the southwest of Cairo, White Desert National Park is a lot more than just deteriorating rocks—it"s also a protected refuge for several endangered animal species.Desktop Version
I am the walrus
I am the walrus
This herd of gentle giants is bobbing in the waters of the Svalbard archipelago, roughly midway between continental Norway and the North Pole. Walruses spend more than half their day in the water, masterfully foraging for clams and other marine organisms. The rest of the time, they hang out on ice floes, the males and females huddled separately, taking a break before diving in for more food. Walruses launch from the ice to eat, making the floating blocks an important part of their survival. With the effects of climate change increasing, Arctic ice is melting, posing an existential threat to the ancient pinnipeds.Desktop Version
Friendship Day in the City of Brotherly Love
Friendship Day in the City of Brotherly Love
What better place to celebrate Friendship Day than in the heart of Philadelphia–specifically, Love Park (aka John F. Kennedy Plaza), home of Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE sculpture. If you’re thinking to yourself that you’ve seen this sculpture before–but in New York or maybe Chicago?--you’re not wrong. It’s a popular piece that’s been reproduced dozens of times, even in different languages. In fact, you’ll find an AMOR sculpture not far from here, just outside of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Desktop Version
Ministry of Fun Santa School
Ministry of Fun Santa School
If Kriss Kringle himself stood among this lineup of rigorously trained substitute Santas, you"d never know it: These certified Saint Nicks have done their ho-ho-homework. They"re students of the Ministry of Fun Santa School—each year the Ministry of Fun trains dozens of "Father Christmases" (as Santa Claus is known here in London). Skilled in the art of helping Santa to be in many places at once, Santa School graduates will soon be in demand at department stores across jolly England.Desktop Version
Cumberland Island National Seashore
Cumberland Island National Seashore
Along the southernmost stretch of Georgia"s Atlantic coast are several barrier islands, and Cumberland is the largest. The US National Park Service (NPS) protects 9,800 acres of the island"s wilderness, a place where, as the NPS says, nature and history meet. Human occupation on Cumberland Island touches on numerous milestones in the story of America.Desktop Version
International Rock Day
International Rock Day
International Rock Day, on July 13, celebrates these hardy heroes, which have played a big part in human history since at least the Stone Age. They served as humanity"s first tools and as nature"s journals, protecting ancient fossils and documenting changes caused by geological processes.Desktop Version
Classical music takes center stage
Classical music takes center stage
We"re looking at the West–Eastern Divan youth orchestra rehearsing for a performance in the BBC Proms. The Proms (short for promenade concerts) is an annual music festival held in London over eight weeks from July into September. The first Proms took place on August 10, 1895 in the Queen’s Hall in Langham Place, London. After the Queen"s Hall was destroyed by a bomb during the Blitz, the Proms moved here to the Royal Albert Hall in 1941. This year marks the 125th festival and includes 150 concerts and educational events. While the focus is on classical music, the Proms in the Park event closes out the season with performances from Barry Manilow, Chrissie Hynde, and other pop artists.Desktop Version
Dunes at White Sands National Park, New Mexico
Dunes at White Sands National Park, New Mexico
Today"s image features the dazzling beauty of White Sands National Park, New Mexico—a surreal expanse of glistening white gypsum dunes, the largest of its kind on Earth. Spanning more than 145,000 acres, these ever-shifting dunes rise up to 60 feet tall, creating a landscape not seen in many places. This park isn"t only a natural wonder but a historical treasure, with fossilized human footprints dating back as far as 23,000 years, some of the oldest in North America.Desktop Version
Llama Day
Llama Day
Prick up your ears and crane your neck—it"s National Llama Day. Part of a family that includes camels, alpacas, and guanacos, llamas have long been domesticated in South America because of their hardiness and ability to thrive on the bleak vegetation in the mountains and plateaus of the Andes. At up to 6 feet tall and weighing up to 400 pounds, they were used primarily as pack animals for about 6,500 years. They were also bred as a source of food, hides, tallow for candles, dung for fuel, and fabric. While inferior to alpaca and guanaco wool, llama fleece is soft, warm, durable, and fairly lightweight. It"s used for clothing, rugs, and rope.Desktop Version
Maldives
Maldives
Heart-shaped islands are more common than you might guess and can be found at many latitudes and longitudes. This one in the archipelago nation of the Maldives is hard to top for its beauty. A flight over this tropical gem might make for the most memorable Valentine"s Day ever.Desktop Version
Celebrating Panama s independence
Celebrating Panama s independence
What do you get when you cross historic feats of engineering with unmatched natural beauty? Answer: This photo of a suspension bridge in a rainforest. Or more generally: Panama, where the photo was taken.Desktop Version
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter!
Humans have been decorating eggs for Easter for centuries, but decorated ostrich eggs have been found from as far back as 60,000 years ago, long before the Christian festival began. The Easter egg has long been a symbol of fertility and rebirth, but exactly why people started decorating them is unclear. One theory is that, because animal products were not eaten during the religious Lenten season, people would hard-boil the eggs and decorate them with dye and wax, until they could be eaten at Easter. A more opulent type of decorated egg, Fabergé eggs, were famously created as bejeweled Easter gifts to the Russian imperial family. Our homepage image shows eggs from Lithuania, where people use traditional methods to paint patterns with wax using sharp objects or etch patterns into dyed eggs.Desktop Version
National Lighthouse Day
National Lighthouse Day
Happy National Lighthouse Day! A beacon, a warning, and a symbol of hope and home, lighthouses have existed for thousands of years. The earliest known was the Pharos of Alexandria, which stood an estimated 330 feet tall. Built by the ancient Egyptians in the 3rd century BCE, an open fire was lit at its highest part to guide ships into port. Illumination technology advanced over the centuries, culminating in today"s electric versions beaming light that can be seen from over 20 miles away. North Carolina"s Bodie Island Lighthouse, pictured here, was built in 1872 and overlooks a section of ocean once known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Since then, it"s been doing its best to outshine the stars above, as it guides sailors home to safe harbor.Desktop Version
National Napping Day
National Napping Day
It"s tiring losing that hour of sleep as the clocks "spring forward," so let"s relax for a while with these champion nappers, in Tanzania"s Serengeti National Park. One of the most spectacular wildlife ecosystems on the planet, the park is home to rhinos, leopards, elephants, giraffes—and a huge lion population. The grassland here is dotted with rock formations that stick out like islands, the largest of which, the simba kopjes, are popular hangouts for lions and are said to have inspired Pride Rock in "The Lion King." In the heat of the Serengeti, lush trees provide the perfect shelter for lions to take a nap and reenergize. We hope you are as cozy as you curl up and recuperate on National Napping Day.Desktop Version
Porto Cathedral, Portugal
Porto Cathedral, Portugal
Perched on a hilltop overlooking the Douro River, the Porto Cathedral is one of the best-known monuments in Porto, Portugal’s second-largest city. Built in the 12th century, this Roman Catholic church has an eclectic architecture style that combines Romanesque and Gothic influences with later Baroque additions. The space inside the cathedral is artfully decorated with blue and white azulejo tiles, which showcase some scenes from the Bible. Tiles like these are found throughout Portuguese cities, on apartment buildings, churches, and public buildings.Desktop Version
Jazzed for Mardi Gras
Jazzed for Mardi Gras
To celebrate the Big Easy"s enduring legacy of music, we"re in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans for Fat Tuesday. As Carnival season culminates today with Mardi Gras celebrations throughout the city, this historically black neighborhood adjacent to the French Quarter will come alive with the music of jazz bands like the one depicted here. The sculptural profile of a traditional marching brass band marks one entrance to Louis Armstrong Park, a community space honoring New Orleans" musical roots with a 12-foot statue of its jazz legend namesake, as well as other art pieces depicting iconic NOLA musicians.Desktop Version
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, China
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, China
The Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, in China"s Heilongjiang province, begins today with all the spectacle and fanfare you"d expect from the world"s largest festival of its kind. Big, bold, and beautiful, the event features more than 2,000 ice sculptures made from 240,000 cubic yards of ice collected by nearly a thousand workers from the nearby Songhua River. Many of the sculptures are illuminated with colored lights, creating a vibrant, glowing world of ice. It"s estimated the colorful sights attract more than 18 million visitors each year. The event, which runs through late February, also features alpine skiing, cold water swimming in the aforementioned Songhua, as well as a festive ice lantern show.Desktop Version
The largest American bison around
The largest American bison around
Emerging from a stand of trees in the Northwest Territories of Canada comes a wood bison, the larger of the two subspecies of the American bison. (The plains bison is the other type). The wood bison once numbered in the tens of thousands, roaming the chilly boreal forests and open meadows in northwestern Canada and parts of Alaska. But by the early 1900s, these majestic animals, as with their cousins to the south, were driven almost to extinction by hunting, disease, and habitat loss.Desktop Version
Lobster tales
Lobster tales
It"s peak lobster season in Maine, and colorful wooden buoys like these are marking lobster traps (or "pots") along the state"s coastline. Each lobsterman or woman has a unique color and pattern to their buoys, and designs are frequently passed down through generations. When not being put to use, lobster buoys are often hung from the sides of barns and sheds—they"re an iconic sight in coastal Maine.Desktop Version
A light on National Hispanic Heritage Month
A light on National Hispanic Heritage Month
Today marks the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month, a holiday to recognize the vital contributions made by Hispanic and Latino people living in the United States. Why does National Hispanic Heritage Month begin on September 15 and not at the start of the month? The date was chosen because September 15 marks the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries—Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras—places from which many Latin Americans in the US and their ancestors have immigrated. The monthlong celebration is marked with events throughout the country, from an annual festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to ceremonies within all branches of the US military.Desktop Version
Christmas market at Belvedere Palace in Vienna
Christmas market at Belvedere Palace in Vienna
Christmas markets win the holiday trifecta: You can buy interesting, often handcrafted gifts, they are set in picturesque, romantic towns and villages in Europe, and they tempt you with mulled wine and local delicacies. What"s not to like? Christmas markets, or "Weihnachtsmärkt," are one of Europe"s oldest Advent events.Desktop Version
World Sea Turtle Day
World Sea Turtle Day
Happy World Sea Turtle Day! Today people around the world gather to clean beaches and help animals like this hawksbill sea turtle thrive. The largest populations of hawksbill sea turtles are found in the Caribbean, Indian, and Indo-Pacific Oceans but you"ll find sea turtles in every ocean, except the Arctic and Antarctic.Desktop Version
Sandhill cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
Sandhill cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge
Hey, don"t judge. Migrating takes it out of you! Yes, these sandhill cranes are sleeping on their feet in the waters of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in southern New Mexico. The birds start arriving around Halloween each year, and as many as 10,000 of them will stay to rest and feed in local fields until February. What"s on the menu? Well, sandhill cranes aren"t picky; they"ll eat whatever"s available, from plants and grains, to insects, snails, and even snakes. And they have plenty of avian company at this beautiful refuge each winter—whooping cranes, ducks, and snow geese from as far away as Alaska and Siberia also count Bosque del Apache as a favorite resting spot before heading north to their breeding grounds when the days get warmer. Thankfully, there"s plenty of room to spread their wings at the 57,000-acre refuge.Desktop Version
Kagami-ike, Nagano, Japan
Kagami-ike, Nagano, Japan
This serene Japanese landscape is reflected in the still waters of an artificial reservoir known as Kagami-ike, meaning ‘mirror pond." Surrounded by lush greenery and the Togakushi Mountain Range in Nagano Prefecture, Kagami-ike emerges from the morning mists to create an enchanting spectacle. During the cherry blossom season, visitors walk among sakura petals that float along the breeze while, in autumn, they can enjoy its surrounding orange and yellow foliage. This secluded spot is a wonderfully peaceful place for mindful meditation and self-reflection.Desktop Version
Blue Lagoon spa, Grindavík, Iceland
Blue Lagoon spa, Grindavík, Iceland
Let"s be frank here, the origin of today"s beautiful picture is a pool of wastewater from a nearby geothermal plant. While that may not sound enticing, Iceland"s Blue Lagoon is one of the country"s most-visited attractions. The trick is to not get stuck on the "waste" part of wastewater. The water here is clean, always hovers around 100° F, and is enriched with tons of silica—which is what makes it blue—and sulfur, thanks to the plant"s processes. Those minerals, along with a little algae, are believed to combine into a highly beneficial tonic for skin and overall well-being.Desktop Version