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A view from the top
A view from the top
The Aiguille du Midi in eastern France is one of many peaks in the Mont Blanc massif, an Alpine range that stretches across the border into Italy and Switzerland. In 1909, an aerial tramway was proposed to take tourists from Chamonix, the valley town below, to the top of the Aiguille du Midi—a plan finally realized in 1955. The cable cars and viewing platform were upgraded most recently in 2012, and a new feature called ‘Step into the Void’ was added. It allows tourists to stand in a glass room jutting out from the mountain and look down through the glass floor with more than 3,000 feet of free air under their feet.Desktop Version
Lionfish off the coast of Indonesia
Lionfish off the coast of Indonesia
Native to the waters of the Indo-Pacific region, the 12 recognized species of lionfish all sport venomous spikes in their fin rays. Their wild coloration acts as a warning to predators: Eat at your own risk. But across the eastern seaboard of the United States, there’s a campaign encouraging humans to eat lionfish. Why? Because at some point in the 1990s, one or more species of lionfish was introduced to the waters of the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico. The invasive lionfish will eat nearly anything they can, and as a result, are decimating native fish populations. Would you eat a lionfish? (Properly prepared, of course.)Desktop Version
In praise of the pipes
In praise of the pipes
International Bagpipe Day invites musicians to get out and play their pipes—anywhere, and for anyone. We’re guessing that the distinctive roof of the Sydney Opera House is off-limits to most, but these pipers are members of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, an infantry battalion in the Royal Regiment of Scotland, and surely that comes with privileges. It’s commonly believed that bagpipes originated in Scotland, but evidence suggests that the instrument may have first been played in the Middle East some 3,000 years ago. That’s right, the piping tradition predates tartans and kilts.Desktop Version
Siblings that play together…
Siblings that play together…
It"s Siblings Day, "a day to honor, celebrate and memorialize all brothers and sisters, and the bond that is forever a special gift," according to the Siblings Day Foundation. Though it"s not a federal holiday in the US, 49 states have issued proclamations recognizing Siblings Day (come on, California!). Relationships between siblings can, of course, be complicated, whether you"re looking as far back as Cain and Abel or as recently as the Kardashians" latest spat. But siblings also share a unique bond. These male lion cubs in Kenya"s Samburu National Reserve embody both sides of the relationship as they playfully wrestle. Chasing and tackling each other, they"re also developing strength, coordination, and mental and social skills—just like you and your siblings might have.Desktop Version
The otherworldly red river
The otherworldly red river
The Rio Tinto, in Andalusia, Spain, gets its strange color from dissolving iron deposits in the highly acidic water. Beginning more than 5,000 years ago, this area was mined for gold, silver, and other treasures. And archeological evidence suggests that about 3,000 years ago this may have been the site of King Solomon’s legendary mines. Scientists believe that pollution from the mines contributed to the extreme ecological conditions we see in the Rio Tinto today.Desktop Version
Visiting a Maratha fortress
Visiting a Maratha fortress
To celebrate India’s independence on Republic Day today, we take you to Rajgad Fort near Pune, India. In the 17th century, this fort near the west coast of India was the capital of the Maratha Empire. Today it’s the reward for a long hike to the top, where some visitors opt to spend the night—a sprawling relic of India’s history, Rajgad Fort is worth exploring for more than a day.Desktop Version
Spring blooms in the Netherlands
Spring blooms in the Netherlands
With tulip fields in bloom across the Netherlands, like this one in the Duin- en Bollenstreek (Dune and Bulb) region, we"re flinging ourselves into spring for the month-long Amsterdam Tulip Festival. Since the days of ‘tulip mania’ in the 1600s, the Dutch have remained wild about the colorful perennial, which was first cultivated in Persia in the 10th century. Visitors to the Amsterdam Tulip Festival this month can see the blooms at more than 85 locations throughout the region. The biggest and most famous displays will be at Keukenhof outside Amsterdam, which this year is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its public tulip beds. This "Garden of Europe" is one of the world"s largest flower gardens with 800 varieties of tulips and more than 7 million flowering spring bulbs each year. But don"t tarry, while the flower power is strong here, tulip season doesn"t last long.Desktop Version
Nazar amulets, Goreme National Park, Cappadocia, Turkey
Nazar amulets, Goreme National Park, Cappadocia, Turkey
If you’re superstitious, you’re likely to recognize these eye-shaped amulets, called nazars, from Turkey. They’re said to ward off the ‘evil eye,’ a curse of misfortune that’s cast by a malevolent glare. These nazars decorate the branches of a tree in Georeme National Park in the Cappadocia region of Turkey, a landscape known for unusual rock formations and extensive underground cities built during the Byzantine era. The dwellings protected residents from hostile invaders, who may or may not have delivered evil curses.Desktop Version
A look at Uranus, seventh planet from the sun
A look at Uranus, seventh planet from the sun
British astronomer William Herschel first observed Uranus on this date in 1781, though the planet didn’t get its name for nearly another 70 years. Uranus was named after the Greek god of the sky—but has become the "butt" of many middle-school jokes. (Sorry, we couldn’t resist.) The planet, along with Neptune, is considered an ‘ice giant,’ with most of its mass made up of a hot, dense fluid of ‘icy’ materials including water, methane, and ammonia all hovering above its small, rocky core. It’s the methane that makes the planet appear blue—the chemical compound absorbs red light from the sun and reflects the blue light back into space. Not only is it cold out there, but it’s also a little lonely. Uranus can’t support life as we know it, and the unmanned space probe Voyager 2, which took this photo, is so far the only spacecraft to fly by.Desktop Version
Sanday Island and the North Sea, Scotland
Sanday Island and the North Sea, Scotland
Scotland’s Orkney Islands—or simply Orkney as the locals call the chain of islands—sit in the windswept waters of the North Sea. Sanday is one of the 20 inhabited islands of this 70-island archipelago. Tides and winds constantly batter the shore, gradually changing the coastline. Sandy beaches can extend inland or the shore can be eroded and washed away to the sea. Of course, it might take decades or longer for these changes to become noticeable. In the meantime, the sheep that graze the fields of Sanday probably don’t mind, just as long as there’s grass to nibble.Desktop Version
High above the reef
High above the reef
If we could dip down below those happy little clouds, we’d be on the bright blue waters of the Caribbean. And if we could dip down farther, below the surf, we’d be greeted by the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second-largest coral reef on Earth (after the Great Barrier Reef). This barrier reef system stretches for nearly 700 miles, from the northern tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras. It’s home to one of the world’s largest manatee populations, and also to a fair number of the world’s largest fish: the whale shark.Desktop Version
Step into the dark
Step into the dark
We"re on the Isle of Skye, a fitting locale to celebrate the beginning of International Dark Sky Week, and not just because of its name. The Isle of Skye is one of several parts of Scotland that are set aside as Dark Sky parks, where the lack of artificial light makes stargazing a spectacular event, with or without a telescope.Desktop Version
March of the flowers
March of the flowers
Our photo today captures the blaze of color from California brittlebush, poppies, and a variety of other flowers that signal the arrival of spring to Lost Dutchman State Park, just east of Phoenix, Arizona. March is usually when wildflowers in the Arizona deserts begin to bloom, and Lost Dutchman is a great place to get a dose of the colorful display. If you’re wondering what the name of the park is all about, take our homepage quiz to find out who the Lost Dutchman was…Desktop Version
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan Province, China
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan Province, China
The nearly 12,000-acre park was established in 1982 and is part of the larger Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area. A visit to Zhangjiajie can seem like a visit to a mythical world. The local fauna only add to the park’s mystique, for among the stealthy inhabitants of this unusual ecosystem is the clouded leopard, a rare wild cat that is considered an evolutionary link between smaller cats, such as the lynx, and the big cats like lions and tigers.Desktop Version
Sunbeams across Tartu County, Estonia
Sunbeams across Tartu County, Estonia
Tucked between Lake Võrtsjärv and Lake Peipsi, Tartu County, sometimes called Tartumaa, is mostly forests and wetlands with some farmland. But away from the woods and wetlands, the city of Tartu is a bustling university town with a reputation as an intellectual haven.Desktop Version
Next stop, Tofino
Next stop, Tofino
Gray whales migrate between their feeding grounds and breeding grounds each year. North Pacific gray whales wisely spend the winter at their breeding grounds in the warm waters off the Baja California Peninsula. Then, by mid-March, as the whales return north, they pass by the west coast of Vancouver Island, near Tofino, en route to their summer feeding grounds in the Bering Sea. Tofino, an outdoorsy retreat on Clayoquot Sound, provides a breathtaking backdrop for whale watchers this time of year. After the whales have passed through, the area continues to attract outdoor enthusiasts who are drawn to legendary surfing, hiking, and storm watching along the dramatic coastline.Desktop Version
Fire-damaged forest near Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado
Fire-damaged forest near Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado
Wolf Creek Pass is a high-mountain route that’s notoriously difficult to navigate in winter, with steep drops in elevation as the road descends from the peak. While these trees were damaged by wildfire—always a threat here in the Rockies—trees in the surrounding forest have been ravaged by a different menace—the spruce beetle. The tiny but deadly beetles have infested up to 90 percent of the Englemann spruce trees in Colorado’s high elevations, including around Wolf Creek Pass, laying waste to large swaths of the forest.Desktop Version
The smoke before the bonfire
The smoke before the bonfire
Today marks the fifth, final, fantastic day of this noisy, fire-and-smoke-filled holiday in Valencia, Spain. It"s called Las Fallas (or ‘Las Falles’ in the Valencian spelling), which means ‘torches’ in colloquial translation. While the origins of the festival aren’t entirely clear, the current customs borrow elements of pre-Christian spring festivals, Carnival, and the feast of St. Joseph—which is Father’s Day in this region. Each day of the festival follows a schedule of marching bands in the mornings and fireworks in the afternoon, which is what’s happening in our photo. There are dancers in traditional costumes as well, but the real spectacle comes tonight, as the parade of large, often bawdy wood and papier-mâché figures called ninots are marched through the streets and then added to a huge bonfire to welcome spring.Desktop Version
Train crossing the Tadami River in Japan
Train crossing the Tadami River in Japan
The Tadami flows through three prefectures on Japan’s Honshu Island. This train is crossing the river near the small town of Mishima, in Fukushima Prefecture. Despite the icy, snow-covered scene in our photo, the Fukushima region is famous for the fruit it produces in warmer seasons, especially peaches.Desktop Version
Adorably evolutionary sea sheep
Adorably evolutionary sea sheep
Perhaps you can understand why this tiny sea slug is sometimes called the ‘sea sheep’ or ‘leaf sheep’? It grazes on algae just as a sheep grazes on grass, and it bears more than a little resemblance to an actual sheep. Sea sheep don’t digest the chloroplasts in the algae they eat—instead, they absorb the energy-producing cells. As a result, the leaf-like fins all over the sea sheep’s back are loaded with working chloroplasts, making the sea sheep one of the only non-plant life forms on Earth with the ability to photosynthesize—that is, produce its own energy using sunlight and water. Who knew an evolutionary advancement could be so cute?Desktop Version
The power of the forest
The power of the forest
For International Day of Forests today, we’re looking at a baobab grove in Senegal. The indigenous cultures of sub-Saharan Africa, where baobabs grow wild, have long relied on the trees for a variety of uses. The fruit, seeds, and leaves are all edible, and in Tanzania, the wood pulp is a fermentation ingredient in local beers. Forests of all kinds provide many natural resources that humans use, and sometimes overuse. This year’s theme for International Day of Forests is ‘forests and education’; it’s an effort to get us all thinking about the more abstract benefits of healthy forests. A dense forest can clean both the air and water by pulling carbon compounds and other pollutants out of the ecosystem, and forests greatly reduce erosion.Desktop Version
Cherry blossoms at the National Mall, Washington, DC
Cherry blossoms at the National Mall, Washington, DC
This week marks the start of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which commemorates the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Japan to the city of Washington, DC, in 1912. The National Park Service says that during a two-week period each spring, the festival draws more than one million visitors to the National Mall, aka America’s Front Yard. In Japan, the custom of picnicking under the cherry blossoms is known as ‘hanami,’ and it’s said to be more spectacular at night, when revelers hang lanterns from the tree branches to illuminate the blooms.Desktop Version
Winter scenery near Kuhmo, Finland
Winter scenery near Kuhmo, Finland
Winter hits Kuhmo hard, but it sure is beautiful. The town, which lies in an area that borders Russia, was under Swedish and Russian rule in centuries past, but is now proudly Finnish. The boreal forests in this region are home to wolves and bears as well as the rare, and rarely seen, Finnish forest reindeer, who forage among the trees.Desktop Version
When science looks like magic
When science looks like magic
The mechanics of the northern lights are still not fully understood, as there are multiple influences and atmospheric conditions that create these photogenic ripples of colored light in the sky. Scientists agree that solar winds—big pulses of energy from our sun—interfere with the Earth’s magnetic fields, especially at the polar regions. The result is a ghostly light show in the sky—like the one in our photo today, captured in Norway.Desktop Version
Al-Khazneh in Petra, Jordan
Al-Khazneh in Petra, Jordan
A sliver of the Al-Khazneh temple’s façade is just visible at the end of this path. Like nearly every structure in the ancient city of Petra, the temple was carved directly into the sandstone cliffs that line the valley. Al-Khazneh boasts one of the most ornate, detailed façades of all the buildings here. Within the temple are relics of the past, including an elevated stone urn that was once thought to be the spot where bandits hid their loot. That’s been disproved, as the urn is solid stone. But that legend prompted the nickname of this space: the Treasury.Desktop Version