A DC-10 air tanker delivers flame retardant to the Blue Cut fire in Wrightwood, Calif., Wednesday, August 17, 2016. A wildfire with a ferocity never seen before by veteran California firefighters raced up and down canyon hillsides, instantly engulfing homes and forcing thousands of people to flee, some running for their lives just ahead of the flames. (Photo by Alex Gallardo/AP Photo)

A visitor takes pictures with a smartphone of an artwork entitled “Blue Europe, 2015” by Chinese artist Liu Bolin, on display during the exhibition “Visible Invisible” at the Mudec Museum in Milan on May 14, 2019. Liu Bolin known as “the invisible man” for his photographic self-portraits, focused on a body-painting blending with the surrounding area. (Photo by Miguel Medina/AFP Photo)

When Dutch photographer Marcel Heijnen moved to Hong Kong, the territory’s shop cats instantly caught his eye. While the “feline emperors” are the stars, his shots also offer insights into Hong Kong’s wares, from dried fish to paper. Here: Hong Kong Shop Cats #17. (Photo by Marcel Heijnen/Blue Lotus)

A woman uses a phone to take a “selfie” photo with cat as she stands along the barbed wire fence demarcating the “blue line” – drawn by the United Nations to mark Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 – while an Israeli Merkava battle tank is deployed nearby, at a position along the border near the village of Kfar Shuba in southern Lebanon on June 11, 2023. (Photo by Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP Photo)

There is an endless bounty of eye-catching gemstones throughout the world and this spectacular boulder opal is one unique beauty that looks like a shimmering crystal encased in a tree fossil. Its opalescent sheen seeps through the cracks of the seemingly wooden rings in lustrous hues of emerald green and aqua blue. Like something out of a fairy tale, the triangular piece radiates through an organic pattern mimicking the growth rings of tree.

“In anatomy, heterochromia refers to a difference in coloration, usually of the iris (but also of hair or skin). Although infrequently seen in humans, complete heterochromia is more frequently observed in other species, where it almost always involves one blue eye”. – Wikipedia (Photo by StooMathiesen)

Neon sea creatures have been captured lighting up the ocean with their vibrant colors – in what looked like a scene from Avatar. Photographer Simon Pierce, 39, took the images over several months after visiting both Nosy Sakatia in Madagascar and Mafia Island in Tanzania recently. (Photo by Simon Pierce/Caters News Agency)