In this Tuesday, September 12, 2017 photo, Amornrat Simapsaisan, a local shop manager, watches before she ate watermelon salad with bamboo worms, at Inspects in the Backyard restaurant, Bangkok, Thailand. Tucking into insects is nothing new in Thailand, where street vendors pushing carts of fried crickets and buttery silkworms have long fed locals and adventurous tourists alike. But bugs are now fine-dining at the Bangkok bistro aiming to revolutionize views of nature’s least-loved creatures and what you can do with them. She tucked in quite happily to her watermelon and cricket salad on a recent evening. “It’s tasty. It’s munchy”, she said. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)

Serra da Aboboreira Megalithic Set (Meninas do Crasto) on September 24, 2023 in Baiao, Portugal. Since 1978 that Serra da Aboboreira (Aboboreira Mountains) has been the scene of a systematic study of its archeological values, among which are the monuments known as megalithic. These are funerary monuments designing the landscape. These dolmens were constructed with stones (lithos) of medium or large dimensions (mega), which were laid in a, more or less, vertical position. Over these, it was still placed a lid, also of stone. These containers were covered by an artificial mound of earth and stones (dolmen). (Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images)

Growing cities, overuse of fertilizers and factory wastewater have degraded China's water supplies to the extent that half the nation's rivers and lakes are severely polluted. China aims to spend $850 billion to improve filthy water supplies over the next decade, but even such huge outlays may do little to reverse damage caused by decades of pollution and overuse in Beijing's push for rapid economic growth. Photo: Fishermen row a boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, June 19, 2009. (Photo by Jianan Yu/Reuters)

Few things are more beautiful than puffy white clouds floating in the bright blue sky. Do you remember the time when you would lay on the soft green grass, look up at the sky, and try to recognize shapes in the clouds floating overhead? Wasn’t it wonderful, just lying there, letting the wind caress your skin, as you imagine that the clouds in the sky are actually mystical or not-so-mystical creatures? Dragons, ducks, teddy bears, dinosaurs, everything was up there. It was good old times. As adults we forget about simple pleasures of life. However, an Argentinian artist Martin Feijoo didn’t forget those times, and took them a step further. After imagining what a particular cloud looks like, he draws that particular shape over the picture of the cloud, allowing the entire world to see what goes on in his mind. (Photo by Martin Feijoo)

Weighing in at just under 6 pounds and at 22.6 inches long, the female pup arrived at Shedd in late October from Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, where she spent the first four weeks of her life being stabilized. The pup has been doing well since her arrival, receiving continual care behind the scenes of Shedd’s Abbott Oceanarium. Currently referred to as “Pup 681”, Shedd’s animal care and veterinarian teams are providing the continual, round-the-clock care she needs to thrive. Photos used with permisson from Shedd Aquarium. (Photo by Brenna Hernandez/AP Photo)

It is simply staggering how complicated some items really are. We never think about it, but some items that we use every day consist of hundreds of parts meticulously put together and working perfectly. Todd McLellan is a photographer who based his newest book “Things Come Apart” on the complexity of various old and new tech. By carefully taking apart various items and arranging all of the parts in perfect order, Todd has allowed us not only to look inside various appliances, but also to appreciate the astounding complexity of these items. Just like the human mind, we are so used to seeing and talking with people that we forget just how complicated their minds really are. It would be great if we could “take apart” the human mind in order to gain some insight into the person’s thoughts and desires. However, very few people are capable of doing it, while the rest will remain blind to the obvious. (Photo by Todd McLellan)

All the people we meet, all the things we know, and all of our experiences shape our souls, forever marking our faces. This was probably the main idea of the performance piece created by Chinese artist Zhang Huan, in which his face was painted over by three calligraphers with the names of people he knew, personal stories, and random thoughts. Truly, it amazing just how much we can find out about a person just by looking at their face. Surely, not everyone has the ability to see into the soul of the person just by looking at their face, but those that do can easily see the person’s personality, their intelligence, and sometimes even get glimpse into their past. Though it sounds like magic to people who don’t have this ability, it is completely true. Somehow, our mind can pick up on the miniscule changes of the facial structure and figure out the dominant facial expressions of that person. (Photo by Zhang Huan)

“I'm Josh Fancher, a 21 year old with an avid interest in photography, including macro, nature and wildlife, night photography, landscapes, cityscapes and architectural photography. Inspired by the beautiful and amazing water drop photography of Martin Waugh, I started doing water drop collisions in December of 2007. I use a 105mm Micro Nikkor lens for water drops, along with a pair of Nikon SB 600 flashes. I recently got a StopShot system (Nov 2009), which makes timing a lot easier. Before then, timing was manual, with an eye dropper, eye-hand coordination, and a lot of patience” – Josh Fancher. (Photo by Josh Fancher)