A muddied family photograph sits on a hallway stairwell in an apartment block on March 17, 2011 in Kensennuma, Japan. Residents were allowed back to their homes today and began the massive cleanup operation caused by a 9.0 magnitude strong earthquake that struck on March 11 off the coast of north-eastern Japan. The quake triggered a tsunami wave of up to 10 metres which engulfed large parts of north-eastern Japan. The death toll has risen past 5000 with at least 8600 people still missing. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

A man looks at the wax figure of Marilyn Monroe at Grevin Wax Museum in central Seoul, South Korea, July 30, 2015. French wax museum Musee Grevin has opened its first Asian branch in central Seoul with about 80 wax figures including those from hallyu (the Korean pop culture wave) displayed, according to local media. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

If you ever wanted to wear houses on your finger, now’s your chance (though it’s hard to imagine that any sane person would have such a desire)! Clive Roddy offers you an opportunity to fulfill your dream of having a ring that features houses, waves, mountains, or trees. In order to create these rings, first the metal is cut using a laser, and then the whole thing is hand painted using colored enamel. Though these rings are very pretty, it is hard to imagine someone wearing such a ring on everyday basis. These types of rings should probably be reserved for special occasions or festivals, rather than for everyday use. (Photo by Clive Roddy)

A reveler strikes a pose during an unofficial carnival block party referred to as “blocos”, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, February 26, 2022. City Hall banned all blocos, the tightly packed street parties attended by those who cannot or don't want to buy pricey tickets for the official parade at the Sambadrome, due to a wave of the Omicron variant. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

A man checks his mobile phone near overturned shipping containers after explosions hit the Binhai new district, Tianjin, August 13, 2015. A huge explosion hit an industrial area in the northeastern Chinese city of Tianjin late on Wednesday evening, triggering a blast wave felt several kilometres away and injuring at least 50 people, domestic media reported. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

The pictures made by Elizabeth Gadd are so beautiful, tranquil, and mesmerizing, that they wash over your soul in a wave of sadness. The same sadness that you feel when hearing a wonderful piece of music. The same sadness that enters your soul when you worry to death about your loved one, but everything turns out to be just fine. These aren’t just pictures… The pieces of art that Elizabeth, a 21-year-old self-taught photographer makes, are windows into fairytales; portals into other dimensions. Works so surreal, that it makes you wonder if the scenes that you are seeing were actually shot on this planet; that they are not figments of Beth’s imagination. (Photo by Elizabeth Gadd)

The northeastern United States sweltered this week in a scorching summer heat wave, complete with stagnant, sticky air and no winds for relief, forecasters said. Even in a summer already filled with stretches of very hot weather, this week will be stubbornly brutal, with no relief in sight until the weekend brings thunderstorms to the region, they said. "Plain and simple, this week may feel the worst of any week for this summer in the Northeast," said Accuweather.com meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. (Reuters)

While vacationing on the Maldives Islands, Taiwanese amateur photographer Will Ho stumbled onto an incredible stretch of beach covered in millions of bioluminescent phytoplankton. These tiny organisms glow similarly to fireflies and tend to emit light when stressed, such as when waves crash or when they are otherwise agitated. While the phenomenon and its chemical mechanisms have been known for some time, biologists have only recently began to understand the reasons behind it. Photo: Bioluminescent phytoplankton washes up on Maldives beach. (Photo by Will Ho)