Sudan cheetah cub Assama inspects a camera bag in its enclosure at the Landau Zoo, in Landau, Germany, 03 September 2025. Assama, born in July as the only cub to a cheetah cat, was rejected by its mother, and is now being bottle-fed by its caretakers. (Photo by Ronald Wittek/EPA)

McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research centre located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,258 residents, and serves as the United States Antarctic science facility. All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo.

Lightning strikes the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) in downtown on June 12, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Smoke rises during an explosion from an Israeli forces strike in Gaza City, Saturday, November 17, 2012. Israel bombarded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with nearly 200 airstrikes early Saturday, the military said, widening a blistering assault on Gaza rocket operations by militants to include the prime minister's headquarters, a police compound and a vast network of smuggling tunnels. (Photo Hatem Moussa/AP Photo)

Chincoteague Ponies swim across Assateague Channel in a heavy downpour on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 during the 88th Annual Chincoteague Pony Swim. A portion of the herd will be auctioned on Thursday. (Photo by Jay Diem/Eastern Shore News)

This photograph released by Indian Space Research Organization shows its polar satellite launch vehicle lifting off from a launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, Wednesday, February 15, 2017. India's space agency said it successfully launched more than 100 foreign nano satellites into orbit Wednesday aboard a single rocket.(Photo by Indian Space Research Organization via AP Photo)

People take pictures with their mobile phone of a scale model of a dinosaur displayed in front of La Sapienza University headquarters in Rome April 10, 2015. The realistic reproductions of dinosaurs are part of the “Dinosaurs in the flesh, science and art bring to life the rulers of a lost world” exhibition. (Photo by Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters)

A donkey savors warming temperatures after a long winter at the zoo in Warsaw, Poland, on Wednesday, April 8, 2015. (Photo by Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo)