Jeremy Davis (L) demonstrates the operation of the safe room shelter door lock to homeowner Rob Hamlin on June 18, 2011 in Neosho, Missouri. Once thought of as a luxury item there has been a surge of interest from homeowners in purchasing shelters to ride out damaging storms ever since a F5 tornado tore through the town of Joplin, Missouri. Ranging in price from $3,000 to $5,000 homeowners can supplement the cost with a mortgage insurance program offered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for installing a safe room built to FEMA specifications. Lawmakers in Alabama have even considered requiring construction of storm shelters in mobile home parks after forty people died in April. (Photo by Julie Denesha/Getty Images)

“A fter the former Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear test in August 1949, the US reevaluated its postwar defense policies. With the US monopoly on atomic weapons broken, military and political leaders chose to diversify the American stockpile by developing thermonuclear and tactical nuclear weapons. One of the more interesting concepts to come out of this period was atomic artillery, which was successfully tested at the Nevada Proving Grounds (now the Nevada Test Site) in May 1953”. – Alan Carr. Photo: Atomic Annie at work during the Upshot-Knothole test series, 1953. (Photo by Los Alamos National Laboratory/US Army)

French artist Gilbert Legrand’s new series takes everyday objects like corkscrews, tape measures, and more and turns them into hilariously cute characters that almost make you forget their original purpose. Skillfully using each object’s natural shape, he crafts a character full of whimsy and personality. Each is painted to detail, with even the tiniest of characters bearing an expression which leaves no doubt as to their feelings about the situation. It truly takes a talented hand and imagination to turn paint brushes and zippers into humorous characters with surprisingly huge personalities.

Donna Dotan has a self-described obsession with symmetry. Her prowess with architectural photography is well applied in her personal project, “Reflections from Above”, where she captures striking images of New York City reflected in the glass of skyscrapers. She describes the project as a treasure hunt, and says that she is looking for an all-glass skyscraper to add more reflections to her series. (Photo by Donna Dotan)

Makeup artists Kamila Wysocka and Alexis Jackson from Florida, point at another costumed person as they eat dinner in their zombie makeup at ComicCon in New York, on Oktober 10, 2013. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

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In this October 29, 2013 photo, Daniel smokes marijuana inside his apartment where he uses a hydroponics system to grow his weed in Mexico City. “I'm not a narco, dude. I just like to smoke”, said Daniel, who spoke on condition that his last name not be used because, he said, his home-grow operation is "super-illegal" despite being for personal use only. (Photo by Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo)

People pass by a vehicle almost completely submerged on a street covered with mud due to heavy floods in Tekija village September 17, 2014. One person died in Serbia and authorities scrambled to evacuate hundreds of people from villages threatened by rising rivers, officials said on Tuesday, in scenes recalling the devastating May flooding that killed dozens. (Photo by Djordje Kojadinovic/Reuters)

Japan's computer giant Fujitsu employee displays the world's first personal computer with Intel's RealSense 3D camera “FMV Esprimo” in Tokyo on October 9, 2014. The new desktop PC with 23-inch LCD display can make avatars which mimic the user's look and motion for chatting on the Internet. (Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP Photo)