Russian fashion model Irina Shayk bares it all while getting ready for the Rio Carnival parade in Brazil early March 2025. (Photo by irinashayk/Instagram)

The Shannara Chronicles - A Refreshing Adventure in a Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy Future

I was sitting idly on the couch, drinking cola and playing Red Flush online casino games while my better half was channel surfing besides me. I was completely immersed in my game, but dragged back with my feet on the ground when I heard a name - Terry Brooks - coming from the telly. And from MTV?!

“After taking LSD. I lighting up a candle in the middle of the wood and during the 30 secondes of exposure, i make a meditation about the holism of nature surrounding me. Feeling the crystal vibration irradiating from the center of the Gaia mother earth. So in this picture i try to show you the magic, sacred metaphysical quality of the nature and new age bullshiting you”. – Benoit Paillé. (Photo by Benoit Paillé)

With its huge eyes, comical name and diminutive size, Mark R. Smith’s image of a baby Hawaiian bobtail squid can’t help but raise a smile. A curiously endearing creature, the cephalopod is just 1.5cm across, its mantle cavity bearing more than a passing resemblance to a rather natty shower cap. But it is also a beautiful example of symbiosis – nature’s version of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” – for on the underside of the squid is a light organ which houses bioluminescent bacteria. The squid offers the bacteria protection and food, while the bacteria emit a glow – a handy trait that the squid uses to offset its silhouette, helping it to evade predators in the depths below. Mark R. Smith’s entry combines several images of a Hawaiian bobtail squid with different focus lengths to create a final picture with greater depth of field than normal. (Photo by Mark R. Smith/Wellcome Images/Macroscopic Solutions)

An employee controls the arms of a manned biped walking robot “METHOD-2” during a demonstration in Gunpo, South Korea, December 27, 2016. It stands 13-feet (3,96 m) tall, weighs 1.3 tons and wields a pair of 286-pound (129,73 kg), motion-tracking metal arms. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

The Greenland ice sheet is a vast body of ice covering 660,235 sq miles, roughly 80% of the surface of Greenland. It is the second largest ice body in the world, after the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Some scientists predict that climate change may be near a "tipping point" where the entire ice sheet will melt in about 2000 years. If the entire 2,850,000 cubic kilometres (683,751 cu mi) of ice were to melt, it would lead to a global sea level rise of 7.2 m (23.6 ft).

Moraine Lake is a glacially-fed lake in Banff National Park, 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) outside the Village of Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada. It is situated in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, at an elevation of approximately 6,183 feet (1,885 m). The lake has a surface area of .5 square kilometres (0.19 sq mi). The lake, being glacially fed, does not reach its crest until mid to late June. When it is full, it reflects a distinct shade of blue. The colour is due to the refraction of light off the rock flour deposited in the lake on a continual basis.