Located in Siberia, Laka Baikal is the largest freshwater lake on the planet that contains approximately 20 percent of the Earth’s freshwater. Apart from being the oldest lake in the world at over 25 million years old, Lake Baikal is also home to over two thousand varieties of flora and fauna, of which almost 1,600 are endemic to the lake. The water of Lake Baikal is renowned for being some of the clearest in the world. When the lake freezes during the winter, an amazing phenomena takes place: large shards of transparent ice form on the surface of the lake, giving the amazing appearance of turquoise ice.

There are not many sculptures in the world that were purposely made to be grotesque, especially on such a large scale. Thus, a Hungarian artist Ervin Loránth Hervé has apparently decided that there isn’t enough horror in this world and created the Feltépve – a sculpture of a stone giant ripping apart the earth in order to break free. However, when we look from another perspective this sculpture might depict a grouchy giant trying to cover himself with a blanket of earth so that everyone would leave him alone. The latter interpretation of this sculpture was probably not intended by the sculptor; however, the way the arms of the giant are positioned makes it look as if it was truly the case.

Christian Balderosdasco, 31, is being pulled up a mud pit after diving for 3 hours to look for gold on March 22, 2017 in Paracale, Philippines. Apart from tunneling and sifting sand, locals dive down murky swamps with the aid of a compressor with air flowing in a small tube for breathing, as they blindly swim under the mud for up to four hours to look for tiny rocks containing gold particles. For decades, local residents at Paracale town work in hazardous conditions scavenging under the earth and diving into tunnels filled with mud using only makeshift tools to mine for gold, often placing their health and lives at risk. (Photo by Jes Aznar/Getty Images)

Sweden's Henrik Pilerud, inside the Totoro costume, and his team member Victoria Christensen (R) pose during an interview with AFP ahead of a rehearsal before the world cosplay championship 2024 during the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya on August 3, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)

A Sri Lankan leopard is pictured at a zoo in Dehiwala near Colombo on March 3, 2016, on World Wildlife Day. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

Eli Hanneman of Hawaii surfs in Heat 2 of the Round of 64 at the Ballito Pro on July 3, 2023 at Ballito, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. (Photo by Pierre Tostee/World Surf League via Getty Images)

Australia's Nicholas Timmings competes in the men's Skeleton World Cup in Altenberg, eastern Germany, on December 3, 2021. (Photo by Tobias Schwarz/AFP Photo)

Despite any political differences between the United States and Russia, the space agencies of the two countries continue their cooperative work in Earth's orbit, aboard the International Space Station. Apart from the research being done in microgravity, ISS crew members continue to send back amazing images of our home world, photographed from low Earth orbit. Gathered here are recent images of Earth from aboard the ISS, and from a handful of other NASA satellites.