A woman carries her child in a basket as she walks on a road in Allahabad, India, August 11, 2016. (Photo by Jitendra Prakash/Reuters)

A housewife whose family lives in a shanty cooks beside a road in Manila, Philippines May 25, 2016. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

A woman offers prayers by a road as a rickshaw puller transports passengers in Kolkata October 28, 2014. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

A mahout walks a tusker along a busy road in Colombo, Sri Lanka on January 19, 2021. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

A farmer stands near pumpkins on display on the side of a road near Sanaa, Yemen on February 15, 2025. (Photo by Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

If we were to burn NH4Cr2O7 with HgSCN in the Dark Ages in Europe and show it to anyone, it is us who would be burning next on a fiery cross of Inquisition. And it’s no wonder, since this experiment produces a truly marvelous result. At first, as you ignite the mixture of NH4Cr2O7 and HgSCN, all you can see is that it is slowly burning with a reddish flame. After a while, however, a crater is formed in the middle of the burning pile, and then, suddenly, tentacle-like appendages start sprouting from the burning mixture. And you can almost hear the scream of the mad occultist – “Come forth, Kraken! Come forth!” But of course, this is simply a chemical reaction that is called the "Pharoah's Serpent". It was also often sold in firework stores until people realized that it was toxic.

An Asian elephant called “Plai Deaw” goes for a walk on a mountain road in Nakhon Nayok, Thailand on July 11, 2022. The bull has become well known in the area for his taste for venturing out from the deep forest and emerging among cars and village homes. Thailand has an estimated 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild but there is often conflict when they come into contact with humans on roads and in villages. A similar number of elephants are kept captive where they work in zoos and are hired out for religious festivals and weddings. (Photo by Mongkol Pitakmoo/ViralPress)

Riot police help an injured anti-government protester after scuffles broke out with women police officers on a road leading to the parliament building, during a protest in Beirut on November 19, 2019. Thousands of protesters rallying against the Lebanese political elite blocked roads in central Beirut on Tuesday, preventing lawmakers from reaching the parliament and forcing the postponement of a legislative session. (Photo by Bilal Hussein/AP Photo)