The Aletsch Glacier is pictured at dusk in Fiesch, Switzerland, August 11, 2015. One of Europe's biggest glaciers, the Great Aletsch coils 23 km (14 miles) through the Swiss Alps – and yet this mighty river of ice could almost vanish in the lifetimes of people born today because of climate change. The glacier, 900 metres (2,950 feet) thick at one point, has retreated about 3 km (1.9 miles) since 1870 and that pace is quickening. (Photo by Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

California-based glass artist Loren Stump specializes in a form of glasswork called murrine, where rods of glass are melted together and then sliced to reveal elaborate patterns and forms. While the murrina process appeared in the Mideast some 4,000 years ago, Stump has perfected his own technique over the past 35 years to the point where he can now layer entire portraits and paintings in glass before slicing them to see the final results. His most complex piece to date is a detailed interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks, which involved hundreds of glass components that were melted into a final piece.

Nine years ago, Tom Carter traveled from San Francisco to China, responding to a job posting that turned out to be a scam. He managed to find another job as a teacher, and saved enough money to embark on a 56,000 km trip through all of China's 33 provinces that lasted two years. Carrying a camera – just a a 4-megapixel point-and-shoot – Carter captured some amazing images of the widely varying landscape, people, and architecture across the nation. Photo: Buddhist pilgrim family from Sichuan. (Photo by Tom Carter via The Atlantic)

“These eerie formations in the sky may look like alien ships. But as the Daily Mail points out, they’re actually a natural occurrence called lenticular clouds”. – Claudine Zap. Photo: Lenticular clouds hover of the mountains of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. (Photos by Denis Budkov/Caters News)

HalfPics is a Twitter feed pointing to things cut in half like a bowl of ramen, a Mini Cooper, and toothpaste. Their tagline: “Ever wonder what stuff looks like when it’s cut in half?” Yes. We previously posted about “Cut Food,” a photo series of foods cut neatly in half by food photographer Beth Galton and food stylist Charlotte Omnès.

American actress Sydney Sweeney and American model Emily Ratajkowski cuddle up at the Kerastase Pop-Up at Lavan New York in the first decade of April 2025. (Photo by sydney_sweeney/Instagagram)

Visitors look up at mock-ups of dinosaur skeletons inside the Museum of Natural History in Pyongyang on September 28, 2016. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

Nigerian make-up artist, Mary Oni, creates artwork on her chest using make-up, in her home in Lagos, Nigeria on January 26, 2022. (Photo by Seun Sanni/Reuters)