Artist Elizabeth Thompson poses next to her Blu-tack Spider sculpture at London Zoo on October 25, 2007 in London, England. The sculpture, known as “Blu-ey”, is a model of a common house spider and is completely made out of blu-tack. It is on show at BUGS! at ZSL London Zoo. The sculpture is made from around four thousand packets of Blu-tack and weighs over 200kg. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

People will spout about impermanence of digital records, but books are really fragile, too. Alexis Arnold from San Francisco wanted to illustrate that with her project The Crystallized Book: collecting books and growing Borax crystals on them. Books range from literature classics to magazines, and there’s even a mysterious and arcane tome called “Linux: The Complete Manual”.

Production begins on the London 2012 victory medals at the Royal Mint on October 27, 2011 in Pontyclun, Wales. A total of 4700 medals will be made, split between the Olympics and Paralympics. Each medal, 85mm in diameter are the heaviest summer Olympic medals made and production will be completed by Spring 2012. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Artist Julien “Seth” Malland aka Seth Globepainter has become known around the world for his vibrant murals of people, most frequently children, who appear to be sucked into colorful rainbow-like voids. The figures are usually facing away from the viewer, their attention completely swallowed by pools of dripping color revealed behind drab, urban facades.

One morning, this Redditor woke up to his front porch completely riddled with holes. It looked like some gang members spewed buckshot at his doorstep during a drive-by. These holes were made by acorn woodpeckers. The little birds created their own granaries or “acorn trees” to store their food. They do so by drilling holes into whatever they can, sometimes resulting in this kind of damage.

“Lofoten Glow”. I was desperately searching a good sunrise spot this particular morning. Normally Storvatnet Lake is completely covered in snow, so you can only imagine my surprise when I saw these crazy ice formations almost being shot out of the frozen lake. I put my crampons on and took a big risk walking out. I could hear the ice cracking underneath my feet, and when you’re all alone in a fjord/canyon like this – the cracks are echoed and sound really frightening. Was it worth it? I sure think so! Photo location: Storvatnet, Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway. (Photo and caption by Stian Klo/National Geographic Photo Contest)