The International Garden Photographer of the Year is one of the world’s premier competitions specialising in botanical photography. There are 11 main categories and numerous special awards including Young Garden Photographer of the Year, and the mobile-only category Gardens on the Go. Here: Winner, Wildflower Landscapes category. Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Goiás, Brazil. (Photo by Marcio Cabral/The Guardian)

Women dancing at the disco club Xenon in New York City, USA in 1978. Xenon was a popular disco in Manhattan in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was the only nightclub popular enough to compete with Studio 54. (Photo by Waring Abbott/Getty Images)

Students dance in the hallway during a break at Moscow State Academy of Choreography in Moscow, Russia 03 March 2016. Moscow State Academy of Choreography is the oldest institution in Moscow which teaches Ballet arts not only Russian citizens, but also representatives from more than 20 countries. (Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA)

French sculptor Pierre Matter was born in 1964. “A mystical child, then a tormented teenager, he studied mathematics half-heartedly. It was only logical that he headed naturally, though initially in an erratic manner, for the mysterious universe of artistic creation. His slow progression in this field led him to try out many kinds of expression and material, from oil to gouache to ink, from comic strips to canvas, and also bas-relief in stone.”

“Atheris is a genus of venomous vipers found only in tropical subsaharan Africa, excluding southern Africa. Confined to rain forest areas, many members have isolated and fragmented distributions. In an interesting example of convergent evolution, they show many similarities to the arboreal pit vipers of Asia and South America”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Atheris squamigera. (Photo by David Williams)

Once upon a time a myth was born that insects, unlike animals, are just a machines that not capable of learning and survive only based on their instincts. That myth has become the widespread opinion. Of course, this opinion is indeed erroneous, like many other widespread opinions. Let us try to find out which part is a myth and which part is true.

People walk past a downed tree in Central Park on October 31, 2011 in New York City. Central Park may lose 1,000 trees following a freak October snowstorm while the park only lost 125 trees due to Hurricane Irene. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)