People visit the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve in Lancaster, California, to view the flowers blooming on April 6, 2023. California’s biologically diverse landscapes are home to more than 7,000 species of native plants, and the California Poppy, also known as golden poppy, a flowering plant native to the United States and Mexico became the official state flower in 1903. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP Photo)

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.

The world's longest moustache (belonging to one Ram Singh Chauhan of Rajasthan, India) measures a staggering 11.5 feet, or nearly 4 metres.

Отава Ё – Яблочко (Otava Yo – Yablochko; Russian: Яблочко, “Little Apple”). Yablochko is a Russian folk song of chastushka style and dance, traditionally presented as sailors' dance. The choreographed version of the dance first appeared in the 1926 Reinhold Glière ballet The Red Poppy and from there is known in the West as the Russian Sailors Dance.

In this May 24, 2018 file photo, rain drops accumulate on a car's windshield as commuters wait at a red light in Havana, Cuba. (Photo by Desmond Boylan/AP Photo)

American rapper Kanye West, American singer and songwriter Ty Dolla $ign, Australian architect and model Bianca Censori and her mother Alexandra Censori arrive back in Los Angeles, CA on a privet Jet on March 13, 2024. (Photo by Backgrid USA)

Pedra da Gavea highline, 850 meters above the city, 100 meters direct exposure, March 24, 2013. Brian Mosbaugh on the line. Carefully tiptoeing almost 3000 metres above Rio de Janeiro on a thin wire got a bit too much for this adrenaline junkie – so he decided to have a LIE DOWN. Fearless Brian Mosbaugh is so used to the perilous heights he decided he deserved a short break and proceeded to kick back and relax over the famous Brazilian city. (Photo by Scott Rogers/Caters)

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“My goal was to capture the image of a storm that emulated an atomic explosion”, Dobrowner says of this picture. Here: “Monsoon”, Lordsburg, N.M., 2010. (Photo by Roger Hill)