A man prepares plastic strings, used to produce mats, inside a mat factory in the rebel-controlled area of Maarshureen town in Idlib province, Syria, December 22, 2015. The town is known for the significant number of mat factories which exports its production mainly to nearby Iraq through checkpoints controlled by insurgents. But in the past months the business has declined due to heavy airstrikes against insurgents, vendors said. (Photo by Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)

Aidan Thomas wears a Smokey Bear t-shirt as he watches smoke from the Airport Fire rise behind Meander Lane in Trabuco Canyon, Calif., on Monday, September 9, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register via AP Photo)

A stunning variety selected by Carl Barnes, a part-Cherokee farmer and breeder, from several traditional corn varieties. Given to NS/S by one of his students, Greg Schoen. Produces a diversity of gorgeous translucent, jewel-colored ears, each one unique. A popcorn, the kernels may be ground into cornmeal or popped. This corn became an Internet sensation in 2012.

It has taken 3,000 hours and 34 years to make – but the results are incredible. Artist Scott Weaver has created a huge but incredibly detailed model of San Francisco using 100,000 toothpicks. The work entitled Rolling Through the Bay also doubles as a marble run. Ping pong balls dropped on several ramps at the top of the model follow several “tours” through the city. They pass matchstick replicas of sights such as Alcatraz, Fisherman's Wharf, the Golden Gate Bridge and the city's trademark terraced houses on steep hills.

Freshly shorn alpacas are pictured on a meadow in the village of Winklarn near Regensburg April 22, 2013. The alpacas are always shorn in spring, to make the animals more comfortable for the summer months and to collect the expensive and well known alpaca wool. (Photo by Michaela Rehle/Reuters)

“The last known individual of the subspecies was a male named Lonesome George (Spanish: El Solitario Jorge/George), who died on 24 June 2012. In his last years, he was known as the rarest creature in the world. George served as a potent symbol for conservation efforts in the Galápagos and internationally”. – Wikipedia. (Photo by Rodrigo Buendia/AFP)