“A fter the former Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear test in August 1949, the US reevaluated its postwar defense policies. With the US monopoly on atomic weapons broken, military and political leaders chose to diversify the American stockpile by developing thermonuclear and tactical nuclear weapons. One of the more interesting concepts to come out of this period was atomic artillery, which was successfully tested at the Nevada Proving Grounds (now the Nevada Test Site) in May 1953”. – Alan Carr. Photo: Atomic Annie at work during the Upshot-Knothole test series, 1953. (Photo by Los Alamos National Laboratory/US Army)

“A girl arrives at the parking lot wearing tiny leather shorts and sits on the back of a bike with a horse power of more than 1,000 CC. Next to her a man gets ready to ride, wearing a skeleton mask. It’s more than a fashion show, it’s an extravaganza on two wheels along Chinese roads”. – Carlos Barria. Photo: A couple rides their motorcycle at the Qian Dao Lake rally, on May 11, 2013. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

A Pasola rider reacts after throwing his spear during the Pasola war festival at Ratenggaro village on March 22, 2014 in Sumba Island, Indonesia. The Pasola Festival is an important annual event to welcome the new harvest season, which coincides with the arrival of “Nyale” sea worms during February or March each year. Pasola, an ancient ritual fighting game, involves two teams of men on horseback charging towards each other while trying to hit their rivals with “pasol” javelins and avoid being hit themselves. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

“The RSPB’s Snettisham Nature Reserve lies on the edge of The Wash, one of the most important bird estuaries in the United Kingdom. The Wash, on England’s east coast, supports over 300,000 birds, and Snettisham sometimes holds more than a third of them”. – The Palm Beach Post. Photo: Waders flock together seeking new feeding grounds during the incoming tide. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images via The Palm Beach Post)

Thor, Virginia Tech College of Engineering, Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory, tries to connect the hose to a firehose connection during the hose task at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, Friday, December 20, 2013, in Homestead, Fla. (Photo by Alan Diaz/AP Photo)

“The Mikoyan MiG-31 (NATO reporting name: Foxhound) is a supersonic interceptor aircraft developed to replace the MiG-25 “Foxbat”. The MiG-31 was designed by the Mikoyan design bureau based on the MiG-25”. – Wikipedia

Photos: The Mikoyan MiG-31 “Foxhound”. Russia, April 2012. (Photo by Alexandr Pak; Source: LiveJournal)

“A small British company with a dream of building a re-usable space plane has won an important endorsement from the European Space Agency (ESA) after completing key tests on its novel engine technology. Reaction Engines Ltd believes its Sabre engine, which would operate like a jet engine in the atmosphere and a rocket in space, could displace rockets for space access and transform air travel by bringing any destination on Earth to no more than four hours away”. – Chris Wickham via Reuters. Photo: Artist's impression of Skylon. (Photo by Reaction Engines Ltd)

Sap runs out of a frankincense tree near Mader Moge, Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia on August 4, 2016In a tradition dating to Biblical times, men rise at dawn in the rugged Cal Madow mountains of Somaliland in the Horn of Africa to scale rocky outcrops in search of the prized sap of wild frankincense trees. (Photo by Jason Patinkin/AP Photo)