Throughout the course of the long war in Afghanistan, Coalition troops have relied on thousands of military working dogs to help keep them safe, and make their jobs easier. The dogs are trained to detect explosives, to find illegal drugs, to search for missing comrades, or target enemy combatants. Not only are they active on the front lines, but behind the lines they serve as therapy dogs, service dogs, and loyal companions. They also share the same risks as the ground troops, suffering injuries and sometimes death on the battlefields. Gathered here are images of these dogs and their handlers in Afghanistan and back home, from over the past several years, part of the ongoing series here on Afghanistan.

The characters fighting for Westeros in Game of Thrones are fighting mostly for CGI backdrops. Like many others TV series and movies, visual effects is a huge part of the production process as it handles details both great and small. A great credit to Game of Thrones is that the story is so good that we forget about the effects, and another great credit goes to the VFX team because their work is seamless. If you want to see the seams, you have to get a visual breakdown of how the shots are put together.

At the end of a six-year relationship, photographer Laura Stevens needed to find a creative, external outlet for all the complicated feelings she was processing internally. “Another November” is the end product, a photo series that aims to mirror those agonizing emotions that Stevens felt at the time of the breakup – and the subsequent healing process. Here: “Jessica” is photographed at her Paris home in this scene staged by photographer Laura Stevens. (Photo by Laura Stevens)

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all weapons were created by Sonia Rentsch rather than by gunsmiths? In the series Harm Less, Sonia had constructed a number of firearms using various plants. Of course people might say that it’s not the guns that kill people; it’s the people that kill people. However, this statement is completely false. Can you imagine some equivalent of school shooting if the guns were not available? Yes, some crazy kid would still be able to bring a weapon to class, but most likely it would be a club or a penknife, making him easily tamable. (Photo by Sonia Rentsch)

This series of pictures shot by satellite, show the man-made world as astronauts see it. Artist Benjamin Grant uses Google Earth to find the most compelling satellite images of human civilization. The stunning pictures of sprawling metropolises and vast reservoirs are sometimes unidentifiable until zoomed in. In order to find an extraordinary picture in the practically endless supply of satellite data, Benjamin focuses on the themes of current events or environmental issues. Here: Industrial Sector, Tokai, Japan. (Photo by Benjamin Grant/Digital Globe/Caters News)

Pichi & Avo just sent us a series of pictures from their newest street piece for Mislatas representan 2014 in Valencia, Spain. The Spanish duo quickly painted this amazing street piece which is showing an hyper-realistic greek statue against a graffiti background that really pops. Pichi & Avo are now off to Lisbon, Portugal to work their magic on another mural. Hit the jump for more images on this artwork and then check back with us soon for more updates from Spain.

Clay Lipsky has created a great series called Atomic Overlook. The project takes terribly boring scenic shots and combines them with some exciting nuclear testing. “Tourists will line up for anything and I always found humor in vacation destinations that are nothing but a bunch of people looking into a great abyss”, he says. “I understand the allure of a beautiful landscape, but as the world’s population grows so do the lines to view the “nothingness”. Atomic Overlook flips the script on that and gives new purpose to those suntanned masses”. (Photo by Clay Lipsky)

San Zhi, Taiwan is an abandoned vacation resort on the northern coast of Taiwan. It was built in the early 1980s, but construction of the futuristic resort ceased after a series of fatal accidents.
Even though it never opened as a vacation resort, San Zhi can still be toured. The strange pod-like buildings act as a tourist attraction. The colors of the pod-like buildings depend on their location. The buildings in the west are green, in the east pink, in the south blue, and in the north white