Mask dancers take part in a parade during the the International Festival of Masquerade Games “Surva” in the town of Pernik, some 30 km from Sofia, Bulgaria, 27 January 2019. In ancient times the old Thracians held the Kukeri Ritual Games in honor of god Dionysus – known as a god of wine and ecstasy. Even today these games are also known as the Dionysus' games. Among the Kukeri dancers' are many characters, including Dionysus and his satyrs as well as others from deep history such as the tsar, harachari, plyuvkachi, startzi, and pesyatzi. (Photo by Vassil Donev/EPA/EFE)

The American producer, rapper and fashion designer Kanye West with his wife Bianca Censori head out for a shopping spree during their Tuscan holiday in Italy on August 30, 2023. Kanye and Bianca visited the Balenciaga store which was closed to the public as they spent 45 minutes browsing through some expensive designer clothing. With the unusual sight of walking barefooted, the couple returned to their hotel via their taxi as Bianca showed off her stunning physique in her tight figure hugging dress and was all smiles, holding a treat from the Balenciaga store as they capped off the day with an aperitif. (Photo by Backgrid UK)

A horse trainer takes his horse into the water at Pebble Beach on June 28, 2024 in Bridgetown, Barbados. The swimming horses of Barbados offer a unique and remarkable experience at Pebbles Beach, where racehorses from the nearby Garrison Savannah enjoy their morning swim almost daily between 5:30 am and 7 am. During this ritual, horses swim out surprisingly far to the moored boats before returning to shore, with some staying longer in the water if recovering from injury or soreness after a race. Visitors can observe the horses' individual personalities as they swim and interact with the water, but are advised to respect the guidance of the grooms and maintain a safe distance, as horses can behave unpredictably, especially if frightened. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)

The photo project was done for the organization Fishlove and included some other U.K.-based celebrities posing in the buff with critters ranging from bass fish to sharks. Its goal is to raise awareness of how overfishing is destroying the oceans. The release of Gillian's nearly nude pic, which was snapped by French portrait photographer Denis Rouvre, is timed with a European Parliament vote on banning destructive forms of deep-sea fishing in the Northeast Atlantic. The Fishlove organization is trying to rally voters to sign a petition ending deep-sea trawling – which, according to scientists, is negatively impacting the fish population and their habits – and Gillian solicited signatures in a Twitter post. Photo: “Fish Love” Project by Photographer Denis Rouvre. Gillian Anderson. (Photo by Denis Rouvre)

In this October 6, 1976 file photo a member of a Thai political faction strikes at the lifeless body of a hanged student outside Thammasat University in Bangkok October 6, 1976. For some Thais, the bloody events of October 6, 1976 are still a nightmare. On that day, heavily armed security forces shot up Bangkok's Thammasat University campus and killed scores of students, while right-wing vigilantes captured would-be escapees, subjecting them to ghoulish lynchings. (Photo by Neal Ulevich/AP Photo)

How sure are you of your geographical knowledge? Buzzfeed recently put Americans’ geographical knowledge to the test with a survey in which participants had to write in countries’ names on a blank European political map. Unfortunately, they didn’t fare too well, but some of their responses are hilarious (or hilariously mis-informed). But don’t be so quick to judge Americans – when Buzzfeed posted a similar survey testing Brits’ knowledge of the 50 United States, they also came up short. On the one hand, knowing a country’s states is different from knowing independent countries, but on the other, some U.S. states are larger than some European nations, and some U.S. states have larger economies than some European nations.

“The Carnival Triumph finally made port on Thursday night, after what should have been an idyllic four-day cruise turned into a grueling week-long ordeal for more than 3,000 passengers and 1,000 crew. Some kissed the ground as they disembarked the ship, while others swore never to go on another cruise again. Many spoke of the well-documented unsanitary conditions on board the 272-metre Triumph, which lost power in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday”. – Tom Dart and Adam Gabbatt via Guardian

Photo: Kendall Jenkins of Houston kisses the ground after stepping off the Carnival ship Triumph (Photo by AP Photo)