A rose chafer in Oxfordshire, UK on July 8, 2024. The beetles are often seen on flowers in the garden and are sometimes maligned for munching their way through these plants. However, they are an important detritivore as they feed on dead and decaying matter and recycle its nutrients, which makes a helpful addition to any compost. (Photo by Geoffrey Swaine/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A male stag beetle walks on a branch in an oak forest near the Spree River in Kersdorf, Brandenburg, Germany, on June 8, 2025. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images)

A green jumping spider (Lyssomanes viridis), in a forested area of Cerro de la Muerte, in San Jose, Costa Rica, 20 May 2025. International Day for Biological Diversity is celebrated every 22 May around the world. (Photo by Jeffrey Arguedas/EPA/EFE)

My transport of choice in NYC is definitely a road bike. When you cycle on the streets you see city and it’s habitants in a very different point of view. Let me share with you some photos I took last year – NYC through the eyes of a road bike.

Tim Sklyarov

Praia du Forte, Bahia. “This was the lead picture for a National Geographic story on Bahia, because it was both mysterious as well as a “geography” picture showing where the slaves arrived from Nigeria. Beach pictures seem like they should be easy to take, but for me they are actually quite difficult. Too easy to fall into cliche. When I saw the kid coming on the horse, I quickly ran to see if I could make something with a woman in a bikini that was not a bikini shot”. (Photo by David Alan Harvey/The Guardian)

“In anatomy, heterochromia refers to a difference in coloration, usually of the iris (but also of hair or skin). Although infrequently seen in humans, complete heterochromia is more frequently observed in other species, where it almost always involves one blue eye”. – Wikipedia (Photo by StooMathiesen)

Adult gentoo penguins keep an eye on their newly born chick at Edinburgh Zoo on June 10, 2011 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The gentoo chicks which started hatching in early May are looked after by both parents who regurgitate part digested food. When the chicks are hungry they peck the beaks of their parents to signal feeding time. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Once upon a time a myth was born that insects, unlike animals, are just a machines that not capable of learning and survive only based on their instincts. That myth has become the widespread opinion. Of course, this opinion is indeed erroneous, like many other widespread opinions. Let us try to find out which part is a myth and which part is true.