In this Thursday, April 11, 2013 photo, North Korean female soldiers stand watch on the river bank of the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite to the Chinese border city of Dandong. (Photo by AP Photo)

A Syrian rebel walks past Sham 2, a homemade armored vehicle, in Bishqatin, Syria, on December 8, 2012. From a distance it looks rather like a big rusty metal box but closer inspection reveals a homemade armored vehicle waiting to be deployed. Sham II, named after ancient Syria, is built from the chassis of a car and touted by rebels as “100 percent made in Syria”. (Photo by Herve Bar/AFP Photo)

“Cassowaries are large, flightless birds related to emus and (more distantly) to ostriches, rheas, and kiwis”, writes Olivia Judson in the September issue of National Geographic magazine. How large? People-size: Adult males stand well over five foot five and top 110 pounds. Females are even taller, and can weigh more than 160 pounds. Dangerous when roused, they’re shy and peaceable when left alone. But even birds this big and tough are prey to habitat loss. The dense New Guinea and Australia rain forests where they live have dwindled. Today cassowaries might number 1,500 to 2,000. And because they help shape those same forests – by moving seeds from one place to another – “if they vanish”, Judson writes, “the structure of the forest would gradually change” too. (Photo by Christian Ziegler/National Geographic)

Cars float up from a car garage in a mixture of storm water and gasoline in lower Manhattan as workers begin the process of pumping out the mess. (Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/MCT)

A Honduras fan cheers for her team before the start of the Group E football match between Honduras and Switzerland at the Amazonia Arena in Manaus during the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 25, 2014. (Photo by Rodrigo Arangua/AFP Photo)

People walk through crop circles in a cornfield near Raisting, Germany, on July 28, 2014. According to media reports, a balloonist had discovered the circle some days ago. Since then, hundreds of people came to the field to watch it, however it is unclear who did create the pattern. (Photo by Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/DPA)

Balinese traditional dancers take selfie as they await the arrival of G20 leaders at Ngurah Rai International airport at Tuban, Badung regency on Indonesia resort island of Bali, on November 13, 2022. (Photo by Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP Photo)

An Argentina soccer fan watches the team lose to Saudi Arabia at a World Cup Group C soccer match, played on a large screen in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos, Aires, Argentina, early Tuesday, November 22, 2022. (Photo by Gustavo Garello/AP Photo)