Highland dancers compete at Inveraray Highland Games on July 19, 2022 in Inveraray, Scotland. The games are held in the grounds of Inveraray Castle celebrate Scottish culture and heritage with field and track events, piping, highland dancing competitions and heavy events including the world championships for tossing the caber. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

The Bajau people of Malaysia live their lives completely at sea, living in wooden huts and spending their days fishing. Sailing over crystal clear waters, the Bajau people of Malaysia live their lives almost entirely at sea. Photographer Ng Choo Kia joined the Bajau people on their pirogues, which are long narrow canoes made from single tree trunks, and documented their daily life in a series of pictures. (Photo by Ng Choo Kia/Hotspot Media/SIPA Press)

Shan boys pray before they have their heads shaved in anticipation of their ordination in the Poy Song Long Ceremony at Wat Pa Pao in Chiang Mai, Thailand on April 3, 2018. Poy Sang Long (“The Festival of the Crystal Sons”) is a ceremony that marks a rite of passage among the Buddhist Shan people in Myanmar and northern Thailand. Boys between seven and fourteen years of age are ordained as Buddhist novices during a three day ceremony. Before the ceremony starts the boys have their heads shaved. (Photo by Jack Kurtz/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Welcome to nature amidst a carefully designed environment made of glistening snow crystals – rebuilt every season from 3000 tons of snow at six locations in the Alps and the Pyrenees. A vivid product for exciting events and one of the most innovative hotel concepts of our times – CO2-neutral and sustainable. A memorable experience awaits you!

There is an endless bounty of eye-catching gemstones throughout the world and this spectacular boulder opal is one unique beauty that looks like a shimmering crystal encased in a tree fossil. Its opalescent sheen seeps through the cracks of the seemingly wooden rings in lustrous hues of emerald green and aqua blue. Like something out of a fairy tale, the triangular piece radiates through an organic pattern mimicking the growth rings of tree.

Edward, Prince of Wales (1840–1910), later King Edward VII, stands over the carcass of a wild Chillingham bull, shot by himself during a visit to Chillingham Castle, Northumberland, circa 1879. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Rhodochrosite is a manganese carbonate mineral with chemical composition MnCO3. In its (rare) pure form, it is typically a rose-red color, but impure specimens can be shades of pink to pale brown. It streaks white, and its Mohs hardness varies between 3.5 and 4. Its specific gravity is between 3.5 and 3.7. It crystallizes in the trigonal system, and cleaves with rhombohedral carbonate cleavage in three directions.

Snorkellers approach an adult manatee at Three Sisters Spring, Crystal River, Florida. You might imagine that coming face to face with one of these enormous underwater mammals would cause some concern. However, the likelihood is that the rotund creature just wants you to scratch its belly while it floats around happily, as world-renowned underwater photographer Alex Mustard discovered. (Photo by Alexander Mustard/Barcroft Media)