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Chapel on the rock
Chapel on the rock
Pace yourself—you"ll need to climb 268 stone steps to reach the entrance of Chapel St-Michel d"Aiguilhe (Chapel of St. Michael of the Needle). This historic church near Le Puy-en-Velay, France, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that attracts visitors from around the world. It was constructed in 969 by a local bishop and dedicated to the Archangel Michael, the patron saint of mountaintops. Even before the chapel was built, the site had spiritual significance, as it was home to prehistoric dolmens (stone tombs) built by the Romans to honor their god Mercury.Desktop Version
Petrified Forest National Park
Petrified Forest National Park
The burliest lumberjack with the best-oiled chainsaw couldn"t slice the massive "timbers" found in Petrified Forest National Park in northeastern Arizona. So why are these giant stone logs segmented in such symmetrical rounds, as if they"re ready to be split into firewood?Desktop Version
Tom Turkey takes Manhattan
Tom Turkey takes Manhattan
The Tom Turkey float has been in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade since 1971, missing only one outing in 2003. The hat-wearing turkey flaps his wings and rolls out as the lead attraction in the parade, with Santa Claus bringing up the rear to bookend this holiday tradition. Long before Tom joined the lineup, and a few years before giant balloons shaped like animals and cartoon characters came along, live animals from the Central Park Zoo were a big feature in the parade. Did you watch the procession today?Desktop Version
Is there a bug-egg emoji for this?
Is there a bug-egg emoji for this?
Nothing says ‘smile!’ like a bunch of eggs laid by a member of the Pentatomidae family of insects. Not all stink bug eggs look like they have faces, but this incident of ‘life imitates emoji’ was too good to pass up today. That’s right, it’s World Emoji Day. Those tiny, cartoonish pictures that often stand in for words and phrases in social media posts and text messages have become a system of communication all their own. But why on July 17? Early on in the (very recent) history of emoji, the calendar emoji displayed July 17. So, when the time came for emoji to get their own day of recognition, this date stood out above all others.Desktop Version
Polar bear capital of the world
Polar bear capital of the world
Welcome to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, the self-proclaimed Polar Bear Capital of the World. Each year, about a thousand polar bears pass through the small town, outnumbering human residents. In October, the bears gather here to wait for the Hudson Bay to freeze over so they can venture out onto the ice to hunt for seals. The annual gathering of polar bears here is a big event for the residents of Churchill. They maintain a hotline for bear sightings and even run a polar bear "jail" that temporarily holds "pesky" bears to keep locals (and their food) safe.Desktop Version
Jackie Robinson Day
Jackie Robinson Day
On April 15, 1947, more than 26,000 spectators at Brooklyn"s Ebbets Field witnessed history as Jackie Robinson became the first Black player on a modern-era major league baseball team. (Three Black players played in the major leagues briefly in the 19th century before the color line was fully established.) Robinson endured racist resistance throughout his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, but the national pastime"s color barrier was broken, and other players followed him within months. In 1997, Major League Baseball retired Robinson"s number, 42, across all teams, and in 2004 it began the annual April 15 observance of Jackie Robinson Day. This photo shows Robinson signing autographs for fans at spring training in the Dominican Republic the year after his debut.Desktop Version
A river runs through rice fields
A river runs through rice fields
We"re peering down the winding Ngo Dong River at a group of rowboats meandering through rice paddy fields. This is Ninh Bình province in Vietnam, about 60 miles south of Hanoi. On these two-hour tours by traditional Vietnamese rowboat, visitors wend their way between limestone karst peaks, through grottoes, and, if they"re lucky, by workers harvesting rice in the fields, their wide-brimmed hats shielding them from the sun. Perhaps the most spectacular time to take this river cruise is around harvest time in late May and early June when the paddy fields are awash in a golden glow with a backdrop of bright green hillsides. But don"t be surprised if the person rowing your boat moves the oars from hands to feet. It"s tradition here for rowers to give their arms a break and let their legs take over.Desktop Version
Fibonacci Day
Fibonacci Day
It"s a bit of a fib that Fibonacci, the 13th-century Italian math whiz, was the first to sketch out a number sequence in which each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, and so on forever. In fact, scholars in India described the sequence centuries before Fibonacci, and they probably weren"t the first to figure it out either. But in any case, each November 23—that is, 11/23—we celebrate the infinite series known as the Fibonacci sequence.Desktop Version
Keep your hands inside the ride at all times…
Keep your hands inside the ride at all times…
This roller coaster at Skyline Park in Bad Wörishofen, Germany, like all other modern coasters, can trace its lineage back to the engineering work of Russian refugees living in 17th-century Portugal. To recreate the fun of sledding down snow-covered hills, the Russians built ice-bearing wooden platforms and ramps similar to very large playground slides. As the concept of the ‘Russian Mountain’ ride caught on across Europe, mechanical parts came into play, including sled-like vehicles to ride in, and rails to keep the carts on track. Over the centuries, these coaster-like rides grew to resemble the extreme, gravity-challenging thrill rides we see at modern theme parks. Where is your favorite roller coaster?Desktop Version
New Year s Day
New Year s Day
If your first scheduled activity of the day has ever involved intentionally jumping into an icy lake or a frigid bay, then you understand the relevance of today"s image from the Svalbard Islands of Norway. Polar bear plunges, as these swims have come to be known, take place all over the world, often on New Year"s Day. Whether people take the plunge for charity, penance, or shock value, there"s no better way to put an exclamation point on the first day of the year. Of course, for actual polar bears, ice cold plunges are an everyday occurrence and won"t elicit much more than a yawn.Desktop Version
Women s suffrage at 100
Women s suffrage at 100
Today marks 100 years since women won the constitutional right to vote in the United States, and we"re in Nashville, Tennessee, to celebrate five monumental figures in the women"s suffrage movement. Why Nashville? Because it was Tennessee"s capital that became the final battlefront in the long fight for the Nineteenth Amendment. On August 18, 1920, the state legislature faced a choice: Should Tennessee become the 36th and deciding state to ratify the amendment, securing its place in the Constitution? The stakes were high as eight states had already rejected the measure—but thanks to some unexpected "aye" votes from known opposers (one representative switched his vote at the urging of his mother), ratification won out.Desktop Version
Pretty, pretty…butterfly?
Pretty, pretty…butterfly?
Not quite. This winsome winged creature is a moth, a Loepa oberthuri to be exact, a type of silkmoth. It"s the star of our homepage because today marks the start of National Moth Week, which shines the porch light on this unlikely hero. Unlike their showier cousins, butterflies, moths get a bad rap from time to time, and that"s fair, as caterpillars of some moth species are agricultural pests. But before you break out the mothballs, consider this: Scientists estimate that there are some 160,000 species of moths worldwide, many just as stunning as our silkmoth today, and tracking their health often helps us gauge the health of entire ecosystems. So we encourage you to investigate moths this week right in your own backyard. All you have to do: Turn on the porch light—and the moths will come calling.Desktop Version
Burrowing owls
Burrowing owls
Forget looking up in the trees to find these guys. They are burrowing owls, which means that they live on the ground or under it. In fact, they often take advantage of the hard work of tunnelers such as prairie dogs or gophers by building their nests in the burrows they dug and abandoned. Think of burrowing owls as squatters of the avian world. You"ll find these 7½- to 11-inch birds in North and South America, especially in grasslands, farming areas, or dry expanses with vegetation that is close to the ground.Desktop Version
All eyes on moths
All eyes on moths
Quick! Can you find this moth"s head? If the markings on the wings distracted you for a second, score an evolutionary victory for this saturniid moth resting in Mole National Park in Ghana. It"s thought that moths, butterflies, and other creatures use this crafty form of mimicry, called eyespots, to either intimidate predators or draw them to attack less vulnerable parts of the body.Desktop Version
For Hispanic Heritage Month: Out of Many, One
For Hispanic Heritage Month: Out of Many, One
This giant portrait by Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada is called "Out of Many, One." It was installed on the National Mall lawn in October 2014 and remained for one month. The title not only refers to the motto of the United States (E pluribus unum, Latin for "out of many, one") but hints at how the portrait was created.Desktop Version
This reef is nowhere near the sea…
This reef is nowhere near the sea…
…nor the US Capitol building it"s named for. Utah"s Capitol Reef National Park—first established as a national monument this day in 1937—is named for its massive rock domes that reminded explorers of that famous rotunda back in Washington, DC. Why Capitol "Reef," though? Because the imposing formations were a major obstacle to travelers through the region, the same way a coral reef is an obstacle to sailors.Desktop Version
Art and soul
Art and soul
Art can seem like a portal to another dimension, as Irish-born artist Laura Buckley shows us in today"s mind-bending image. She posed here (and there, and there, and there…) with her mixed-media sculpture "Fata Morgana" at London"s Saatchi Gallery last year. The work is outwardly unassuming, made from a hexagonal wood-frame tube lined on the inside with reflective acrylic and capped on one end with a projection screen. When a viewer enters the installation, the mirrored surfaces reflect their image along with a video projected on the screen, merging the two into a whimsical mirage.Desktop Version
A wild, craggy corner of the United States
A wild, craggy corner of the United States
The sun is setting here on the west coast of Washington state"s rugged Olympic Peninsula, where more than 3,000 square miles of marine waters are protected as part of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Wondering where exactly we are? Look at a map of the United States and draw your finger up the West Coast until it ends where the Strait of Juan de Fuca meets the Pacific Ocean. Those final 135 miles of shoreline form the landward boundary of the sanctuary, which also extends seaward 25 to 50 miles.Desktop Version
On this shore, history was made
On this shore, history was made
As the sun sets on a beach in Normandy, France, what appear to be working barges and boats offshore are actually the remnants of a Mulberry harbour, one of the temporary portable harbors created by the Allies during World War II. Their story began 77 years ago today, on D-Day, when the first of the Allied troops touched down on the Nazi-occupied beaches at Normandy. After the Allies successfully held the beachheads, the Mulberries were towed into place so the artificial harbors could provide the port facilities necessary to offload the thousands of men and vehicles, and tons of supplies necessary to sustain the effort to drive the Germans out of France.Desktop Version
Cecropia leaf and lobster claw petals in Mexico
Cecropia leaf and lobster claw petals in Mexico
No doubt your eyes are drawn to the large, silver-bluish leaf in today"s photo, but there"s a little more to this colorful display. We"re on the floor of a Mexican rainforest to examine a large Cecropia leaf and some lobster claw petals. The genus called Cecropia contains some of the most recognizable neotropical trees anywhere, but the roughly 60 different species can be hard to tell apart. All Cecropias grow fast, by tree standards anyway. On average, they"ll climb about 2.5 feet per year and under perfect conditions can grow as much as 10 feet in that time, eventually reaching around 60 feet tall. When dried, Cecropia leaves shrivel into a fist-like form which displays interesting patterns and shapes. Not only are Cecropias very popular with animals like sloths, monkeys, and toucans for their fruit and leaves, many species have a symbiotic relationship with Azteca ants. Cecropias provide shelter and food for ants, and the ants in turn defend the trees from plant-eating predators.Desktop Version
Seville celebrates first world tour
Seville celebrates first world tour
Five hundred years ago today, in 1519, Ferdinand Magellan departed from Seville, Spain, on his quest for a western passage to the Spice Islands. He sailed five ships and a crew of more than 230 men down the Guadalquivir, the river in today"s image. Magellan wouldn’t have seen this incarnation of Seville’s Triana Bridge, though. It was built more than three centuries after the expedition"s return to the city in 1522. While successful in finding a western route to the Pacific Ocean and returning with valuable spices, the feat came at great cost. Only one ship, under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano, and 17 other crew members completed the global circumnavigation, returning to Spain three years after setting off. Magellan wasn’t among them. He was killed on April 27, 1521, at the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines.Desktop Version
Get amped for Glastonbury
Get amped for Glastonbury
Greetings from Glastonbury Tor and St. Michael"s Tower in Somerset county of South West England. The tor (a Celtic word for an isolated hill) is often mentioned in Celtic mythology, and some believe it to be the site of Avalon, a mythical island central to legends of King Arthur. Glastonbury Tor has other enduring spiritual associations as well, particularly to various neopagan beliefs. Archaeological evidence suggests that several buildings have been constructed at the top of the hill over many centuries, but all that remains today is the roofless tower of St. Michael’s Church, built in the 1300s.Desktop Version
Once upon a midafternoon dreary…
Once upon a midafternoon dreary…
To the superstitiously inclined, this flock of ravens—pictured battling a snowstorm in Finland—is nothing short of a bad omen, while to others it"s just a bunch of beaks. Likewise, today is just another flip of the calendar to some, while Friday the 13th consigns others to a day of dread—or at least one of relative inactivity to avoid potential mishaps.Desktop Version
Celebrating migrations
Celebrating migrations
For Canada Day, we"re peering up at "Passage migratoire" ("Migratory Passage"), an art installation of hanging woven canoes in Old Québec City. It was part of the 2016 edition of Passages Insolites (Unusual Passages), an annual public art exhibition in the historic Petit-Champlain and Saint-Roch districts of the city. The canoe has long been associated with Canada"s national history, linked with early explorers, fur traders, Indigenous peoples, and colonists who ventured out into the wilderness of the great north. The artist behind this installation, Giorgia Volpe, was inspired by "the idea of migration and its influence on the formation of our society and our territory." Canada welcomes on average about 200,000 immigrants each year, many of whom will become Canadian citizens. The migrations continue…Desktop Version
Nursing the world to health
Nursing the world to health
Today we"re celebrating some of the heroes among us on International Nurses Day. May 12, 2020 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the "Lady with the Lamp" credited with reinventing and modernizing the profession of nursing. Born into a wealthy English family living in Italy, she spurned the traditional Victorian roles of wife and hostess to embark on a career in nursing and social reform. After training as a nurse in Germany and serving as one in London, her friend and confidant, War Secretary Sidney Herbert, sent Nightingale and a staff of 38 women she had trained as nurses to help care for the wounded of the Crimean War.Desktop Version