A view of northern lights over the skies of Sodankyla, #Lapland, #Finland, October 8, 2024. Courtesy of All About Lapland/Alexander Kuznetsov/Handout via REUTERS
"Whales evolved from herbivorous forest-dwelling ancestors that resembled tiny deer to carnivorous monsters stalking lakes and rivers and to serpentlike denizens of the coast."
The Walking Whales by J. G. M. Hans Thewissen, 2014
From Land to Water in Eight Million Years Hans Thewissen, a leading researcher in the field of whale paleontology and anatomy, gives a sweeping first-person account of the discoveries that brought to light the early fossil record of whales.
When rivers swallow land: Bangladesh farmers displaced by climate change
Every year, hundreds of families in northern Bangladesh's Kurigram district face losing not only their homes but also their land, crops, and livestock as riverbanks collapse.
Ciril Jazbec: Leona 2 (from the series SILA: Between the Ice and Sky), 2024
This striking portrait shows a young Inuit girl, Leona, shortly after taking part in an ancient seal hunting ritual in the Uummannaq Ice fjord in northwest Greenland. As Ciril Jazbec explains, ‘For Leona, this moment was a rare opportunity to witness and participate in a traditional way of life, a way of life that may soon be lost to the warming world.’
What lies at the end of a rainbow? Something different for everyone. For the photographer taking this picture, for example, one end of the rainbow ended at a tree. Others nearby, though, would likely see the rainbow end somewhere else. The reason is because a rainbow's position depends on the observer.
Magdeburg, #Germany Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen sits in a temporary courtroom at the opening of his trial over an attack on a Christmas market in the eastern German city. The #Saudi medical *DOCTOR* is accused of driving an SUV at pedestrians in December 2024, killing a nine-year-old boy and five women aged between 45 and 75. He faces six counts of murder and 338 counts of attempted murder.
Rescued baby flying foxes rest, wrapped up, after being injured by giant hailstones (some as large as a cricket ball) in #Queensland storms, #Australia. Almost 120 fruit bats (as they are also known) were injured, some critically, before being rescued by volunteers and admitted to the RSPCA wildlife hospital.
Meet the stubby bobtail (Rossia pacifica). With a mantle length of only up to 2 in (5 cm), this tiny critter typically spends its days buried beneath the sand, emerging at night to feed. Shrimp comprise nearly 80 percent of this species’ diet, but it also preys on small fishes and even other cephalopods. It can be found in coastal waters from Japan to California.
Have you ever seen the Roti Island snake-necked turtle (Chelodina mccordi)? This reptile’s serpentine neck can measure about two-thirds the length of its carapace! When threatened, it can’t tuck its long neck into its shell like many other turtles can. Instead, it wraps its neck around its body like a scarf. You can find this species on Roti Island, Indonesia, where it inhabits wetlands such as lakes and swamps.
Olive harvest season is under way across the occupied West Bank.
In every Palestinian home, there is a “teta” – a grandmother and keeper of family traditions who shares her olive recipes and tells stories of when the whole family gathered to harvest them.
‘Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind,’ - Bertrand Russell