Photos That Will Show You The Unseen Side Of Our World

It's easy to get wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of our own lives, but then Reddit comes along and reminds us about all the other cool, weird, and interesting things that are happening in other countries or areas of the world.

From sea creatures to CT scanners to the inside of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, these photos from around the world will absolutely fascinate you. Keep reading to be blown away by this spinning globe that we all live on.

Plenty Of Fish

fish swimming away from shark
Photo Credit: Reddit / Lowcrbnaman
Photo Credit: Reddit / Lowcrbnaman

There may be plenty of fish in the sea, but none of them want to go near this shark. Maybe this shark is just lonely and looking for friends? Or he's looking for his next meal, but that's beside the point.

These fish all work together to avoid the predator that wants to eat them for lunch. It's really quite amazing. If only we were all this good at working as part of a team.

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Beijing's Traffic Control Room

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traffic control room in beijing
Photo Credit: Reddit / ThatsJustYourOpinionMan
Photo Credit: Reddit / ThatsJustYourOpinionMan
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This looks like the control room from Cabin in the Woods but it's actually the traffic control room located in Beijing. Isn't it weird to think about how we live in a world that requires a room like this?

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What's so crazy about this screen is just how big it is. It takes up an entire wall. There's a lot of traffic in Beijing, which means they need a big system to control it all.

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The Interior Of The Leaning Tower Of Pisa

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tower of pisa is hollow inside
Photo Credit: Reddit / Wicked_Aviator
Photo Credit: Reddit / Wicked_Aviator
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The interior of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is all a lie because there is no interior. The Tower is actually hollow except for the stairs, which don't go fully to the top of the tower.

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The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a bell tower, which is why it's hollow. The empty space helps the sound from the bell resonate. It's leaning because the foundation it was built on shifted after its construction. It's standing on shaky ground.

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Drift Away

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sequoia tree on the beach
Photo Credit: Reddit
Photo Credit: Reddit
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Are there size requirements for driftwood? This sequoia washed up on shore but it's hard to classify something that big as 'driftwood' considering a dog could never play fetch with this in the ocean.

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A tree must have fallen on a nearby island and landed in the water. This tree is completely stripped of its bark, which means it must have been drifting for a very long time. How long do you think it took to wash up on this shore?

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Gorgeous Glacier

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Mendenhall Glacier outside of juneau alaska
Photo Credit: Reddit / Travoli
Photo Credit: Reddit / Travoli
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If you're paying a visit to Juneau any time soon, you could have the opportunity to hike directly into Mendenhall Glacier. The inside of the glacier looks like the heavens are opening up for you.

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In case you were wondering about what exactly a glacier is, a glacier is defined as "a slowly moving mass or river of ice formed by the accumulation and compaction of snow on mountains or near the poles." Well, the more you know.

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That's Just One Cable!

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half cut of a golden gate cable
Photo credit: Reddit / jaykirsch
Photo credit: Reddit / jaykirsch
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The Golden Gate Bridge features two main cables that run the span of the bridge. This half cut of a cable is as thick as a tree trunk and looks like thick, dense metal. In reality, one cable is actually made up of thousands of other cables. Each cable is made of 61 smaller cables that are bundled from 27,572 strands of wire.

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It's a good thing the cable is that thick. You need something sturdy to hold up an entire bridge.

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They Sliced These On Purpose

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golf balls cut in half to see the insides
Photo Credit: YouTube
Photo Credit: YouTube
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It turns out the inside of golf balls actually look like those jawbreakers you used to get from the convenience store as a kid. Technically, a golf ball could still count as a jawbreaker, it probably wouldn't taste as sweet though...

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Yeah, don't put golf balls anywhere near your mouth. Leave those things on the ground where they belong. Why is it so fascinating to see my kind of solid sport ball cut in half?

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Tiny Technology

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smallest computer compared to grain of rice
Photo Credit: Reddit / willburn61
Photo Credit: Reddit / willburn61
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The world's smallest computer compared to a grain of rice proves just how far our world has advanced technologically, and it makes you wonder where will be in the next 10, 20, or 30 years.

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You probably need a computer to make a computer that small because human hands are just too big and bulky for the job. This computer is pretty cool, but I'm kind of mesmerized by this up-close shot of a grain of rice.

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Everything It Takes To Save A Life

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Geneva Fire and Rescue team with equipment
Photo Credit: Instagram / @ville_de_geneve
Photo Credit: Instagram / @ville_de_geneve
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If you've ever wondered what exactly a fire truck holds, the Geneva Fire and Rescue Service team has the answer to your question. All of that equipment is used to save someone's life every day.

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Firefighters have to do regular checks to make sure that all of the equipment pictured above is on the truck, in good working order, and ready to be used in an emergency. You don't want to be caught with a defective fire suit.

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Brick By Brick

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machine laying bricks for a road in the netherlands
Photo credit: Reddit / lordsleepyhead
Photo credit: Reddit / lordsleepyhead
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Gone are the days where brick-laying took days of work and multiple people. The Netherlands decided, once again, to be ahead of their time and create this machine. Seeing it in action does make it lose a bit of the magic though.

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This photo might make you look at every brick road a little bit differently. What about the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz? Do you think that was put down by hand?

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The Underbelly Of A Ship Isn't What You Might Think

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battleship with no water around it
Photo Credit: Reddit
Photo Credit: Reddit
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A battleship with no water surrounding it suddenly looks more like a rocketship out of Star Wars than a watercraft. Either way, it's not something we'd want to go up against in a battle.

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This thing looks heavy! I wouldn't want to mess with it on land or in the water. It might be able to move more swiftly in the water, but it still looks like it could pack quite a punch on land.

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How The 8th Wonder Of The World Traveled The Globe

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andre the giant on a plane in the 1980s
Photo Credit: Reddit / RollTideGaming
Photo Credit: Reddit / RollTideGaming
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It's no surprise that a 7 foot 4 inch man needed two seats, but according to an HBO documentary that used this photo of Andre the Giant from the 1980s, he was so big that he actually couldn't fit into the bathrooms on airplanes.

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I guess if he wanted to go to the bathroom he could either try to aim from outside the door, hold it the whole plane ride, or take a private jet with a larger bathroom.

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A High-Tech Alien Robot, Or A CT Scanner?

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tranformer/CT scanner
Photo Credit: Reddit / Adderall
Photo Credit: Reddit / Adderall
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No this is not a transformer, and Shia Labeouf is not about to appear from behind this contraption. This is actually just a CT scanner without the cover on it, but it's pretty wicked, right?

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CT scanners use a bunch of different x-ray measurements to give doctors a greater understanding of what's going on inside your body. It's not a giant magnet. That's an MRI machine. They both let doctors look beyond the skin we're in.

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Lift Off!

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space shuttle launching taken from space
Photo credit: Reddit
Photo credit: Reddit
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At first, this looks like a needle on a wool sweater, but it's actually a photo of a space shuttle leaving our atmosphere. NASA took the photo from a satellite to show the other side of a shuttle launch.

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When you think about how small the space shuttle looks in this photo, it really puts the size and scale of everything around it into perspective. Our world is big to us, but the universe is massive.

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Flip Over That Lily Pad

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underside of lily pad
Photo credit: Reddit / Hotbreadsy
Photo credit: Reddit / Hotbreadsy
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There probably isn't a time where you would flip over a lily pad, so this is a good insight into what nature can do. It just shows how complicated something seemingly simple can be.

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All of those veins underneath the lily pad are supplying the plant with the carbon dioxide it needs to survive. Remember, plants and people have a symbiotic relationship. We breathe out carbon dioxide, and they "breathe" it in.

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Does This Ruin The Magic Of Space Mountain?

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inside of space mountain with lights on
Photo credit: Reddit / chrono1465
Photo credit: Reddit / chrono1465
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It might just look like some metal tracks, but this is actually the inside of Disney's Space Mountain ride with the lights turned on. It definitely doesn't look as scary as when you're 5-years-old.

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Sometimes the ride has to be fixed while people are on it. All the lights are turned on and the park guests are treated to a view sort of like this. Some guests say it ruins the magic while others are fascinated by the mechanics.

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This Half-Rock Was Formed Naturally

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rock that appears to be split in half
Photo credit: Imgur
Photo credit: Imgur
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It looks like only Thor's hammer could split a rock of this size. Tokangawhā, or Split Apple Rock, is located off the coast of New Zealand. The rock is naturally formed so, sorry, no proof of Thor's hammer exists here. The native Maori do describe a godlike formation of the rocks though in their mythology.

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The split is a result of a naturally occurring "joint" in the granite rock. The joints are weak spots in the granite that, over thousands of years, the waves and wind can erode.

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The Border Between Old And New

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old and new china borderline
Photo Credit: Reddit / moonsprite
Photo Credit: Reddit / moonsprite
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This was taken in a city in China where the old and newly developed neighborhoods almost meet. It looks like a scene out of a movie where the future is rapidly approaching and soon it'll overtake everything. When you think about it, that's kind of our reality now right?

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The new is slowly encroaching and soon it will overtake the old, but in this moment, they were captured existing side by side. What an amazing picture!

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How The Times Have Changed...

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duct tape guy
Photo Credit: Reddit / HeadOrFace
Photo Credit: Reddit / HeadOrFace
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As you can see from those guards' glasses, this picture is not a recent one. It was taken at the 1995 murder trial of Christopher Charles Lightsey, who had to be gagged because he was being extremely obscene, reportedly. Imagine the backlash if guards tried to do this today.

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If an accused criminal was being disruptive now, they would probably just be escorted out of the courtroom. This duct tape situation isn't a very good look.

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Take The Stage

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theatre stage looking out on crowd
Photo credit: Reddit / kiaall
Photo credit: Reddit / kiaall
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Most people won't ever have the chance to see this view of a theatre. Only the cast and crew of a performance will have the opportunity to look out on the crowd and see something this memorable.

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This is what the stage looks like from the other side. The performers are looking out at the audience and doing everything they can to entertain the people who came to watch them sing, dance, act, and play music.

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Empire State Of Mind

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new york city half and half
Photo Credit: imgur
Photo Credit: imgur
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New York City has managed to preserve Central Park within the city, but when you look at the right side it's hard to not think about how long it'll be before the left side is taken over as well.

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Hopefully, Central Park gets to stay green for a long time. It's an iconic part of New York City, and even if it's precious real estate, New York City just wouldn't be the same without it.

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The Mark Twain Tree Is A Reminder Of Nature's Power

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half tree with lines marking dates
Photo credit: Reddit / jaykirsch
Photo credit: Reddit / jaykirsch
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Nicknamed the Mark Twain Tree, this cutaway of a stump is from a giant sequoia from the Kings Canyon park in California. The tree was cut down in 1891 and the stump was sectioned off and sent around the world simply to prove that trees that big actually exist.

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The slice seen here was sent to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. On the stump, dates corresponding to the tree rings showcase how the tree began growing in 550 AD.

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Pearly Planets

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pearls cut in half
Photo Credit: Reddit / thegodofbigthings
Photo Credit: Reddit / thegodofbigthings
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Much like golf balls, pearls have a pretty cool inside, but they look more like planets rather than candy. If you look up how pearls are actually formed, their layered-look makes a lot of sense, but it's not something you really think about.

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Just like a mollusk's shell, a pearl is made up of layers of calcium carbonate that build up over time. Pearls are actually a mollusk's immune response. They occur when an oyster is trying to fight of an irritant or an infection.

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That's Life

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human embryo on the tip of a needle
Photo Credit: Reddit / mike_pants
Photo Credit: Reddit / mike_pants
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Every person on earth has looked like this at some point in their life because that right there is an early human embryo. It's a self-portrait of 7.5 billion people.

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Pretty soon, if all goes well, this embryo will start growing and dividing until it becomes a fully formed human baby. That's what we call the miracle of life. Can you believe you used to look like this? It's kind of insane when you think about it.

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Tip Of The Iceberg

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interior of a pool table
Photo Credit: Reddit / Duckman296
Photo Credit: Reddit / Duckman296
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The interior of a pool table looks a lot more mechanical than you expected right? Goes to show that you don't always know what's going on beneath the surface! It's like a duck — chill on top but paddling furiously below the water.

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If we didn't tell you what this was, you probably wouldn't even know that it's the inside of a pool table. It's basically just a system of incline planes. Yeah, we paid attention in the first grade.

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Brake For Breakfast

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momma deer feeding babies
Photo Credit: Reddit / adalab
Photo Credit: Reddit / adalab
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This seems like a fairly inconvenient place to stop to feed your children, but this momma has to make sure her babies are well fed. So everyone else can wait a hot minute for her to finish.

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As far as she's concerned, those cars can wait until her babies have had their breakfast. She doesn't care if they're late for a meeting or if they're on their way to their cottage after a long work week. Her kids come first.

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Nature Stops At Nothing

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nature car
Photo Credit: Reddit / TopdeBotton
Photo Credit: Reddit / TopdeBotton
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What do you think could've caused two people to abandon their cars on this woodsy road? Was there a serial killer on the loose like in an 80s horror movie or did the cars just break down?

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Whatever happened, nature totally took over and started swallowing up these cars. You can barely see that yellow car under all of the vegetation. When it comes to nature vs. technology, nature always wins. Technology might be flashy and new, but nature is tried and true.

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Now Let's Get In Formation

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skydivers in formation
Photo Credit: Reddit / TehBamski
Photo Credit: Reddit / TehBamski
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Eighty-one crazy people all decided to jump out of a plane with nothing but a parachute to make this diamond formation. It probably took a lot of effort to coordinate this, but they did it just for you.

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The amount of co-ordination this must have taken is astounding. Each row of skydivers had to jump at exactly the same time, and then they all had to maneuver themselves in the air while they were falling.

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The Shape Of Water

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large ice crystal found in switzerland
Photo Credit: Reddit / simplywing
Photo Credit: Reddit / simplywing
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Though it looks like a tiny city built out of glass, this structure is actually an ice crystal that was found in Switzerland in an area that's known for its large ice crystals and clear water.

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It kind of looks like a futuristic microchip or something. It looks like it belongs in Black Mirror or Westworld. Who knew water could be this cool when it gets cold? Why does Switzerland get all the nice ice?

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No Filter Necessary

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temple covered in ash after eruption
Photo Credit: Reddit / Grown_Man
Photo Credit: Reddit / Grown_Man
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This may look like a photo where someone has highlighted the people in a black-and-white image, but it's sadly not. This photo was taken in Japan after the Ontake volcanic eruption covered this temple in ash.

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This looks like it came straight out of the Game of Thrones finale. Yeah, we know, it didn't do the series justice, but you have to admit it had some stunning visuals. This looks like a city destroyed by Drogon.

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America Loves The Golden Arches

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mcdonalds america heat map
Photo Credit: Reddit / devilwill
Photo Credit: Reddit / devilwill
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Can you guess what this is? It's a map of the United States with all of the McDonald's restaurants highlighted. There are approximately 14,000 locations in the US which is the most out of any country in the world. The country with the second-highest is Japan, with around 3,000 locations. Yikes.

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It does sort of look like a map of America on fire, and you know what? It kind of is. It kind of is.

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Time Is Ticking

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telephone wire interior
Photo Credit: Reddit
Photo Credit: Reddit
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This looks like the beginning of an action movie where someone is told they have to decipher which of these wires to cut in order to save humanity. Luckily, we're not in a James Bond movie, this is just a bundle of about 100 26 gauge wires that make up a telephone wire.

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All of those wires represent thousands of individual connections. We are able to contact the ones we love and basically any time because of these wires.

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Smoke Free Zone

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smoke free sign
Photo Credit: Reddit / GrenadesForGandhi
Photo Credit: Reddit / GrenadesForGandhi
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We live in a world where you can no longer put up a sign that says 'No Smoking.' It now has to be a sign that clarifies no vaping, juuling, smoking, or smoking of any kind, just to cover all the bases.

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Just because marijuana is legal now in a lot of countries and states doesn't mean that you can smoke it wherever and whenever you want. Boundaries still exist, people. Listen to the signs.

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Northern Beauty

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northern lights in norway
Photo Credit: Reddit / EarlyNeedleworker
Photo Credit: Reddit / EarlyNeedleworker
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This display of the Northern Lights over glaciers in Norway shows just how beautiful our world is. We just have to be willing to venture away from the city lights and skyscrapers in order to see it!

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And now you know what glaciers are, so you can appreciate this photo even more. By the way, the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora borealis, exist because of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by solar wind.

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Vacation Mode

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village near Arkhangelsk, Russia
Photo Credit: Reddit / spaceion
Photo Credit: Reddit / spaceion
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These colorful chalets are situated in a holiday village just outside of Arkhangelsk, Russia. It's easy to get caught up in our own lives and not consider the world around us, but this photo is a great reminder of lifestyles around the world.

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This looks like a photo straight out of a Christmas cartoon. This town is so beautiful against the stark white snow. Don't you just want to URL up inside one of those colorful cabins with a mug of hot cocoa?

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Ghost City

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fog covering san francisco
Photo Credit: Reddit / sarajayee
Photo Credit: Reddit / sarajayee
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Is this the beginning of a new Harry Potter movie? No, it's just San Francisco being enveloped in fog and turning into a scene straight out of a sci-fi movie.

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That's right, this photo was taken in our very own country. This gorgeous display of fog and light happened on our planet. We're pretty lucky to live in such a beautiful place. Sometimes clouds and sunlight come together to create real magic. I could look at this forever.

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Everything Has A Purpose

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artichokes grow into flowesr
Photo Credit: Reddit / saladbars
Photo Credit: Reddit / saladbars
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Did you know that if you don't harvest artichokes, they keep growing and blossom into beautiful flowers? These spiky little dudes contribute to our world in their own way, we just have to let them.

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This also means that you're kind of eating a flower when you eat an artichoke. Well, you're eating a pre-flower. Most other fruits and vegetables start out as flowers or blossoms before they grow up and become edible. It all sounds very appetizing.

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Bilateral Butterfly

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butterflywith male and female characteristics
Photo Credit: Reddit / Johnsingl
Photo Credit: Reddit / Johnsingl
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This beautiful creature shown here is a bilateral gynandromorph butterfly, which is a fancy way of saying it's half male and half female. This condition actually exists in a number of animals but is most commonly identified in birds and butterflies.

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These butterflies were rocking their gender fluidity before it was cool. They make being half male and half female look absolutely beautiful. This butterfly should seriously become the mascot for anybody who doesn't conform to traditional forms of gender expression.

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This Massive Wasp Nest Isn't As Dangerous As It Looks

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massive wasp nest cut in half
Photo credit: Reddit / sverdrupian
Photo credit: Reddit / sverdrupian
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Wasp nests are made out of tree bark. The wasp will eat the bark of certain trees, chew is up, break it down, and then regurgitate it in a softer form. The new 'bark' form allows them to create papery nests.

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This is what the cross-section of a wasp nest looks like. You can see all of the channels that the wasps build in order to lay their eggs and raise their young. It's pretty incredible.

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Nothing To See Here

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sheets covering leavened products in israel
Photo credit: Reddit / bary3000
Photo credit: Reddit / bary3000
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This is a supermarket in Israel during the Jewish holiday of Passover. In this case, there are laws against displaying leavened products to the public. Many stores will cover up their leavened products to conform, and make it easier for their shoppers.

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After the holiday is over, the bread products will be uncovered and people can go back to shopping and eating as normal. The holiday of Passover lasts for seven days and it commemorates the Jews exodus from Egypt.

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This Is What Baby Flamingos Look Like

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This Is What Baby Flamingos Look Like
Reddit / ashiruuu
Reddit / ashiruuu
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These tiny fluffy birds are baby flamingos. Though they're already sporting their species' infamous long legs, some are shocked by their grey color. Mature flamingos get their color from feeding on foods rich in beta carotene, a chemical with a reddish-orange pigment, such red and blue-green algae. Flamingos extract the pigment during digestion, and end up storing them as fats. Those fats make their way to the feathers, giving flamingos their characteristic pink hue.

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For now, these little flamingos drink bright red milk made in their parent's upper respiratory tracts, but they'll have to wait about three years before they look Barbie-pink chic.

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The Easter Island Statues Have Full Bodies

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The Easter Island Statues Have Full Bodies
Easter Island Statue Project
Easter Island Statue Project
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A group of UCLA archeologists who dug around the "Easter Island Heads", or "Moai" as they are known by the Rapa Nui people who inhabited the southern Pacific, discovered that the large statues actually have full bodies that are buried into the ground. Over time, rock and sediment slowly buried the torsos of the statues to different extents and preserved them.

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The statues were carved from rock sometime between 1100 and 1500 AD by the ancient Polynesians. While there are almost a thousand statues on Chile's Easter Island, the 150 that reside on the side of a volcano are photographed and seen the most, leaving people to believe that the statues are only heads.

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This Is What A Cleaned Heart Looks Like

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This Is What A Cleaned Heart Looks Like
Dons Taylor
Dons Taylor
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A "ghost heart" is made by cleaning out all of the donor's cells and leaving only the protein structure. By cleaning out the donor cells, doctors can add stem cells from the transplant recipient and grow a new, fully functioning heart. Using ghost hearts and stem-cell technology allows doctors to perform transplants without the risk of organ rejection.

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By using the recipient's stem cells, the doctors remove the chance that the donors' cells will reactive negatively in a new body. While this method is still in the research process and not quite ready for trials, it offers a bright glimpse into the future of organ transplants.

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Auroras Occur On Multiple Planets, And Each Looks Different

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Auroras Occur On Multiple Planets, And Each Looks Different
Reddit / drsleep007
Reddit / drsleep007
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You've probably seen a photo of Aurora Borealis or Aurora Australis (more commonly known as the Northern Lights and Southern Lights) before, but these magnetic light displays don't just occur on Earth.

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The sun releases a consistent stream of charged particles called a solar wind into the solar system. When these winds get close to a planet, they compress the planet's magnetic field into a teardrop shape. The change in the magnetic field causes the solar wind particles to accelerate into the upper atmosphere where they interact with elements such as nitrogen and oxygen and give off energy in the form of light, creating the colorful light ribbon visible in these photos.

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Tiger Stripes Go Deeper Than Their Fur

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Tiger Stripes Go Deeper Than Their Fur
Reddit / Monkess
Reddit / Monkess
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Tigers are known for their characteristic stripes, but what most people don't know is that a tiger's stripe pattern is also printed on their skin. The darkness of the pigmentation of their skin is directly related to the darkness of their fur. Just like how we all have unique fingerprints, each tiger has a unique pattern of stripes.

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In scientific studies, researchers tend to differentiate subjects by their stripes. A tiger's fur depends on its habitat, with tigers living in cooler, damper climates developing thicker, longer coats. Additionally, color variations in tiger species evolved to help these majestic cats hide within their respective environments, such as White Tigers who live in snowy climates.

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Transparent Skin Of The Glass Frog Makes Their Organs Visible

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frog
Reddit / SirAnonymos
Reddit / SirAnonymos
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The skin on the underside of Reticulated Glass Frogs is transparent, allowing us to get a full view of their internal organs. From underneath, you can even see the frog's beating heart in action. This frog species is found in the rainforests of Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica. These frogs are active during the night and live in vegetation beside streams.

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While scientists haven't been able to pinpoint the evolutionary reason for their transparent skin, there has been speculation that Glass Frog's spotted back patterns are meant to resemble a clump of frog eggs, allowing for males to protect their unhatched offspring.

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Who Would Have Known Owls Have Long Legs?

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owls
Twitter / @dixieonline
Twitter / @dixieonline
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Owls are known for a few of their distinct characteristics: they are nocturnal birds of prey, their heads can spin all the way around, and they have exceptional hearing capabilities. The legs of an owl, however, are regularly hidden by a thick layer of feathers, leading many to be surprised by just how long they are.

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Owls' long legs and powerful talons give them an advantage while hunting by enabling them to quickly reach down and snatch their prey. Don't let their big, hypnotic eyes and model-length legs fool you: these birds are deadly.

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The Entire Human Nervous System

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The Entire Human Nervous System
Reddit / DerekS428
Reddit / DerekS428
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In 1925, two medical students at A. T. Still University (ATSU) in Kirksville, Missouri were tasked with dissecting the entire intact human nervous system from a cadaver, starting at the brain and moving downward through the body. Nerves are cylindrical bundles of fibers resembling electrical wires that start at the brain and spinal cord and branch out to the rest of the body.

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The dissection took M. A. Schlack and L.P. Ramsdell over 1,500 hours; for reference that is the equivalent of 62.5 straight days. There are only a total of four diagrams like this in existence. This version is currently on display at the Museum of Osteopathic Medicine at ATSU.

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This Is What Salt Looks Like Under An Electron Microscope

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This Is What Salt Looks Like Under An Electron Microscope
Reddit / BunyipPouch
Reddit / BunyipPouch
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Salt, chemically referred to as Sodium Chloride (NaCl), forms into cubic crystals. However, when observed under a high-powered electron microscope, it appears to be composed of overlapping cubes. Salt is an ionic compound, meaning that the sodium and chlorine molecules are bonded to each other due to their respective positive and negative charges. The result is a very specific atomic arrangement that forms a cubic shape.

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Salt forms naturally, generally not needing a chemical catalyst due to the polar attraction between sodium and chlorine. Feel free to flex your new knowledge the next time someone asks you to pass the salt while at the dinner table!

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A Globe Designed For Blind People

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globe
Reddit / SamwiseGimli
Reddit / SamwiseGimli
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Stephen Preston Ruggles, an engineer and craftsman, created a map of Boston with the streets, roads, and bridges marked with wooden divets in 1830 for the print shop at Perkins School For The Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts. For most of history, blind people didn't have a formal way to learn geography, and Ruggles's work was one of the earliest archived tools.

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Seven years later, Ruggles and the school's founding director, Samuel Gridley Howe, created a method of embossing maps, releasing the Atlas of the United States Printed for Use of the Blind. Since then, many more tactile maps have been developed to help the visually impaired learn geography.

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An Albino Raccoon

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raccoon
Reddit / ShakeMango
Reddit / ShakeMango
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This furry little guy looks a little different from his other species members who are known for the black markings around their eyes and striped black and grey tails. You've probably cursed one for going through your garbage at least once.

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Albinism is a congenital disease in animals that causes either partial or complete loss of pigmentation. Many albino animals are also known to have red-pigmented eyes. Many albino animals in the wild have short life spans due to their diminished ability to camouflage within their respective habitats. While albinism is genetic, it's a recessive gene and is most times repressed by the dominant gene that promotes regular pigmentation. However, most species, including humans, have albinos.

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Large Ice Crystal Precipitation

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Reddit / simplywing
Reddit / simplywing
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Ice crystal precipitation, often referred to as "freezing rain" and "snow", vary in size, shape, and intensity, but are found in many of the colder regions of the world. In order to make these ice crystals, water vapor freezes at an extremely rapid rate, forming geometric ice forms rather than rain. The ultimate size and density of the crystal is determined by the intensity of the updraft within the cloud

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These ice crystals each have unique patterns and structures due to their rather spontaneous creation in the atmosphere. As these ice crystals fall, they clump together with other ice crystals, forming what we see as snowflakes — meaning snowflakes really are all different.

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A Photograph Of The Dark Side Of The Moon

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moon
DSCOVR / NASA
DSCOVR / NASA
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Using a NASA camera, the crew on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) were able to capture this photograph of the dark side of the moon. They've released a series of illuminated photos that display the dark side of the moon which is not visible from Earth.

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The "dark side" of the moon doesn't necessarily refer to an absolute absence of light on the side of the moon, so much as it suggests the unknown property of the side of the moon that faces away from the Earth. Prior to the space missions during which spacecrafts travelled around the moon, the far side of the moon had never been seen by humans.

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This Is What A News Reporter Looks Like From The Back

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Instagram / @kuyakim_atienza
Instagram / @kuyakim_atienza
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The on-scene reporters we see on the news always seem to look perfectly put together, but they look totally different from behind. Neatly hidden off camera and tucked into the back of clothing are all of the technological necessities of the job, including the earpiece to hear information from her team as well as a transmittable microphone.

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Even further behind the scenes are the team fact-checking and delivering the story for the reporter to say on screen, makeup team, lighting, camera, and sound crew, as well as the team coordinating the timing for the live report. I bet you'll never take the six o'clock news for granted again!

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This Is What A Boeing-787 Looks Like Without Seats

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Reddit / Mass1m01973
Reddit / Mass1m01973
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I'm so used to seeing airplanes crammed full with seats, passengers, and flight attendants with drink carts that this photo truly shocked me. The Boeing-787 is a passenger plane with variants designed to fit 242 to 355 passengers. Also known as the "Dreamliner", this plane has been a widespread success with the model being used across dozens of airlines, though American Airlines boasts the largest fleet of 787's.

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While the 787 was grounded in 2013 by the Federal Aviation Association due to problems with ion-lithium batteries used in the plane, it only took a few weeks before the battery issue was resolved and the model hit the skies again.

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The Shadow Of An Eclipse On The Earth's Surface

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The Shadow Of An Eclipse On The Earth's Surface
Astronomy Picture Of The Day
Astronomy Picture Of The Day
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While you shouldn't look directly into a solar eclipse, this photograph deserves many stares. Pictured is a photo of a total solar eclipse that took place on August 11, 1999. The moon is directly between the sun and the Earth, creating the circular shadow on the Earth's surface. People on Earth in the area not obstructed by the shadow would see a partial solar eclipse.

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This photo was taken by the crew of the Mir Space Station, which operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001. The crew estimated that the shadow was moving across the surface of the Earth at approximately 2000 kilometers per hour.

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Some Starfish Are Square-Shaped

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Some Starfish Are Square-Shaped
Phil Mercurio Photography
Phil Mercurio Photography
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The Square Biscuit Starfish can grow up to six centimeters and is mainly found in Australia. Its upper surface is covered with interlocking places, creating a pattern resembling a large biscuit. The coloring of this starfish species allows it to camouflage with the seabed.

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Starfish are marine invertebrates. Most tend to have a central disc and five arms, though some other species have more (or less, in the case of the Square Biscuit Starfish). Starfish across different species have different textures, ranging from smooth to spiny. There are over 1,500 documented species of starfish, and they tend to inhabit the ocean floors. Some live as deep as 20,000 ft. below the surface!

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A Giant Amethyst Geode

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A Giant Amethyst Geode
Reddit / Keaganxvx
Reddit / Keaganxvx
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Geodes are hollow rock formations that house inward-facing crystals. These crystals are formed by many different processes that occur as mineral material slowly moves into the pockets of air in the rock. Amethyst is a purple variety of quartz, and owes its violet color to irradiation, impurities of iron, and the presence of other trace elements.

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The Artigas region of Uruguay is renowned for amethyst mineralization and geode mining. Uruguay Amethyst is coveted for its magnificent beauty, and its rich color and durability make it a highly-valued crystal. The largest amethyst geode weighs 28,660 lbs. and is 9' 10" long, 5' 10" wide, and 7' 2" tall.

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This Is What An Elephant Tail Looks Like Up Close

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This Is What An Elephant Tail Looks Like Up Close
Reddit / CallMeKudu
Reddit / CallMeKudu
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You know how dogs wag their tails when they are excited? Well, elephants do, too. Elephants use their tail movements to communicate with each other, with rapid movement suggesting happiness. Like cows, elephants use their tails to swat pesky bugs away. Baby elephants sometimes use their trunks to hold onto the tail of older animals when walking in a herd for guidance and security on long journeys.

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An elephant's tail can also indicate diet and eating behaviors. Between 2000 and 2006, scientists in Kenya collected data on where elephants migrated and what they ate, discovering that the carbon isotopes in their tails showed which plants they ate during certain times of the year.

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This Is What Is Really Happening When Car Chases Are Filmed

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This Is What Is Really Happening When Car Chases Are Filmed
Reddit / moniso
Reddit / moniso
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This photo, taken behind the scenes of blockbuster film Baby Driver, shows what's really going on when car chases are filmed. The driver on top of the car controls the vehicle's movements so the actor can focus on delivering their lines and staying in character.

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Edgar Wright, the writer and director of the movie, wanted to film the car chases in reality and minimize the use of CGI technology to only minor touch-ups and quick shots. He brought together a team of experts to coordinate the car chases on location in Atlanta, creating the fast-paced driving scenes that define the movie. Wright shot 95% of the film in-camera — an impressive feat for such an action-packed film.