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Whether he's photographing snowflakes, or the coiled shell of a snail, German photographer Matthias Lenke has a way of bringing out the details in his subjects — but he does an especially breathtaking job with insects. We think you'll agree. More »
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The subjects of Mandy Barker's photographs look like creatures from another world, but they're actually quite mundane: discarded fishing nets, plastic bottles, and toothpaste tubes. They're what sits beneath the surface of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. More »
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The bombing of Nagasaki, the explosion of the Hindenburg, and the Challenger disaster have all been immortalized into smoke-filled photography. Artist Brock Davis has reproduced those iconic explosions in an unlikely medium: cauliflower. More »
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This beautiful image [hi-res available here] was recently recognized by National Geographic as one of the best photographs of 2011. Two of the magazine's photo editors appreciated it for its cryptic quality. Is the subject of this photograph a sprouting fungus? A microscopic photo of a leaf? A snowy landscape? More »
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When Redditor OzLebowski saw his wife's sonogram, he realized that something was horribly amiss — namely, that she was giving birth to Venom the alien symbiote from The Amazing Spider-Man comic book. More »
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These stunning snapshots are from a series by Japanese photographer Tsuneaki Hiramatsu, who employed a variety of time-lapse techniques to capture the awe-inspiring beauty of fireflies in flight. More »
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Every year, Science Magazine teams up with the National Science Foundation to host the International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge. Participants are asked to enter photographs, illustrations, informational graphics, videos, and even interactive games to be judged on their visual impact and ability to communicate a scientific idea. More »
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It's really refreshing to see photos that put the "play" into "cosplay." And photographer Michael Smith at Emerald Coast Cosplay does a fantastic job of capturing the playfulness and silliness of cosplay. His photos from SukoshiCON Destin and some other recent conventions are just bursting with personality. More »
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Nikki Graziano was a photography and math student at Rochester Institute of Technology, and she found the perfect way to combine her passions. Graziano examines the shapes that appear in her photographs and overlays the mathematical functions that best describe them. More »
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What's incredible about this stunning photograph isn't just that it captures the path the sun appears to take across the sky from the summer solstice to the winter solstice. It's that it was taken with such a simple device: a pin-hole camera made from a drink can. More »
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We've seen kaiju inserted into yard sale paintings and vampiric 1800s facsimiles of Nicolas Cage. In the spirit of such portraiture comes Alex Gross' series of science fiction cabinet cards, in which he takes poor dead bastards who kicked it 100+ years ago and repaints them as pop icons. Gross will be presenting a new batch of cards in Los Angeles next month. Here are some of our favorites.

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It's unclear who snapped this, but we can affirm without apprehension that this set shot is the most dignified photo of a kaiju in the history of photography. Now I want to see Hedorah in a debonair tuxedo, quaffing a gin gimlet. More »
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National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore has a mission: to shoot (with a camera) Earth's endangered species in a studio setting, so that human viewers are forced to confront exactly who's going extinct face-to-face. So far, Joel's photographed 1,800 species, and shooting these creatures presents its own set of challenges. Namely, his subjects love defecating on set. More »
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Just for kicks, fantasy author Jim C. Hines decided to pose like the female protagonists on the cover of his novel The Stepsister Scheme. More »
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In the Sahafina Forest in eastern Madagascar, a joint German-Malagasy research team has discovered a new species of primate they've dubbed Gerp's Mouse Lemur (Microcebus gerpi). Named after Madagascar's Groupe d'Étude et de Recherche sur les Primates de Madagascar and weighing in at 68 grams, Gerp's trumps the previously discovered Goodman's mouse lemur by a hearty 20 grams. More »
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In the old days, Ghostbusters didn't have the luxury of carrying their equipment on their backs. Instead, ghost-hunting spiritualists had to travel with large stationary contraptions, and hope their etherial prey wasn't too nimble. More »
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Pigeons already spread disease and poop through their urban homes, but what if we had to worry about flocks of pigeons armed with miniature cameras, watching our every move from overhead? In the early 20th century, one hobbyist photographer equipped the rats of the sky with just such cameras. More »
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Old-school cosplayers were fucking rad. They'd spend hours constructing costumes, sometimes with zero guarantee that anybody would know who the hell they were. In this day and age, everyone's got the internet hooked up to their earmuffs. Imagine trying to explain who the Dirty Pair were when a hearty portion of the population still communicated via two tin cans and twine. More »
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Should you look up Foxoak St, Cradley Heath, West Midlands B64, United Kingdom on Google Street View and move the camera toward the sky, you may notice something a bit off. I don't know what's more disconcerting: proof of alien battle cruisers or the fact that they've been cribbing human designs. More »
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On January 4, NASA shot this amazing composite image of the International Space Station crossing over the face of the Moon from Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. More »
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Are you a fan of embiggened bugs? Alex Wild — master of ceremonies over at Myrmecos — has just posted over 600 of his best photographs from 2011, and it is one of the most jaw-dropping collections of insect macrophotography we've ever seen. Click through to check it out — you won't be disappointed. More »
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One image can change the way we see the world, especially in science. From photographs of movement that's too fast for the human eye to perceive, to atomic force microscope images of atomic bonds, pictures created by new technologies have often catalyzed scientific discovery. More than tools of discovery, though, images can help scientists communicate the reality of what they study to each other and the public. More »
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For New Year's Eve in Ecuador, massive paper-and-wood figures known as "años viejos" (Spanish for "old years") are burnt to usher out the past 365 days. These elaborate sculptures depict everyone from Chucky the evil doll to Cable from the X-Men, who are all summarily incinerated as the clock runs down. More »
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Japan's 1:1 scale Gundam statue was built, disassembled, and subsequently reconstructed. Now, Gundam statue aficionado DarwinFish105 has recorded the statue's return to its former home in Odaiba. Here it is looking appropriately epic, surrounded by cloud cover. More »
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Here's further proof that basically everything goes better with Portal. Check out Ryan Kelly and his coworkers' Portal-fied Christmas tree, which certainly beats the hell out of the 20 years' worth of musty tinsel I festooned all over my folks' Tannenbaum this very evening. Also, learn how to make this Aperture Science-infused arbor for next year. More »
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We've seen zombie apocalypse family portraits and undead assault engagement photos. Now, a couple from Queens, New York have illustrated the Ashford-And-Simpson-like sturdiness of their pending nuptials with a photo series depicting a shinobi attack in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. More »
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Meet the Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), also known as the boto, or, if you believe Amazonian folklore, dad. Legend has it that the dolphin can transform itself into a handsome young man, who is a willing dance and conversation partner for village women. The enchanted dolphin is blamed - somewhat conveniently, it has to be said - for children whose paternity is disputed. More »
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Remember Ordos City, that ritzy urban planning project in the Gobi Desert where most people can't afford to live? Design firm MAD Architects recently completed the blob-like local museum. I repeat — the Chinese government commissioned a museum that looks sort of like a bashful Shai-Hulud in a chichi desert ghost town. If you build it, will they come? More »
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High-energy radiation and atomic oxygen wreak havoc on satellite parts. To evaluate the durability of materials being developed for future satellites, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is running samples through a space-based torture test called MISSE-8. Astronauts bolted a platform full of one-inch samples of mirror coatings, laser-tuning crystals, structural foam and other materials to the outside of the International Space Station, where it will remain for just over two years. The samples, which were sent to the ISS on one of the last space shuttle flights, in May, will return to Earth in July 2013 on the SpaceX Dragon capsule. Scientists from the labs that made each sample will examine them for pitting, cracks and discoloration. More »
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The New York Times transformed a crop of 2011 actors (who were heralded for playing nice characters) into classic movie villains, including Brad Pitt as Henry Spencer! Watch as America's Favorite Dad goes batshit insane as giant insects flap around in his frizzed hair. Technically, Pitt is channeling "The Madman" archetype, but that is so clearly Eraserhead.

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In his principal philosophical work, Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sartre identified the power of the human gaze as one of existential affirmation; to stare into the face of another and not only recognize them as a person, but see them recognize you in return, was to Sartre a necessary interchange in the development of one's sense of individuality and self. More »
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The urban explorers of Abandoned Scotland have quietly and assiduously documented those derelict locations in the northern climes where human presence has receded. Their videos and photography will take you millennia into the future, when we've all (hopefully) moved to the New Edinburgh Ringworld. More »
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We've all seen totally gorgeous microscopy photos before — but there's still something startling about seeing an arresting picture of a beautiful lattice, only to realize it's a set of mutated cells. Or an insect slowly murdering another insect. Or a horrible parasite, feeding off its host. Part of the thrill of microscopic photos is seeing the loveliness in nature's many killers and things we might consider abominations. More »
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These photographs of a Borg clan were taken by Winnie Au were at a Las Vegas Star Trek convention. Said Au of the shoot, "Everyone i met there was super friendly and down to earth, and they all knew each other and had been going to these conventions every year for many years. They really were like a big family, and it was cool for me to see how Star Trek can bring so many people together in a real manner." But does a Baby Borg get carried around in Baby Björng? I'll be here all night! More »
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Floscularia ringens is king of its castle. Brick by brick, this microscopic rotifer - or "wheel animal" - builds the tube it inhabits. To make its home, the rotifer gathers organic debris from the water it lives in through a socket in its head. This detritus is formed into round, reddish pellets inside its body. Here you can see a rolled "brick" inside the rotifer, ready to be deposited on the wall around it. More »
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Along a lonely stretch of road in Quarten, Switzerland, two strange figures and/or camera smudges survey the terrain, planning nefarious and/or blurry machinations. The figures follow the camera as it travels down the road. Some commenters on Reddit are claiming this is a gateway to Valhalla, but I'm of the mind that Galactus and the Silver Surfer accidentally ambled into the camera's view. There is a Giger Bar 40 minutes down the road. Coincidence? Of course not. More »
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Boy howdy, this video definitely confirms that if you're going to gaze at our planet, the International Space Station is the best seat in the house. This video was shot during Expeditions 28 and 29 aboard the ISS from August-October of this year. Time to pretend you're an alien fleet joy-riding through the Milky Way. More »
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Meet Arthur the baby. Don't let his youth fool you — he's a season thespian who's participated in many experimental productions of familiar science fiction films. He's got a leg up on other babies — at his age, all I did was pose on little red wagons. More »
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Gulls are utterly fearless, as shown by this remarkable image of a white-tailed eagle under attack. More »
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The dry climate of the southwest United States is a popular spot for airplane boneyards. When airlines need to stow away planes or lay them to rest, they will ship planes out to aviation boneyards in states like California and Arizona. And sometimes, photographers brave security patrols and barbed-wire fences to photograph these slumbering hulks. More »
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