Waitomo Glowworm Caves, New Zealand

The Waitomo Glowworm Caves, located just outside the main Waitomo township on the North Island of New Zealand, is a famous attraction because of a sizeable population of glowworms that live in the caves. Glowworms or Arachnocampa luminosa are tiny, bioluminescent creatures that produce a blue-green light and are found exclusively in New Zealand.

The Waitomo Glowworm Caves were first explored in 1887 by local Maori Chief Tane Tinorau accompanied by an English surveyor Fred Mace. Local Maori people knew of the Caves existence, but the subterranean caverns had never been extensively explored until Fred and Tane went to investigate. They built a raft of flax stems and with candles in hand, floated into the cave where the stream goes underground.

Kelvin Helmholtz Clouds

Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds resemble waves breaking in the ocean. These clouds are formed between two layers of air with different densities and traveling at different speeds. If a warm, less dense layer of air exists over a layer of colder, denser air, and the wind shear across the two layers is strong enough, eddies will develop along the boundary. Evaporation and condensation of the eddies render them visible as wave shaped clouds.

The cloud is named after Lord Kelvin and Hermann von Helmholtz who studied the dynamics of two fluids of different densities when a small disturbance, such as a wave, was introduced at the boundary connecting the fluids. The Kelvin–Helmholtz instability occurs not only in clouds but also in the ocean, Saturn's bands, Jupiter's Red Spot, and the sun's corona.

Stunning Pictures of Plosky Tolbachik Volcano Eruption

The Plosky Tolbachik volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula, in the far east of Russia, has been erupting since November 27, last year, after remaining dormant for 36 years. The volcano has been spewing lava from two fissures, whose flow have destroyed several buildings including a station of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the Leningradskaya research base and a base of the Volcanoes of Kamchatka natural park. The erupting volcano has become a sightseeing hotspot for crowds of thrill-seeking tourists eager to see flows of lava and clouds of ash.

Two Russian daredevil photographers Liudmila and Andrey captured these stunning images while visiting the volcano with a team of volcanologists.

Frozen Air Bubbles in Abraham Lake

Abraham Lake is an artificial lake on North Saskatchewan River in western Alberta, Canada. The lake was created in 1972, with the construction of the Bighorn Dam, and named after Silas Abraham, an inhabitant of the Saskatchewan River valley in the nineteenth century.

Abraham Lake is home to a rare phenomenon where bubbles get frozen right underneath its surface. They're often referred to as ice bubbles or frozen bubbles. This has made the lake famous among photographers.

Photographer Fikret Onal explains the phenomenon: "The plants on the lake bed release methane gas and methane gets frozen once coming close enough to much colder lake surface and they keep stacking up below once the weather gets colder and colder during [the] winter season."

Historic Black and White Photos Restored in Color

There is a long standing debate of whether black and white photos of the historic era should be colorized. Last year there was a media uproar when Swedish artist Sanna Dullaway started promoting her business as a photo restorer by coloring iconic black and white images of yesteryears. Now there is an entire group of talented photo artists who contribute their work to anobscure section on the social news website Reddit. Below is a collection of some of their most popular creation.

 

Powerhouse Mechanic by Lewis W. Hine (1921)

W.H. Murphy and his associate demonstrating their bulletproof vest on October 13, 1923. Original below.

Unemployed lumber worker, circa 1939. Original below.

Kyūdōka, Japanese Archers c.1860. Original below

Albert Einstein, summer 1939 - Nassau Point, Long Island, NY

Elizabeth Taylor – Giant (1956 film). Original below

Ducks Rule at Peabody Hotel, Memphis

Peabody Hotel is not just another luxury hotel in downtown Memphis in Tennessee, USA. This one has a peculiar attraction – ducks. Every day at 11 in the morning, a parade of five mallard ducks makes its way from their penthouse home on the roof of the hotel down to the lobby via the elevator. Red carpet is rolled out all the way from the elevator door to the hotel fountain made of a solid block of Italian travertine marble. The ducks frolic in the waters the entire day. At exactly 5 in the evening, the ducks are ceremoniously led back to their penthouse.

The unique tradition started in 1932, when the general manager of the time, Frank Schutt, had just returned from a weekend hunting trip in Arkansas. He and his friends thought it would be amusing to leave three of their live English Call Duck decoys in the hotel fountain. The ducks became immediately popular with hotel guests, and since then, five Mallard ducks (one male and four females) have played in the fountain every day.

Houtong Cat Village, Taiwan

Houtong is a small mining town located in Rueifang District of Taiwan, a district renowned for its rich, well-preserved railway culture with the old Yilan Line which was built during the Japanese colonial period for transporting resources out of northern Taiwan. Houtong was a train stop on the Yilan Line and one of Taiwan’s biggest coal-mining sites up until the 1970s. During its most prosperous years, Houtong’s mines produced some 220,000 tons of coal, the largest amount of coal yielded in a single area in Taiwan. This attracted many residents to migrate to Houtong, and the town grew to as many as 900 households and population of more than 6,000.

As the coal mining industry began to fall into decline in 1990, development in Houtong became progressively worse. Young residents started to move out of town to look for other opportunities, and only a few hundred residents remained. The once prosperous mining industry fell into ruins and was lying so for decades.

Winners of Amateur Underwater Photography Contest

The following photo by Kyle McBurnie, from California, own this year’s contest. The beautiful beastie is a harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) in a kelp forest at Cortes Bank, about 100 miles west of San Diego, California.

Exocoetidae: The Fish That Flies

Exocoetidae, commonly called Flying Fish, is a family of fishes aptly named for their ability to emerge out of the water and glide for long distances with their outstretched pectoral fins. Their streamlined torpedo shape helps them gather enough underwater speed to break the surface, and their large, wing-like fins get them airborne. Once in the air, these fishes can glide over considerable distances. Their flights are typically around 50 meters, but some fishes have been recorded to fly up to 200 meters or more. Some species of flying fish have enlarged pelvic fins as well as enlarged pectoral fins, which allows them to fly further than two winged gliders (up to 400 meters), and have far greater maneuverability. These fishes are known as four-winged flying fish.

Mysterious Cocoon With a Picket Fence

Researchers to an expedition to the rainforest in the Southern Peruvian Amazon have spotted, what appears to be a mysterious new cocoon. The cocoon is unlike anything biologists have seen upon before, strongly suggesting a hitherto undiscovered new species.

The Annual Chincoteague Pony Swim

Every year, some 150 wild Chincoteague ponies are rounded up on Assateague Island, a long barrier island located off the eastern coast of Delmarva in the United States states of Virginia and Maryland. Volunteers called Saltwater Cowboys take the ponies for a swim across the Assateague Channel to another island, Chincoteague where the foals are paraded to carnival grounds and finally auctioned off. The annual swim, currently in its 88th year, is part of a week-long series of events on Chincoteague and Assateague designed to thin out the herd of wild ponies. Tens of thousands of spectators from around the world gather on Chincoteague Island each year to watch this annual tradition.

Kacper Kowalski’s Aerial Photos of Poland's Forests in Autumn

Jutting out into the southern Baltic sea, Pomerania in Poland is famous for its large swathes of forests, dotted with lakes and meandering rivers. In autumn, the varied patches of forest come out in a riot of colours, their leaves drying at different rates and exposing the thick undergrowth and waterways. Flying from paragliders and geoplanes, aerial photographer Kacper Kowalski has been photographing this region from the air for years. Kowalski’s magnificent pictures show nature's beauty as it changes through the year.

Born in 1977, Kowalski is a graduate of the Technical University of Gdańsk, where he studied architecture. His architectural eye came to play an important role in his photography. “By profession I am an architect, so I look at the world through my education – arranging everything in maps and drawings,” says Kowalski.

Kowalski lives and works in Gdynia.

The Cursed Island of Gaiola

Gaiola Island (Isola della Gaiola in Italian) is one of the minor islands of Naples, Italy, located in the Gulf of Naples in the heart of Gaiola Underwater Park, a protected region of about 42 hectares. The island consist of two stunning and serene islets. Located on the southern border of Posillipo and very near to the coastline – about 30 meters away, the island is easy to reach. While one of the islet has a solitary villa, the other is uninhabited. A small bridge connects the two islets, which are separated by just a few meters. The bridge is very narrow and looks like a natural arch connecting the two islets.

The island takes its name from the cavities that dot the coast of Posillipo, originating from the Latin cavea, "little cave", and then through the dialect "Caviola". Originally, the small island was known as Euplea, protector of safe navigation, and was the site of a small temple dedicated to Venus. There are also several other ruins from the time of the Romans. In fact, below the islets in the water are several Roman structures that are now the home of marine creatures. Some believe that the poet Virgil, regarded as a magician, taught here at the ruins.

Whitaker Point. Arkansas so beautiful ..