With a population of 51,803 people, Coron Island located in the north of the Palawan Province, Philippines, is considered one of the most beautiful islands in the world.
With endless shades of tropical blue and stunning ecological features, it really does look like paradise.
On a historical note, Japan used the island as a refueling base during World War II. There are known to be some shipwrecks around as well.
Check out more images of Coron Island after the jump!
Barcelona-based photographer Xavi Bou turns bird flight into art in a project he calls Ornitografías.
Using his degrees in geology and photography and experience as a lighting technician in the fashion industry, Bou extracts high-resolution photos from video stills to illustrate the path of birds in motion.
The result is a spectacular piece of art hinged on the physics and mathematics of flight.
As if 2020 couldn’t get any weirder, the Utah Department of Public Safety stumbled upon a mysterious shiny monolith among red rocks in the remote Utah desert.
The crew spotted the “unusual object” during a routine flyover to survey the area for bighorn sheep.
Utah officers, on a routine helicopter flyover stumbled upon a mysterious, shiny, metal monolith in the middle of the desert — leaving everyone baffled…
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) November 24, 2020
“Who would do this?” pic.twitter.com/G3MJahE4LN
In a public statement issued on Tuesday, Utah officials announced that they’re keeping the exact location of the 12-foot-tall silver monolith a secret.
“The exact location of the installation is not being disclosed since it is in a very remote area and if individuals were to attempt to visit the area, there is a significant possibility they may become stranded and require rescue. We are encouraging anyone who knows the location of the monolith to not attempt to visit it due to road conditions.”
Note, however, that the object purportedly existed on Google Earth for more than five years. It is firmly planted in the ground with “human-made rivets,” after all.
4chan has discovered the location of the Utah monolith. It sat there for over 4 years unnoticed. pic.twitter.com/me50ib6Xsg
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 24, 2020
While the artist behind the sculpture remains unknown, the David Zwirner Gallery claims its the work of the late minimalist sculptor John McCracken.
Though McCracken never mentioned anything about the avant-garde piece to his family, friends, or business partners, he was an avid science-fiction fan. It’s no surprise that internet sleuths have already proclaimed the installation alien and compared the monolith to the scene depicted in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey.
Here’s a bird you’ll never get tired of looking at.
Children’s author and illustrator Claude Ponti’s gigantic topiary named Poussin Endormi or Sleepy Chick resides in Jardin des Plantes’ botanical garden in Nantes, France.
The outdoor installation relaxes nearby Ponti’s zany other works, the sleeping koala. Who wouldn’t want these in their front yard?
Check out some of Ponti’s surrealistic books below. What a wild imagination!
Claude Ponti! I used to spend hours looking at his drawings. So magical! pic.twitter.com/CNt0dcNu87
— ank (@raplaplatte) May 8, 2018
One of the biggest influence over my work i always forget to mention : Claude Ponti. Amazing illustrator & story teller, his use of allegories & metaphors would keep me hooked and rereading his books. ☺️ pic.twitter.com/PQQMviteFR
— Violaine (vee) Briat (@violainebriat) November 6, 2020
Photographer Lucas Zimmermann’s long exposure photos of traffic lights in the fog are mesmerizing.
The images appear as part two of the German fine art photographer’s Traffic Light series.
“The unknown hue of blueish light is hidden for the human eye, but the photography shows us things we otherwise overlook, such as a simple traffic light on the street. An all known object which produces a strong graphical effect in an unnatural situation with a simple photographic setup,” writes Zimmerman.
Simple yet beautiful, Zimmerman exposes the rainbows that hide in the dense mist at night, turning traffic lights into art.
Archaeologists uncovered the body of a wealthy 40-year old man and his young slave in Pompeii, 2,000 years after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Excavations at the suburban villa Civita Giuliana, a suburb outside Pompeii, discovered the bodies covered in a bed of 6.5-foot ash.
Researchers believe that the two men survived the initial eruption from Mount Vesuvius, only to succumb to a massive and more destructive cloud of scorching ash while seeking shelter in a cryptoporticus.
The skeletal remains follow last year’s discovery of another Ancient Roman man crushed by a flying rock during Mount Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 A.D.
Photos: Luigi Spina/Parco Archeologico, via AP
The Japanese forestry technique for growing trees, daisugi, goes as far back to the 14th century.
The 600-year-old technique involves pruning a tree’s branches to construct a stable platform that supports producing perfectly straight lumber on top.
The ancient method, therefore, creates wood without cutting down trees. However, the ingenious forestry technique is no longer in use.
There are mountains of rainbow rock salt formation in Jashak salt dome, in the Zagros mountains of Iran.
The beautiful rainbow rock formations are a result of rock salt and other evaporites that rose upward through overlying layers of rock millions of years ago in the Persian Gulf.
Thanks to the monstrous salt accumulation that transpired when the ocean turned to mountains, ocean life has flourished.
Jatayu Nature Park in Kerala, India, holds the largest bird sculpture on Earth.
Opened in 2018 as a tourist destination, the 70-foot tall giant sculpture pays tribute to the famed divine bird, Jatayu, from the Hindu epic Ramayan.
According to the mythology, Jatayu once fell and injured his left wing at the location in an attempt to save Sita from the clutches of evil Ravana.
The stone cut statue now serves as a symbol for the protection of womankind. View more of the sculpture in the videos and images below.
Jatayu Statue in Chadayamangalam, Kerala, India.
— Advaid അദ്വൈത് (@Advaidism) September 27, 2019
World's largest bird sculpture. An underrated Tourist spot.
Saw this from the MC road few hours ago. Looks Majestic in the evening. Video from : Alex Outhwaite pic.twitter.com/B86Kact0gr
The barrel owl isn’t known to travel outside the woods of the southeastern United States. But in 2020, anything seems possible.
Two owls, presumably boyfriend and girlfriend, have been discovered in New York’s Central Park. The star birds like to hide out in the hidden waters of The Loch.
Manhattan welcomes 270 plus bird species each year. But the rare arrival of the barred owl has brought birding fanatics out to photograph it. Check out some of the snaps.
Barred Owl from tonight's @BirdingBobNYC walk in The Loch in Central Park #birdcp pic.twitter.com/D03BRgrfKu
— Adam Bagun (@AdamBagun) November 6, 2020
@BirdCentralPark Barred Owl in the Central Park Loch today before the rain came. This was taken right before the owl decided to chase around the second Barred Owl in the loch. The second Barred Owl likes to stay high in the trees and is difficult to spot. pic.twitter.com/PwE4YkPA6n
— Justin Bereman (@JustinBereman) November 1, 2020
This BARRED OWL, apparently now one of two in the Central Park Loch, though the only one actually being seen, is snoozing before a big Halloween night of hunting. pic.twitter.com/NL9Rd5lPIu
— Manhattan Bird Alert (@BirdCentralPark) October 31, 2020
Bonus note: Along with the ability to rotate turning their necks 270 degrees in each direction, these gorgeous raptures can also blend in with their environments.
Did you know that we shed different types of tears based on our emotions?
Each tear type is composed of unique chemicals — mainly salt, water, and lysozyme — that give them their variable structure.
According to scientist Claire Phillips, tears of grief contain the neurotransmitter leucine enkephalin which helps relieve the body in times of stress. In such a way, our tear ducts can act as a natural painkiller.
There’s a biological and evolutionary reason we feel better shedding tears after experiencing a traumatic event.