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FourF-4 Phantom IIfighter aircraft fly in formation during a demonstration to commemorate the 50th anniversary of theUnited States Air Force. First entering service in 1960, the Phantom continued to form a major part of U.S. military air power throughout the 1970s and 1980s, being gradually replaced by more modern aircraft.

Photo credit: Master Sergeant Michael Ammons,USAF

The north face ofMount Everest, as seen fromTibet. Everest is thehighest mountain onEarth, as measured by the height of itssummit abovesea level, which is 8,848 metres (29,029 ft). In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by theRoyal Geographical Society upon recommendation ofAndrew Waugh, theBritishSurveyor General of India at the time.

Photo credit:Luca Galuzzi

A close-up of the head of ablow-fly. The name blow-fly comes from an older English term for meat that had eggs laid on it, which was said to befly blown. The first association of the term “blow” with flies was used byWilliam Shakespeare in his playsLove's Labour's Lost,The Tempest, andAntony and Cleopatra. Blow-flies are usually the firstinsects to come in contact withcarrion because they have the ability to detect death from up to ten miles (16 km) away.

Photo credit:Richard Bartz

Asadhu inKathmandu,Nepal, performing a blessing. Sadhus areHinduascetic practitioners ofyoga (yogi) who have given up pursuit of the first three Hindu goals of life:kama (enjoyment),artha (practical objectives) and evendharma (duty). The sadhu is solely dedicated to achievingmoksha (liberation) through meditation and contemplation ofGod.

Photo credit:PICQ

Anengraved scene from theGilbert and Sullivancomic operaTrial by Jury, as illustrated in the magazineIllustrated Sporting and Dramatic News of 1 May 1875. This was the pair's second collaboration and the success of this launched the famous series of thirteen further works that came to be known as theSavoy operas.

Engraving credit: D. H. Friston

TheGreater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca, juvenile shown here) is a mid-sizedshorebird similar in appearance to the smallerLesser Yellowlegs. The Greater Yellowlegs can be distinguished from the Lesser Yellowlegs by its larger size and relatively longer bill. The bill of the Greater Yellowlegs is longer than the head, while the bill of the Lesser is about the same length.

Photo credit: Alan Wilson

Hoodoo formation in thePink Cliffs, a series of highly-dissected cliffs approximately 35 mi (56 km) long, inBryce Canyon National Park,Utah, United States.Geologically, the cliffs are pink- and red-coloredClaron Formationlimestones, forming the upper riser of theGrand Staircase which descends southward to theGrand Canyon inArizona.

Photo credit:Luca Galuzzi

A table ofprime knots,knots which are (in a certain sense) indecomposable, up to sevencrossings (excludingmirror images) labelled withAlexander–Briggs notation. Theunknot is not considered prime. A knot inmathematics is anembedding of acircle in 3-dimensionalEuclidean space. The branch of mathematics that studies knots is known asknot theory.

Image credit:Jkasd

Ashanty town on the outskirts ofSoweto,South Africa. Shanty towns are settlements ofimpoverished people who live in improvised dwellings made from scrapplywood,corrugated metal, and sheets ofplastic. Shanty towns, which are usually built on the periphery of cities, often do not have propersanitation,electricity, ortelephone services.

Photo credit:Matt-80

Apolitical cartoon ofAndrew Johnson andAbraham Lincoln from 1865, during theReconstruction era of the United States, the period between 1863 and 1877 during and after theAmerican Civil War, when the government attempted to "reconstruct" both the South and theConstitution. The cartoon is entitled "The Rail Splitter At Work Repairing the Union."

Image credit: Joseph E. Baker

A six-image montage showing the development of a typicaldrupe, thenectarine (Prunus persica) over a 7½ month period:

Photo credit:John O'Neill

Agolfer uses asand wedge to hit the ball from agreen-sidebunker. Also called a sand trap, a bunker is a depression near the putting green or fairway that is filled withsand. It is difficult to hit the ball out of the bunker and entering it is therefore considered punitive to a golfer who misses the target with the previous shot. After a player exits the bunker, golf etiquette requires that the area of the sand disturbed during play be raked.

Photo credit:Eric Baetscher

A femalesubimago of a March Brownmayfly (Rhithrogena germanica). Mayflies belong to theorderEphemeroptera, and the onlyinsects that have a subimago phase. This stage is a favourite food of many fish, and manyfishing flies are modeled to resemble them. They areaquatic insects whosenymph stage usually lasts one year infreshwater. The adults are short-lived, from as little as thirty minutes to a few days depending on the species.

Photo credit:Richard Bartz

Aschematic of atank (specifically, anM1 Abrams). The three traditional factors determining a tank's effectiveness in battle are itsfirepower, protection, and mobility. Tank design is a compromise; it is not possible to maximize firepower, protection and mobility simultaneously.

Image credit:Doug Hatfield

AnEmperor Penguin dives into the water somewhere in theAntarctic. Emperor Penguins, the tallest and heaviest of all livingpenguin species, can dive as deep as 550 meters, with about 20 minutes of air in a single breath.

Photo credit: Glenn Grant,National Science Foundation

AU.S. Armyinfantryman is lowered into aViet Congtunnel to perform an undergroundsearch and destroy mission during theVietnam War. These soldiers, known astunnel rats, were equipped usually only with ahandgun andflashlight, and besides enemy forces, facedbooby traps and natural dangers such assnakes,scorpions,spiders andinsects.

Photo credit:U.S. Army Signal Corps

Dead trees in the terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs, one of thegeothermal areas of Yellowstone National Park,Wyoming, United States. These trees grew during inactivity of the mineral-richhot springs, and were killed whencalcium carbonate carried by spring water clogged thevascular systems of the trees. The same process also effectively preserves the trees by preventing decay.

Photo credit:Thegreenj

A poster for theAustralian Red Cross from its earliest days, when it was established just nine days after the commencement ofWorld War I by Lady Helen Munro-Ferguson as a branch of theBritish Red Cross. The organisation grew at a rapid rate. Lady Helen wrote to the mayors of everyshire and municipality inAustralia asking them to initiate a local branch, most of whom acted on her suggestion. By November 1914,New South Wales alone had 88 city or suburban branches and 249 country branches, all established within the previous four months.

Poster credit:David Henry Souter

Avideo of apolar bearnursing in the wild. Mother polar bears nurse their cubs for as long as 30 months. The milk of polar bear mothers is veryfat-rich. As a cub grows older the frequency of nursing decreases.

Video credit:Mila Zinkova

Aphotochrom postcard (circa 1900) of thePegnitz River, a short (115 km or 71.5 mi) river inFranconia,Germany, as it passes throughNuremberg. The domedsynagogue that can be seen in the background was destroyed in 1938 as part of the persecution ofJews by theThird Reich.

Postcard credit:Detroit Publishing Co.

A femalemarmalade fly (Episyrphus balteatus), a relatively smallhoverfly (9–12 mm), visiting aflower forpollen. This is one of a very few species of insects capable of crushing pollen grains and feeding on them.

Photo credit:Joaquim Alves Gaspar

A composite image ofOlympus Mons onMars, the tallest knownvolcano andmountain in theSolar System. This image was created from black-and-white imagery from theUSGS's Mars Global Digital Image Mosaic and color imagery acquired from the 1978 visit ofViking 1.

Image credit:United States Geological Survey

An 1885lithograph of a bird's-eye view of the city ofPhoenix, Arizona, thefifth-most-populous city in the United States. The city was founded in 1868 on the site of lands formerly occupied by theHohokam, who had abandoned the area roughly 400 years earlier. The name "Phoenix" was chosen as it described a city born from the ruins of a former civilization.

Image credit: C. J. Dyer

A squadron ofC-17 Globemaster IIIairlifter aircraft on a low level tactical training mission over theBlue Ridge Mountains. The C-17 Globemaster III is used for rapidstrategic airlift oftroops andcargo tomain operating bases orforward bases anywhere in the world. The aircraft carries on the name of two previous United States cargo aircraft, theC-74 Globemaster and theC-124 Globemaster II.

Photo credit:SSgt. Jacob N. Bailey,USAF

A late nineteenth-centuryphotochrom of areindeer sled,Arkhangelsk,Russia. Reindeer have beenherded for centuries by several Arctic and Subarctic people including theSami and theNenets. They are raised for their meat, hides, antlers and, to a lesser extent, for milk and transportation.

Image credit:Detroit Publishing Co.

A hand-coloredengraving of theIvory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), a very large member of thewoodpeckerfamilyPicidae native to theSouthern United States. This species is officially listed as anendangered species, but by the end of the 20th century had widely been consideredextinct. Sightings inArkansas in 2004 and 2005 were followed by evidence for existence inFlorida in 2006, but conclusive evidence of a population of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers, in the form of unambiguous photographs/videos, specimens, or DNA from feathers, has not been forthcoming.

Image credit:John James Audubon

View over thecirque ofPougnadoire and the village ofSaint-Chély-du-Tarn (in thedepartment ofLozère inFrance), in the Tarn Gorges, from the cirque of Saint-Chély. This picture features the road D 907bis which goes alongside theTarn River all along the gorges.

Photo credit:Benh Lieu Song

Naturalroasted coffee beans. Greencoffee beans are first roasted (which makes them turn brown), and then ground in the process of makingcoffee. The roasting process is what produces the characteristic flavor of coffee by causing the green coffee beans to expand and to change in color, taste, smell and density. Unroasted beans contain similar acids,protein, andcaffeine as those that have been roasted, but lack the taste.

Photo credit:MarkSweep

A 2-month olddomesticgoat (Capra aegagrus hircus) kid in a field ofcapeweed. Goats are one of the oldest domesticated species. For thousands of years, goats have been used for theirmilk,meat, hair, and skins over much of the world. Female goats are referred to asdoes ornannies, intact males asbucks orbillies; their offspring arekids.

Photo credit:Fir0002

TheLarge Bee Fly (Bombylius major) is abeemimic, squat and very hairy, 14 to 18 mm in length and a wingspan around 24 mm. Adults feed by means of their very longproboscises on thenectar of many species of flower. The species is widely distributed throughout the whole northern hemisphere and in North Africa, and is very well known.

Photo credit:Richard Bartz

Champagne Pool is a prominent geothermal feature within theWai-O-Tapu area in theWaikato region ofNew Zealand. The name is derived from the abundantefflux ofcarbon dioxide similar to gas bubbles in a glass of bubblingChampagne. The orange color originates from deposits of arsenic andantimony sulfides.

Photo credit:Christian Mehlführer