It's no secret that we live in a time when headlines and images all do their best to grab our attention. It's all about getting us to stop scrolling our news feeds, right? But those images and headlines often only give us the barest slivers of information. They can only do so much, right?
Getting the whole story can often be difficult on the internets, but it can be done, and it tends to be worth it. Context is king!
They're more for lawns and gardens, right? But this irrigation system is at a ski resort in Japan, and it sprays out salt water to help keep the roads from icing up.
Well, we're back in Japan again, and the circular patterns in this cedar forest came from an experiment to see how planting trees in a variety of different densities would affect their growth.
The result wasn't quite what was intended, as plans to harvest the trees 50 years after their planting have been shelved now that they've matured and attracted the public's interest.
Rather, Euphorbia Milii, aka Crown of Thorns, just happen to grow this way.
Not sure if these inspired the classic pipe-living plumber-munching plants, but Cardiocrinum Giganteum seed pods don't stay as scary as they look.
They eventually grow into much more attractive Himalayan lilies.
As the uploader captioned it, "My dog is 18, has trouble standing. Since Clare was born, he stands for hours watching. Good boy."
The instinct to love is powerful indeed.
Like this conceptual map of the Americas, drawn in intricate detail, shared on Twitter.
The map's creator devised such wonderful oddities as "Long Chile," running all the way up the West Coast, "Ohio 2" at the current site of the Four Corners, and the lengthening of both the Idaho and Texas panhandles to cut straight through Canada. It sure is something to examine!
The red paint showing through from underneath the green paint on this Irish mailbox dates back to when Ireland was a part of the U.K., almost a century ago.
Italians might recognize this stretch of road, because it's one of the world's marvels, the 2,000-year-old Appian Way constructed by the ancient Romans.
They're Turkish garbage collectors, and they've put together their own library from books people have thrown away.
Those lines marked out below show where all the Tube lines run. It kind of makes clear why the Tube is necessary, doesn't it?
In Alesund, Norway, every year pallets get used to try to set a record for the world's largest bonfire.
Just looking at the people stacking them up makes me think that even if it's not a new record, it'll still be one heck of a show.
Built by space engineer Justine Haupt, the phone looks like it belongs in another era, but it was done with a purpose.
"Because in a finicky, annoying, touchscreen world of hyperconnected people using phones they have no control over or understanding of, I wanted something that would be entirely mine, personal, and absolutely tactile, while also giving me an excuse for not texting," Haupt explained on her blog.
These two pics were taken in the same spot, just a month apart. Australia has been put through the wringer, with devastating bush fires burning for months only to be replaced with serious flooding.
Once upon a time, this was how tree pruners did their work. Makes you pretty thankful for modern technology, doesn't it?
It's believed, however, that carving a person's skull was done to remove a curse from their family or help guide them in the afterlife.
Visitors to Hong Kong might want to look down as they stroll the streets if they don't want to miss these mini rooms encased in the walkways.
Those are butterfly eggs speckling the back of a leaf, which, of course, will have to be caterpillars before they can become butterflies themselves.
This spot was created over the years by hair product rubbing against the finish. Makes you think twice about what you put in your hair, doesn't it?
You're looking at the coronavirus strain that's taking a massive toll on millions of lives right now. The yellow part is the virus itself, breaking through the blue-pink surface of a cell.
Fred the Mini Service Horse goes everywhere with his handler, Ronice Froese, and he's fully trained, including being housebroken. He reportedly handled his first flight very well. "Everyone was sweet as pie, TSA was amazing. The experience was way better than I actually anticipated," Froese said.
Each of those little specks isn't a star — it's a galaxy. There are thousands of them in this image, taken by the ESA's Herschel infrared space observatory, and each galaxy contains billions of stars.
These kids at Kennedy Catholic High in Washington State got wind that two of their teachers had been forced to resign because they're engaged to same-sex partners, and so they rallied and staged a sit-in in protest.
Because this was the first spacewalk, back in 1965. During the Gemini 4 mission, Ed White became the first American to exit a spacecraft in orbit. In his right hand is an oxygen-propelled maneuvering gun that ran out of oxygen three minutes into his 23-minute excursion. At the end of the spacewalk, White remarked, "I'm coming back in...and it's the saddest moment of my life."
Until they're lit, of course. This one looks like it could double as a road flare. But the baby seems remarkably okay with the situation.
About 15 million years ago, a meteorite struck the Czech/Southern German countryside, and the intense heat created a green, glassy substance known as Moldavite. This is a sample.
I mean, sure you could make a sizeable omelet from such an egg, but you wouldn't want to. It's a California condor egg, and since there are all of about 160 of them left in the world, it would be for the best to just let it be.
In Australia, as late as the 1930s, some people were allowed to pose for a more candid shot as well as the typical front and side view, and allowed to choose their own poses.
The bad news is that this stack of papers represents the medical chart for one patient's 33-day stay in hospital. Over that time, the hospital's staff collected 1,009 pages of data.
I know, you want to think the worst about some horrible murder case, but this is just an X-ray of a gymnast doing a pose. I think the context makes this image slightly less unsettling.
According to the uploader, Dorothy here leaving anonymous treats is the worst kept secret in her apartment building, but still, seeing the moment she got caught with a plate full of sweets is the real treat. What a neighbor. Everyone needs a Dorothy in their lives!
