Weird & Wonderful

Science doesn't always have to be serious.

An incredibly rare black panther (Panthera pardus) photographed in Laikipia Country, Kenya. The photographer spent more than a year photographing leopards in this location using a high-quality camera trap system that was developed to snap elusive and nocturnal wildlife. Prior to this project, a black panther had not been scientifically documented in Africa for more than 100 years.

The rare black panther not seen in Africa for 100 years: Sony World Photography Awards 2021

THUMB_BPOTY-2021-Finalists-2

21 incredible pictures from the Bird Photographer of the Year 2021

A blobfish

The blobfish: a bloated guide to the world’s ugliest animal

13 amazing facts about tardigrades, the world's toughest animal © Getty Images

The world's toughest animal 16 tremendous tardigrade facts

What were the ‘Oakville blobs’? © William Defalco/YouTube

Everyday science

What were the ‘Oakville blobs’?

A Bengal tigress with a catchlight in her eye lies up to her neck in the dark shadows of a water hole. Her name is Maya 'The Enchantress', and she has orange and black stripes with white patches on her head. Shot with a Nikon D810 in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in India on 13 May 2017, which just happened to be my birthday!
ISO 220, 800mm, f/5.6, 1/1000

What goes up: World Nature Photography Award winners

The science of whale vomit

The bizarre (and pretty gross) science of whale vomit

Quartz and some of the associated minerals that give it color enter into the fossilizing process as solutions, gels, and sols. Although they move as liquids, gels and sols are made up of very small particles bound together by weak electrical bonds. In this specimen, the linear arrays of small round structures were produced by local condensations of particulate mineral. During their consolidation, small puddles of pigment formed that are unrelated to the structure of the bone itself.

On Thin Ice: RPS Science Photographer of the Year winners unveiled

Dock moth with open wings sitting on red flowers from behind against a blue sky © Getty Images

What’s the difference between a moth and a butterfly?

TPOTY 2020 Winners

Ghostly Arctic Fox and a Snail on a mission win the Travel Photographer of the Year awards

Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacan, Mexico © Getty Images

Fantastic facts about butterflies: Everything you need to know, according to science

TOPSHOT-INDIA-ASTRONOMY-ECLIPSE

Everyday science

The best scientific images of 2020

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Uncredited/AP/Shutterstock (11027342a)
Los moldes de yeso de lo que se cree eran un hombre rico y su esclavo que huían de la erupción del volcán Vesuvio hace casi 2.000 años se ven en lo que era una finca elegante en las afueras de la antigua ciudad romana de Pompeya, destruida por la erupción de 79 d.C. Excavaciones recientes los sacaron a la luz, dijeron autoridades del parque arqueológico el sábado 21 de noviembre de 2020
ITALIA-POMPEYA CADAVERES ANTIGUOS, Pompeii, Italy - 19 Nov 2020

Incredibly preserved bodies of two men discovered in Pompeii

7 weird animals that you can see right through © Pete Oxford/Minden/NaturePL.com

The see-through frog and 6 other transparent animals that are stranger than fiction

Image from Ethnoarchaeological replication Experiments show knives manufactured from frozen human feces do not work © Metin I Eren

Ig Nobel Prize A knife made of poo and an alligator on helium among 2020 winners