His masterpiece, "The Veiled Virgin," carved from flawless Carrara marble, stands as one of the most astounding achievements in the history of sculpture.
Strazza's mastery of the "wet drapery" technique carried on the tradition of other Italian sculptors like Giuseppe Sanmartino, who, a century earlier, had crafted mesmerizing marble veils, exemplified by the renowned "Veiled Christ."
This artistic tradition can be traced back to earlier sculptors, including renowned Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo, as well as the ancient masters from Greece's Hellenistic era, who were celebrated for their intricate depictions of fabric folds.
However, in the mid-19th century, Strazza pushed this technique to its limits. The delicate, layered effect he achieved allows the observer to distinctly perceive Mary's facial features through the translucent veil while simultaneously creating the illusion of weightlessness.
The process of how he transformed solid stone into something so soft and fluid, using only basic hand tools, remains a profound mystery

When the temperature drops under freezing temperatures, the non-frozen water under the ice layer is pushed upward, creating small cracks. Then, as very little water flows through these cracks and almost immediately freezes, very thin ice layers of irregular shapes are formed. As they accumulate, they create fantastic geometric shapes. Mother Nature’s art is amazing.

Charlie is ours and Benny belongs to our daughter who lives 6 hours away. They are still pups and clearly remember each other.

About a month ago she laid 13 eggs at the base of the Live Oak tree in the front yard. She usually gets on and off the nest multiple times a day to eat and drink. When I got up this past Sunday morning Irma was on her nest. The weather was already turning nasty with high winds and rain. Towards evening as the hurricane was heading towards us, we had torrential rains and wind gusts up to 107mph! Irma hunkered down and never left her nest. We could watch her from our bathroom window as we were lucky and never lost power. When the center of the hurricane passed over our house, we went out to check on her, and she was still sitting tight. After the eye passed the wind and rain kicked up again and we finally went to sleep around 2:00am. When we woke up Monday morning, there was Irma, still sitting on her nest, covered in broken tree branches and Spanish moss, but alive and unharmed, all 13 eggs still intact. Monday was still very windy and Irma had yet to leave her nest so we brought her food and water which she readily accepted. Today, Tuesday, she finally got up from her nest, stretched her legs and took a quick dip in the pond before heading back to her eggs. So, here's to Irma, super duck, who sat through a category 2-3 hurricane, protecting her eggs, and said 'not today hurricane Irma, not on my watch!' Looking forward to having 13 Muscovy ducklings soon, pooping all over our driveway

In China and Tibet, they figure their numbers to be around 3% of the population, with the vast majority of those residing in Tianzhu Tibet, there almost all of their yaks are white

The face is almost invisible in spring & summer when all are green, but makes a great showing come fall

In the 14th century, the extraordinary daisugi technique was born in Japan. Indeed, the daisugi provide that these trees will be planted for future generations and not be cut down but pruned as if they were giant bonsai trees; by applying this technique to cedars, the wood that can be obtained is uniform, straight and without knots, practically perfect for construction. A pruning as a rule of art that allows the tree to grow and germinate while using its wood, without ever cutting it down.

"After capturing this picture, the little green tree frog leaped straight past my head onto the nearest tree. It was one of the coolest things I have seen in my life! This is one lucky frog!"

The towers were designed by Stefano Boeri Architetti and completed in 2014. They are now home to over 900 trees and 5,000 shrubs, making them the world’s first vertical forests

It's been wandering the ocean since 1627. It is the oldest living vertebrate known on the planet

The uniquely shaped holes allow wind to blow into a series of underground canals, forcing water from underground aquifers into areas where it is most needed.

The fire inside melts the inner layer of ice, and the cold outside refreeze it, adding a layer of insulation that can keep the igloo at 60° inside while it's -50° outside

The story of Glass Gem corn begins with an Oklahoma farmer named Carl Barnes. Barnes, now in his 80s, is half-Cherokee. He began growing older corn varieties in his adult years as a way to reconnect with his heritage.
In growing these older corn varieties, Barnes was able to isolate ancestral types that had been lost to Native American tribes when they were relocated in the 1800s to what is now Oklahoma. This resulted in a swap of historic maize seeds with individuals he had encountered and befriended nationwide.
At the same time, Barnes began selecting, saving, and replanting seeds from particularly colorful cobs. According to Barnes, the rainbow seed originally came from a crossing of "Pawnee miniature popcorns with an Osage red flour corn and also another Osage corn called ‘Greyhorse'."
'Glass Gems,' seen here, was the title that Barnes' protegee and fellow farmer, Greg Schoen came up with for a blue-green and pink-purple corn he grew in 2007

The Sociable weaver (Philetairus socius) is a species of bird in the weaver family found across South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. This species builds extensive compound community nests that mimic huts, featuring a sloping thatched-grass roof designed to repel rain. These nests are the world’s largest and most populated tree houses, with some weighing up to a ton or more and measuring up to 20 feet wide and 10 feet tall.
Built around large and sturdy structures like acacia trees or sometimes even telephone poles, the nests provide shelter from direct sunshine, rain, drought, and cold. They are large enough to house over a hundred pairs of birds, consisting of several generations at a time. Each breeding pairs tends to its own compartment with its private entrance and line the interior with soft downy plant material. These entrances are packed closely together and when seen from below, the communal nest has a honeycomb appearance. These birds are constantly making home improvements, adding new nesting chambers, and some nests have remained occupied for over a century

The remains were found by reindeer herders in the Russian Far North, and even the bear's nose and teeth were still intact. This incredible discovery offers scientists an unprecedented opportunity to study the animal's anatomy, behavior, and diet and gain valuable insights into the prehistoric world

The structure consists of huge symmetrical columns - hexagonal and pentagonal - of basalt (almost 50 meters high). these rocks formed under high-pressure conditions due to the cooling and crystallization of basaltic lava