Visual

Often associated with Earth’s hottest places, these whirling columns show up on all seven continents—and beyond.

Dive into Iman Joy El Shami-Mader's collection of disembodied limbs, chimerical monstrosities, and unicorn cats.

What looks like a ghostly blue hand creeping up on a spaceship is actually a special edition of one of nature’s greatest light shows.

The times have changed, but the thrill remains the same.

Bad weather and dazzling white poplars helped create this spooky shot.

Iron-rich springs generate intense color in a stark landscape that, from above, might be mistaken for a crime scene.

A new collection acquired by the Smithsonian is a window into Black history.

A researcher says her award-winning image of a swirling school of fish is also a metaphor for the oceans' health.

A small town in Rwanda was home to visions in the 1980s that, in retrospect, portended the violence to come.

Photographer and filmmaker Rita Leistner was a planter herself for years, before returning to document the grueling seasonal profession.

In both cases, "You’re trying to find the best spot to shoot a moment in time that no one is ever going to see again.”

This beautiful, satiny optical phenomenon can wreck satellite imaging, but it can also reveal hidden aspects of our planet.

Studying the animal’s nerve network may help scientists understand our own.

Photographer Reza Akram spent seven years documenting angampora, an indigenous fighting style banned by British colonizers. 

The Alaska delta, one of the world's largest, is a ‘mosaic’ environment best visualized with a psychedelic palette.

A photographer captured water's ability to carve out new paths in all their fractal glory.

Innovative photographers James and Lucy Lo created a time capsule of a sacred space at a vulnerable time.