alterIMAGE: When Lava Meets Water

So nature has done it again! This stunning photo is what happens when lava and seawater meet.  The water will get into the cracks of the lava flow’s surface, causing it to rapidly expand. The intense heat will convert the water to steam. At the same time, the cooling effect of the water causes the lava to solidify. All together this creates some pretty violent explosions from the combination of rocks, water, steam, and sparks of lava. If a wave splashes over the flow, the action is quite impressive as well (in terms of photography, but it’s actually pretty dangerous if you’re too close). What happens is that the water almost instantly will vaporize, which sends large rocks flying…so keep your distance. The steam is also very dangerous. Besides from being extremely hot, it contains volcanic glass particles, hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid. Seems like another legit reason to swim away if you see lava heading towards the ocean. But from an artistic standpoint, it’s truly spectacular.

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alterIMAGE: Elvis Riding a Giant Long...Car (You Pervert!)

"Talk to the hand, sister"

This highly attractive photo is in fact the last ever taken of the rock star, Elvis on August 16 1977 at 00:28. Elvis, who had just been to one of his usual crazy nights out and was probably drunk off his mind, is nevertheless seen pulling his car into Graceland. As fate would have it, he was found dead later that afternoon on his bathroom floor by his fiancée, Ginger Alden. Not only does the musician possess incredible dance moves, but according to the medical investigator, Elvis had, in spite of probably being stoned and quite possibly in a lot of pain, had crawled several feet before he actually died. No wonder they referred to him as the King. To make things better, before this impressively graceful death, the rock star had apparently been using the bathroom at the time. But okay, let’s cut this guy some slack. Not only was he found embarrassingly with his pants down by his fiancée, but Elvis had visited the dentist the day before and there is some evidence suggesting that the codeine given resulted in an anaphylactic shock and eventually assisted in his death. So what can we learn from this? Maybe next time your kids complain about what goes on behind closed doors at the denist, it might not hurt to listen. Just goes to show that all those tormenting childhood nightmares, were indeed justified. And, oh stay away from drugs.

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"The Children of Black Dust" series by Shehzad Noorani

In this photo a girl is holding a little boy, both blackened by carbon dust.  The boy's nose is bleeding due to infections caused by exposure to dust and pollution while playing in the Korar Ghat workshop near Dhaka, Bangladesh. Women bring small children while at work so that they can watch them, although it is not uncommon for young children to also work. This is an extremely dangerous job as the air is filthy from the carbon dust among other wastes and the daily routine involves breaking used batteries in order to collect reusable parts from them. While breaking the batteries, children inhale millions of the fine carbon dust particles  throughout the day, earning only between 5-15 Taka per day (60 Taka is the equivalence of US$ 1). As if this was not heartbreaking enough, it can take a child up to 12 days to earn just one dollar. These children face some of the worst conditions in the world, most suffer from several health problems such as eye and chest infections, none of them go to school, receive barely any nutrition, and yet the kids in this photo still amazingly managed to smile. This is truly an inspiring photo.

Due to this impressive series, the photographer Shehzad Noorani, received an honorable mention from the National Geographic's "All Roads Photography Program". He has done numerous other works concerning social issues affecting millions of people in developing countries. "Daughters of the Darkness" is another of his amazing pieces, an in-depth documentary of commercial sex workers in South Asia.

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This is a picture of London during the World War II. The Battle of Britain doomed over the country, destroying over a million homes and leaving 20,000 dead in the city alone (40,000 overall). The Nazis failed in their aim of demoralizing the Britons and destroying their War Industry.

This is another picture of the same series (colored WWII pictures). In this picture, a man is seen calmly reading a book while an air-balloon, designed to stop Luftwaffe attacks is being released, while another one soars in the background.

A quote by Churchill from his autobiography seems very appropriate:

“These were the times, when the English, and particularly the Londoners, who had the place of honor, were seen at their best. Grim and gay, dogged and serviceable, with the confidence of an unconquered people in their bones, they adapted themselves to this strange new life [of the Blitz], with all its terrors, with all its jolts and jars.”

More pictures and information here and here.

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alterIMAGE: Bioluminescence

This picture is not photoshopped, but is instead a natural phenomenon called ‘bio-luminescence’ which is a reaction between plankton and oxygen in the seawater. This creates fluorescent sheets of light within the waves. It is caused by movement in the water, which makes each organism give off a chemical reaction; the flash of blue light visible to the naked eye. The photographer Doug Perrine took the picture on the Maldives and stated that the “picture was taken on a starry, but moonless night”. This fascinating sight is however usually only seen far away from land, which only makes this picture significantly more spectacular. Click here for more interesting information about bio-luminescence.

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We will be posting a picture of the day, as well as fun facts and life hacks on a regular basis!

Here's the first picture of the day:

And now some explanation to the picture:

It is not uncommon in nature for animals to take care of babies of a different species. Evolution has made it so that one's brain rewards itself just by merely looking at a baby. That why is we involuntarily smile and feel better just by looking at at one. So yes, in a way we get high by looking a baby. It also instinctively makes want to take care of a baby, as such behaviour is advantageous to the human species as a whole. This phenomenon however doesn't only work with human babies. Our brain (and of many other species) is wired in a specific way that lets us recognize the face of a baby straight away, even if it is of a monkey or other species. That is why Internet is full of pictures of puppies and other young animals. 

I'm pretty much tripping balls right now

It doesn't end just there. If we look at the modern representation of cuteness in the media, we see that almost everywhere, this phenomenon is applied. Take for example Tweety or Pikachu. Both have over-sized eyes, cute small ears and other characteristics of a baby. And it is not even necessary that the painters of comic books are aware of the biology behind it, it's that it comes at an instinctive level as it is wired into our brain through evolution. What is the first thing that comes into your mind if you try drawing something cute? Huge eyes. Exactly, we all knew that.

Here's a video of a Leopard befriending and taking care of a baby baboon after just literally killing it's mother:

Further reading:
http://tinyurl.com/aqmu9rn
http://tinyurl.com/ba5t8g4
http://tinyurl.com/b8w8nej
http://tinyurl.com/amlalo7

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