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Out of Africa champagne picnic experience. Masai Mara luxury safari. Kenya Kenya???s national parks and reserves offer tourists the chance to see wild animals in what remains of their natural habitat. In Masai Mara, tourists engage in colonial fantasies while re-enacting the romantic picnic scene in the film Out of Africa. Local Masaai tribesman are employed to provide picturesque authenticity to the experience. Earth???s wildlife populations have plunged by an average of 69% in the last 50 years; 90% of African elephants have been wiped out in the past century. Kenyan national parks provide a sanctuary, but the animals living within them are allowed to survive essentially for human entertainment and reassurance. These animals become, in effect, performers for paying tourists eager to see a nostalgic picture-book image of the natural world.

Environment

Captivating images expose a 'staged version' of nature

In his series The Anthropocene Illusion, photographer Zed Nelson highlights the tension between an unfolding environmental crisis and our obsession with 'curating' nature

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Liquid Gold Anna Curran Department of Mathematics A lattice of bubbles inside a ring that has been dipped in soapy water. The bubbles hold their shape because of molecules in the dish soap called surfactants, which stabilise the interface. Surfactants are all around us - for example, they allow soap to break down dirt and bacteria, and they are given to premature babies to help them inflate their lungs. Conversely, they threaten the efficacy of various industrial applications such as self-cleaning surfaces and laptop cooling systems. My research focuses on mathematically modelling the effect of these molecules at a f luid interface, in order to gain a greater understanding of how to control their behaviour in these applications.

Physics

Photography contest spotlights the beauty of science in vivid detail

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19719.9.22 Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, California 2022 MITCH EPSTEIN. AMERICAN NATURE

Life

Images capture the timeless beauty of America's ancient forests

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Will Burrard-Lucas Forest elephant

Life

Camera trap spots endangered elephant mother and calf on the move

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Smiling-Damselfly-?Benjamin_Salb This is a stacked image of a damselfly I encountered on an early morning macro outing this spring. The expression of the damselfly is remarkable, and the large pseudopupil area gives it an almost cartoonish quality. This is my favorite damselfly capture to date.

Life

Incredible close-up images of insects scoop photo contest honours

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A natural ice cave formed by glacial retreat, at the edge of a moraine.

Environment

Chilling images reveal melting ice worlds

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Franconian Trumpeter.

Life

Fancy pigeons flaunt their feathers in this striking photo series

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An aerial photo taken in January 2020 shows excavators at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat people with covid-19 in Wuhan, China

Health

The most iconic images taken during the covid-19 pandemic

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Canton Z?rich, Switzerland Ice has formed around a waterfall near Gibswil. Icicles growing from the top, and ice formations growing from the bottom have coalesced into one continuous column. Page 16 + 17

Earth

Remarkable images capture the diversity of Earth's ice formations

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The Penguin and the compact elliptical galaxy the Egg

Space

The best space images from 2024

This year has delivered some awe-inspiring imagery of space, from the James Webb Space Telescope’s stunning shots of faraway stars and galaxies to images of the skies taken from here on planet Earth

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Life

A festival of stunning animal pictures from 2024

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Life

See the world in close-up in these intricate images of nature

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Life

See nature in close-up in these stunning photographs

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Life

These stunning photos celebrate the intricacy of the microscopic world

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