See February 2026's best science images, including raining iguanas.

The best photos of scientists at work in 2025

The winners of Nature's 2025 photo competition capture the essence of scientific fieldwork in diverse and challenging environments. From a biologist battling waves for whale research to ice core drilling in polar night conditions, this gallery details the research being each winning photo.

Images of jumping lemurs and octopus moms promote conservation efforts

Winners and finalists from the California Academy of Sciences' BigPicture Photography Competition showcase the incredible biodiversity of Earth. The striking images are judged by a panel of nature and conservation photography experts.

See a gallery of winning photos from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards for 2025

The overall winner was “Ghost Town Visitor," which depicts an extremely rare brown hyena visiting an abandoned mining building in Kolmanskop, Namibia, by South African photographer Wim van den Heever. Other amazing shots include "Orphan of the Road," showing a longhorn beetle observing large machinery, and "Survival Purse," featuring the egg case of a swell shark.

National Geographic's 2022 Photo of the Year

See all 10 of the top photographs and find out how perseverance—and a ton of patience—got Karthik Subramaniam the grand-prize-winning shot.

The best drone photos of 2022

A look at the winning entries into the Drone photo awards 2022, including the overall winner showing a secondary fissure caused by the Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland.

See hilarious photos from the Comedy Wildlife Awards 2025

Napping frog princes, annoying lion husbands, and kung fu sea eagles are just some of the charming shots you'll find among the finalists for the award.

Visual deep dive into the collapse of insects

The most diverse group of organisms on the planet are in trouble, with recent research suggesting insect populations are declining at an unprecedented rate. Explore this visual interactive on the issue from Reuters Graphics.

See the winning photos from a major European nature photography contest

Selected from nearly 9,000 submissions by 546 photographers across 15 countries, the honored images range from clashing Alpine ibexes to a wolf feeding on flower nectar, captured by the grand prize winner, 20-year-old Luca Lorenz.

Watch a lightning storm from the International Space Station

While passing over the Alabama and Georgia regions, NASA astronauts photographed passing thunderstorms from the ISS. The illuminated clouds are described as "nebula-like formations."

View a gallery of the best images of Jupiter from the Juno mission

Using the JunoCam, scientists have observed several of Jupiter's features, including cyclones, the Great Red Spot, and cloud bands and zones. The mission's effectiveness has resulted in its extension from July 2021 to September 2025.

View the fluorescently stained internal structures of a tardigrade

The photograph won the Olympus Global Life Science Light Microscopy Americas regional award in 2019. Using chemicals from biofluorescent organisms, the image illuminates internal structures with multiple hues in an otherwise mostly colorless organism.

Explore a series of interdisciplinary explainers on climate science

From animations on the quantum mechanics of greenhouse gases to a photo essay on how scientists acquire climate data, this collection provides detailed explorations of how different branches of science have contributed to our understanding of climatology.

River dolphins manhandle an unlucky anaconda

The natural world around us is endlessly inspiring, and fascinating, and often very odd too: like when researchers snapped a photo of Bolivian river dolphins swimming around with a Beni anaconda snake in their mouths, for example.

National Geographic's list of best places to visit in 2023

National Geographic has released its latest Best of the World list with 25 must-see destinations for 2023 from Alberta, Canada, to Busan, South Korea.

View an historical mural depicting the NSF's impact across seven decades

From 1950 to 2020, the National Science Foundation supported discovery-based, exploratory research that led to numerous breakthroughs, including the development of supercomputing centers, 3D printing technologies, biometric identification systems, an understanding of vector-borne illnesses, a DNA amplification technique, mobile meteorology units, and scientific education and literacy programming.

View a gallery of animals found on abyssal plains, hydrothermal vents, seamounts, and other deep-sea habitats.

Satellite imagery of the massive seaweed blob in the Atlantic

A belt of sargassum seaweed that stretches from the west coast of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico is the largest on record for March.

Photographer catches a 'once in a blue moon' shot

A rare "super blue moon" occurred in August 2023, a phenomenon which will not occur again until 2037. Photographer Andrew McCarthy caught a stunning image of the larger-than-normal orb with an ironic twist: a JetBlue flight silhouetted against the...

Unprecedented imaging of the Vibrio bacteria, published in 2026, may highlight new treatment targets

Researchers have produced the most detailed image ever of a key part of the Vibrio bacteria—the cause of cholera—known as the sheathed flagellum, which helps it move.

Explore a collection of resources celebrating the 20th anniversary of the ISS

The media includes a 3D model of the International Space Station, a gallery of images taken from there of Earth, a set of virtual puzzles created from images related to the station, and an ISS digital coloring book.

An image of a shark swimming on the freeway repeatedly fools viewers during natural disasters

The long-running joke traces back to 2011, following Hurricane Irene in Puerto Rico. Since then, pranksters have spread the image after Hurricane Matthew in 2016, Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and Hurricane Laura in 2020. The image is photo-edited, combining a 2005 photo of a kayaker being followed by a great white shark and a photo of a flooded street.

Stellar photos from around the world of the 2020 Perseids

The annual Perseids meteor shower occurs in the Northern Hemisphere's summer, peaking usually around mid-August. The phenomenon is caused by the Earth's passing through a comet's debris trail of ice and dust, providing a weekslong spectacle for...

Watch insects and animal pollinators in slow motion

Louie Schwartzberg's "Moving Art" series showcases slow-motion footage of oceans, forests, deserts, flowers, and more. In this excerpt, organisms such as bats, monarch butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds are shown interacting with one another and with flowering plants.

As of 2025, scientists at B2 study the heat tolerance of cacao and coffee trees

The research at Biosphere 2 has led to the development of low-cost plant monitors, which can be provided to farmers worldwide to enable more precise monitoring of crops. Geodesic domes built within the ocean biome are used to investigate the best architectural structures for repopulating degraded reefs.

The last Pinta Island tortoise died in 2012 at over 100 years old

Unfortunately, different animal species continue to go extinct. See a list of these recent extinctions, and learn the story of Lonesome George, who died without finding a mate in the Galapagos Islands.

Watch a salamander grow from fertilization to hatching

New microscopy techniques have allowed scientists to image the development of animal embryos with unprecedented detail. This six-minute time-lapse reveals the development of a salamander from initial fertilization to hatching from an egg.

Climate change is influencing the spread of disease

Rising temperatures and water levels are forcing animals and pathogens beyond their typical boundaries. This article and its data visualizations explore the proliferation of climate-driven diseases.

A gallery of medical illustrations from NIH

The National Institutes of Health provides educational materials for broad use. The institute hosts a Flickr account with many different image galleries, including this one (with over 70 images to date) that illustrate and annotate curious phenomena, from the life cycles of a malaria parasite to the comparison of male and female bladders. Explore the gallery here.

Iceland, the last mosquito-free country, detected them in 2025

Recently several of the mosquito species Culiseta annulata were documented in Iceland—the last country that had not yet seen them, underscoring that climate change is shifting the bugs' patterns. Mosquitoes can hide out in human structures to survive icy temperatures. The bugs are now known to live everywhere except the continent of Antarctica.

First-ever image of the sun's south pole

For the first time, we have clear images of the sun's mysterious south pole. Captured in March 2025, by ESA and NASA's Solar Orbiter, this footage reveals magnetic chaos that could unlock answers about solar storms, the sun's strange 11-year cycle, and why its atmosphere is hotter than its surface.

View a gallery of stunning images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope

While the James Webb telescope collects an astounding amount of scientific data, a major part of its allure is its ability to return stunning, high-resolution images. These images include nearby stars, distant galaxies, and some of the oldest structures in the universe.

Scientists explore innovative solutions to protect coral reefs

As coral reefs are under increasing stress due to climate change, pollution, and other factors, scientists are employing creative solutions to save these crucial marine ecosystems. This National Geographic article explores the various scientific...

Side-by-side shots of once-dry California lakes now filled

In late 2022, much of California was in drought; by early 2023, after a series of downpours from atmospheric rivers, much of the state's reservoirs had been re-filled. See the dramatic difference in this series of photos.

See the extraordinary and ephemeral installations from Burning Man 2025

Despite having to work in a muddy desert for just a few days, Burning Man attendees manage to create large, abstract, and visually incredible works of art.

Twenty of the coolest products from CES 2025

This roundup from Cybernews showcases standout CES 2025 innovations—from flying cars and robot dogs to VR headsets and AI-powered gadgets—showing the event’s most talked-about tech.

Mapping the Tongan eruption impact

A team of scientists—with the help of an uncrewed boat remotely controlled from the UK—join forces to produce one of the clearest pictures to date of what took place underneath the water as an enormous volcano erupted near the Tongan mainland.

Watch a time-lapse from space of photosynthesis across Earth

Using NASA satellite imagery, carbon absorption can be tracked and serves as a proxy for photosynthetic activity on land and in the oceans. Over the course of a year, seasonal changes can be observed as plants become dormant in the fall and active again in the spring.

Explore a series of NASA visualizations tracking satellites and space debris

The series illustrates the population of objects orbiting Earth as of February 2024, using data from US Space Command. These include active satellites, defunct spacecraft, rocket bodies and debris fragments larger than roughly 10 centimeters in low Earth orbit.

Stunning shots of a singing red-winged blackbird

Photographer Kathrin Swoboda visits Huntley Meadows Park to photograph red-wing blackbirds singing. In 2019, she captured them emitting smoke-like rings from their beaks due to visible condensation in the cold. This serendipitous shot won the top prize at the Audubon Photography Awards that year, highlighting the unique phenomenon of birds' breath visible in chilly temperatures. Check out the photos here.

Explore a gallery of lightning photography taken from the Grand Canyon

In this series, award-winning photographer Adam Schallau accompanies each image with expert advice on how to capture the phenomenon successfully. Initially requiring the shutter to remain open for extended periods, today's technology includes a device called a lightning trigger, which senses incoming lightning and automatically manages the shutter.

Watch an animation of Arctic sea ice grow to its maximum

Each year, Arctic sea ice freezes over millions of square miles amid colder temperatures. This 1-minute animation depicts that process using data from the winter of 2022-23.

Evolution doesn't want you to see these animals

Invisibility is an oft-coveted superpower that many creatures throughout the animal kingdom have evolved to mimic through transparent camouflage. This article explores the science of this seemingly magical ability. The two critical ingredients in...

The conditions needed for cloud iridescence, or rainbow clouds

The relatively rare phenomenon occurs when sunlight scatters off tiny water droplets or ice crystals in thin, newly-forming or semi-transparent clouds, such as altocumulus, cirrocumulus, lenticular, and cirrus varieties. This effect is similar to what is seen in soap bubbles and mother-of-pearl shells and produces pastel-like colors.

See images of the spring break scene of the '80s

The fish can climb walls

Scientists in Brazil captured rare footage of bumblebee catfish climbing waterfalls. How they do it is clear, but why remains a mystery.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

Stunning up-close photos of animal eyes

The eyes really are the windows to the soul.

The 31 best science fiction films ever

This list refreshingly starts off with the best first—1968's "2001: A Space Odyssey," Stanley Kubrick's cerebral, futuristic icon. Coming in at 31st is Disney's "Wall-E."

Learn all about different types of extreme weather

Find out in more detail about different types of extreme weather, from flooding to thunderstorms, from tropical cyclones to sandstorms, and more (w/ helpful videos).

Photos and descriptions of unique plants found in the Amazon rainforest

It’s the plants that provide homes for the incredible diversity of Amazon animals. Read about 29 of the most fascinating Amazon rainforest plants.