Landscape Light Sculptures, Wonderfully Mysterious!

Artist Barry Underwood photographs wonderfully mysterious light installations that he installs on-site in forests, mountainsides, or near lakes and rivers. Via his artist statement:

"By reading the landscape and altering the vista through lights and photographic effects, I transform everyday scenes into unique images. Light and color alter the perception of space, while defamiliarizing common objects. Space collapses, while the lights that I install appear as intrusions and interventions. This combination renders the forms in the landscape abstract. Inspired by cinema, land art, and contemporary painting, the resulting photographs are both surreal and familiar. They suggest a larger narrative, and yet that narrative remains elusive and mystifying."

Sea Gypsies: The Life Of The Bajau Laut People

The Bajau Laut people of the south-western Philippines and Indonesia live their entire lives on the sea. Known as “sea gypsies” or “sea nomads”, they inhabit amazing villages built on stilts in the middle of the ocean.                                                      

Many Bajau people do not set foot on land except to trade fish and sea cucumbers for rice and (ironically) water, build new boats, or bury the deceased. In fact, they sometimes report feeling “landsick” when they do!

Even when their fragile, driftwood settlements are decimated in the typhoon season, or ransacked by pirates, they just take to their boats and start to build a new house.

These amazing people are so at home in the water that their bodies have physically adapted to it, giving them better underwater vision and the ability to hold their breath for up to five minutes while free-diving for their dinner.

The Secret Life of Ants, Shot by Andrey Pavlov

We’ve seen insects used as art protagonists before. Mike Libby turns them into steampunk hybrids, and Ubyka creates armed insect cyborgs, but I haven’t seen anything like what Andrey Pavlov does with ants.

Andrey Pavlov spent a lot of time studying ants, and he learned that they all follow a very specific path when they’re working. So all he has to do is find them, put the props right on their trail, set up some flash backgrouns and light reflectors, and just stand on the sidelines photographing the ants.

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The photo series created by this talented Russian photographer is called “Ant Stories”. And what beautiful stories they are… Have you ever seen something this extraordinary?

Sweden’s classroom-free school, Vittra Telefonplan – The Future of Education?

Facts:
• No classrooms.
• Each student receives a computer from the school which is used as a major tool for learning.
• Students are free to work independently.
• The ‘village’ is a tiny house meant for group work, and ‘organic conversation furniture’ allows the kids to interact with each other as well.
• Grades are not awarded!

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Goal:
they believe that by breaking down physical class divisions, children can be taught to live with intellectual curiosity, self-confidence and communally responsible behavior. According to the principal of the school, Jannie Jeppesen, the design is intended to allow ‘curiosity and creativity’ to flower in the children.


Official Website

Amazing Welded Sculptures Made from Found Objects and Recycled Materials

Portland-based sculptor Brian Mock is a welding virtuoso, turning hundreds of discarded nuts, bolts, hinges, and forks into life-size dogs, birds, and even faithful replicas of doubleneck Gibson electric guitars. Mock says of his work:

"I am intrigued by the challenge of creating an entirely unique piece from an eclectic collection of discarded objects. Giving these old, common items a new and extraordinary life as one sculpture is an artistically challenging yet gratifying process. This type of work is also designed to be highly interactive and prompt viewers to question the reality of what they see. Audience reactions fuel my motivation."

Meet Ralph, the giant Schnauzer who helps children to walk and smile

Ralf has gained a reputation as something of a miracle worker since joining Royal Children's Hospital, in Melbourne, Australia. The selfless pooch walks the wards and looks in on his young patients every Monday. He even sits with some during gruelling chemotherapy therapy sessions.

Ralf got two-year-old Claire Couwenberg to walk for the first time in the five days since her surgery to remove a cancerous kidney. And he brought a smile to 15-month-old Zeke Harrison, who has a rare genetic disorder where his body is unable to break down protein and too much can kill him.

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Ralf is one of a handful of dogs to visit the RCH each week in a program that has been boosted so more pooches are popping in on more little patients.

Incredibly Amazing Portraits Made With Lipstick Kisses

Using only her lips and a lipstick, Natalie Irish creates mind-blowing masterpieces. The Houston-based artist simply puckers her lips and kisses the paper canvas thousands of times, until she gets the desired result.

You Won't Believe These Images Are Hand-Drawn!

Despite looking like they have been captured on a camera, these are actually hand-drawn images created by hyperrealist artist Paul Cadden. The 47-year-old, from Scotland, is able to recreate photos in amazing detail, often just using only a pencil.

Hyperrealism was born from the idea of photorealism, which are paintings based on photographs but created in a non-photographic medium. Taking an average of between three and six weeks to produce, Cadden creates about seven pieces each year - which usually come in A1 or A0 sizes - and sell at galleries for up to £5,000 ($7,855) each.

The Village At The Top Of The World

At a height of 2,195 metres - or 7,200 feet - the Nepalese inhabitants of Nagarkot in the Himalayas can count Mount Everest among their nearest neighbours.

A hardy population of 3,500 people carve out an existence on the slopes of the steep mountains farming for centuries with traditional terraces to stop crops sliding away.

Photographer Anton Jankovoy, from Ukraine, travelled to the amazing district 20 miles east of the Nepal capital Kathmandu and captured these amazingly unreal photographs.

HeroRats can sniff out landmines and detect tuberculosis bacteria

There are giant rats, dubbed HeroRats, that sniff out landmines in Africa and can detect tuberculosis bacteria.

Dr. Alan D. Poling, WMU professor of psychology, is part of a team of specialists working with the non-governmental organization APOPO, which has had considerable success using large African pouched rats to sniff out landmines and tuberculosis bacteria.

Poling says the rodents, dubbed HeroRats, have an acute sense of smell and do well at detecting explosive devices and the live TB bacterium. They're also cheaper to train and maintain than dogs, making them a valuable alternative for landmine detection in developing countries.