Mika Eclair

[James Lucas @JamesLucasIT]

This is not a photograph.

Every leaf and every reflection was put there by hand, in oil, by the Danish painter Peder Mørk Mønsted in 1894.

It is called Wooded path by a river, and it captures the hardest thing there is to paint: a forest in full sunlight. Light through trees never falls evenly. It scatters into countless flecks of brightness and shadow, a glow on one leaf, darkness on the next, a glint on the water that would vanish the moment a cloud passed. Get those even slightly wrong, and the whole thing collapses into a green blur.

Mønsted got every one of them right, and in doing so he captured something anyone who has stood alone in a wood will recognize immediately: that hush that falls over you, the sense of being completely at peace, and the feeling that the whole world has paused to breathe…

[Federico Italiano @FedeItaliano76]

A photograph by Félix Thiollier (c. 1899)—quite possibly my favourite photograph of all time

[🤠 @heavensbvnny]

I just want you to remember. That we live in a world where octopuses dream, otters have a favorite shell that they carry with them all their lives, cows have best friends, and bees have different "dialects" of dance depending on the region. Cats purr at a frequency that accelerates bone healing, the forest grows flowers first after a fire, and dolphins give each other names and respond to them. Penguins make proposals by giving each other the most beautiful pebble

[Andrew McCarthy @AJamesMcCarthy]

Every so often I see a post from someone that didn't find an eclipse an incredible experience. They didn't seem to get the hype.

The sun turned into a black ball with glowing plasma shooting off of it. If that doesn't get you to feel something, nothing will 😆

[NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯_夏樹蒼依 @japan_nobunaga]

Tom from my building asked me to meet him at a diner. He said he had news. I assumed someone had died.

Nobody had died. He slid a photograph across the table. An ultrasound. A small ghost in a gray sea.

"We want to ask you something," he said. "We want you to be the godfather."

I have learned to expect strange things in this country. I was not expecting this.

"I have to tell you," I said, "I am not Catholic. I am not your family. We have known each other fourteen months."

"We know."

"There must be a better candidate."

Tom stirred his coffee for a while. "My brother has three kids and a boat payment and he calls me twice a year. You answer every text. You show up when you say you will. When I moved the washer, you brought your own dolly. I made a list of the men I know, and you were at the top of it, and it was not close."

I still do not know what a boat payment is.

I researched the role the way I research everything. It is an old oath. At the baptism, the godfather speaks for the child, who cannot yet speak. And should the worst arrive — should the parents be taken — the godfather steps forward. In my country we would call this a retainer's vow. I have been training for this role my whole life without knowing its name.

At the church, the priest asked if I reject evil.

"I DO," I said.

My voice carried. A baby in the third row woke up. Tom's wife was laughing and crying at the same time, which I am told is common at these events, and which I have chosen to believe.

Afterward, on the church steps, I asked Tom the real question. Why me. There are men who have known him longer, men who share his faith, men who understand boat payments.

He thought about it. "You take everything seriously," he said. "That's the whole job."

I have spent years in this country being too much. Too formal. Too grave. Too careful with small things. I have watched people smile at it, and I have been grateful for the smile, and I have known what the smile meant.

And then a man handed me his daughter — on paper, in a church, against the worst day of his life — because of it.

Her name is June. She cannot speak. For now, I speak for her.

I keep the ultrasound in my wallet. It is a strange photograph. It looks like weather. It is my favorite thing I own.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Lithuanian composer and conductor Mindaugas Piečaitis, directs his orchestra on the notes of Nora the cat playing the piano.

She earns a standing ovation.

[Why you should have a cat @ShouldHaveCat]

Best birthday song ❤️

[NASA @NASA]

1972 ➡️2026
Apollo 17 ➡️ Artemis II

[NASA @NASA]

Even in darkness, we glow.

In this image of Earth taken by the Artemis II crew, we can see the electric lights of human activity. In the lower right, sunlight illuminates the limb of the planet.

[NASA Earth @NASAEarth]

That's us! 🌍

The Artemis II crew captured beautiful, high-resolution images of our home planet during their journey to the Moon. As @Astro_Christina put it: "You guys look great."

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

The largest and sharpest image ever taken of the Andromeda galaxy — otherwise known as M31.

It is the biggest Hubble image ever released and shows over 100 million stars, thousands of star clusters in a section of the galaxy’s disc stretching across over 40 000 light-years.

[Geology Tweets @GeologyTime]

The body is polished banded agate, hand-carved from a natural geode, with the raw amethyst druzy crust left along the spine as a jagged, sparkling purple mane.

Video By: Rikoo Gems

[Olga Tuleninova 🦋 @olgatuleninova]

Wayne Mondok (Canadian, b.1961)
"Yellow Light," n.d.
Acrylic on canvas
20 x 16 in

[Wonder of Science @wonderofscience]

This is going to make you feel very small.

Fly away from the surface of Earth, past the Sun, out of the Solar System, through the closest stars, leave the Milky Way, to the cosmic web of galaxies in the nearby Universe.

[Curiosity @MAstronomers]

If the Milky Way was the size of North America, the Sun would be:

[James Lucas @JamesLucasIT]

A short story about decisions

[Brian Roemmele @BrianRoemmele]

Singing two controlled vocalized notes at the same time!

German singer Anna-Maria Hefele stunned the world with a viral video showcasing polyphonic overtone singing, a vocal technique that lets her sing two notes at once.

By skillfully shaping her mouth, tongue, and throat, she amplifies harmonics above a base pitch, producing clear, flute-like tones.

Trained at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Hefele has since performed worldwide, blending art, science, and education.

Her unique voice has been studied through MRI imaging and praised for its precision and beauty. Through concerts, workshops, and research, she continues to expand the boundaries of what the human voice can do.