Gümüşler Monastery, 8th–12th century AD.
Carved into a large rock mass near Niğde, this Byzantine monastery is one of Cappadocia’s best-preserved rock-cut complexes.
Its central courtyard rises between steep stone walls, with a church, underground spaces, burial areas, storage rooms, and monastic chambers arranged around the carved interior.
Bete Giyorgis, late 12th–early 13th century AD.
This cross-shaped church in Lalibela, Ethiopia, was carved downward from living volcanic rock.
The builders removed the mountain around it first, then shaped the church, doors, windows, roofline, interior chambers, and surrounding trench from the same stone.
Architecture by excavation.
This tiny sea slug is called the leaf sheep, and it can steal energy from the sun like a plant
After eating algae, it keeps part of their energy-producing cells and uses sunlight to help feed itself
Scientists discovered the world’s largest spiderweb, covering 106 m² in a sulfur cave on the Albania-Greece border.
Over 111,000 spiders from two normally rival species live together in a unique, self-sustaining ecosystem—a first of its kind.
Ants can build living bridges to cross rivers
Thousands of ants link their bodies together and continuously adjust the structure to help the colony reach the other side safely
Lapis lazuli: easily the most historically significant gemstone
Found mainly in Afghanistan, this deep blue stone adorned royal tombs and was ground into ultramarine, one of history's most valuable pigments