36 Fascinating Photos That Show the Uniqueness of Our World

Nathan Johnson Published 09/02/2024 in ftw

If you needed the reminder that you're quality of life is far superior to that of medieval royalty, then you're welcome.

So take a break from the day and enjoy a fresh batch of cool pics collected from the web.

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1.
“My brother found these lobster tails at a beach in Kauai.”
2.
In 1972, astronaut Charles Duke left behind a picture of his family on the moon's surface. It's been there ever since: The back of the photo reads "This is the family of Astronaut Duke from Planet Earth, who landed on the Moon on the twentieth of April 1972."
3.
This is what salt looks like under an electron microscope:
4.
This is what Chile looks like compared to Europe:
5.
This is how big a moose is compared to a van:
6.
This is what a gym looked like two centuries ago in 1831:
7.
Mars is home to the tallest mountain in the solar system, the 72,000 foot tall Olympus Mons: It's over 372 miles wide. That's bigger than Arizona.
8.
Here's a computer illustration of what Olympus Mons looks like from space:
9.
This is the iconic log cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809: This would sell for $19 million in Lake Tahoe today.
10.
Easter bunnies were absolutely horrifying in the 1950s:
11.
Fingers with nerve damage won't prune:
12.
This is the Antonov An-225 Mriya, the largest plane in the world:
13.
Last week I shared some new photos NASA's James Webb Space Telescope took of Uranus. Here's another new picture, this time of Neptune:
14.
This is what a medieval toilet looked like on the inside of a castle...
15.
... and this is what it looked like on the outside:
16.
This is a picture of a lifeboat filled with Titanic survivors being rescued and brought aboard the Carpathia following the sinking of the ship:
17.
This is what a kidney stone looks like under an electron microscope:
18.
In the '60s you could buy a mail-order squirrel monkey for $18.95:
19.
This is all the excess glass dust that gets created at a factory that makes glass windshields for cars:
20.
This is what a soda bottle looks like before it's inflated and filled with liquid:
21.
This is Jack the baboon, a South African baboon who worked as a signalman at a railway station in the 1800s. During his almost decade of railway work, Jack never made a single mistake: He was paid "20 cents a day and half a bottle of beer weekly." RIP Jack.
22.
“Hurricane Matthew was a sod of a beach in Daytona.”
23.
“Long boi Russell avocado”
24.
“The lichen growing only on the painted letters on this Cape Cod road sign”
25.
“Hail in Oswego today”
26.
“I met a dog with 2 noses at work!”
27.
“Home Depot left the sprinklers on overnight in freezing weather.”
28.
“I knot my hand.”
29.
“The rain washed away all the sand except under this rock.”
30.
“This icy texture that formed on the side of my car on a 2-hour drive”
31.
A tomato kiss
32.
“Ssh, don’t want to wake him up.”
33.
“Cedar tree explosion”
34.
“Black-eyed Susan with an interesting mutation”
35.
“I found a stone with dried seaweed attached to it.”
36.
“The sun hit this freshly-paved tarmac just right and made a real-life Rainbow Road through polarized lenses.”

1.
“My brother found these lobster tails at a beach in Kauai.”
2.
In 1972, astronaut Charles Duke left behind a picture of his family on the moon's surface. It's been there ever since: The back of the photo reads "This is the family of Astronaut Duke from Planet Earth, who landed on the Moon on the twentieth of April 1972."
3.
This is what salt looks like under an electron microscope:
4.
This is what Chile looks like compared to Europe:
5.
This is how big a moose is compared to a van:
6.
This is what a gym looked like two centuries ago in 1831:
7.
Mars is home to the tallest mountain in the solar system, the 72,000 foot tall Olympus Mons: It's over 372 miles wide. That's bigger than Arizona.
8.
Here's a computer illustration of what Olympus Mons looks like from space:
9.
This is the iconic log cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809: This would sell for $19 million in Lake Tahoe today.
10.
Easter bunnies were absolutely horrifying in the 1950s:
11.
Fingers with nerve damage won't prune:
12.
This is the Antonov An-225 Mriya, the largest plane in the world:
13.
Last week I shared some new photos NASA's James Webb Space Telescope took of Uranus. Here's another new picture, this time of Neptune:
14.
This is what a medieval toilet looked like on the inside of a castle...
15.
... and this is what it looked like on the outside:
16.
This is a picture of a lifeboat filled with Titanic survivors being rescued and brought aboard the Carpathia following the sinking of the ship:
17.
This is what a kidney stone looks like under an electron microscope:
18.
In the '60s you could buy a mail-order squirrel monkey for $18.95:
19.
This is all the excess glass dust that gets created at a factory that makes glass windshields for cars:
20.
This is what a soda bottle looks like before it's inflated and filled with liquid:
21.
This is Jack the baboon, a South African baboon who worked as a signalman at a railway station in the 1800s. During his almost decade of railway work, Jack never made a single mistake: He was paid "20 cents a day and half a bottle of beer weekly." RIP Jack.
22.
“Hurricane Matthew was a sod of a beach in Daytona.”
23.
“Long boi Russell avocado”
24.
“The lichen growing only on the painted letters on this Cape Cod road sign”
25.
“Hail in Oswego today”
26.
“I met a dog with 2 noses at work!”
27.
“Home Depot left the sprinklers on overnight in freezing weather.”
28.
“I knot my hand.”
29.
“The rain washed away all the sand except under this rock.”
30.
“This icy texture that formed on the side of my car on a 2-hour drive”
31.
A tomato kiss
32.
“Ssh, don’t want to wake him up.”
33.
“Cedar tree explosion”
34.
“Black-eyed Susan with an interesting mutation”
35.
“I found a stone with dried seaweed attached to it.”
36.
“The sun hit this freshly-paved tarmac just right and made a real-life Rainbow Road through polarized lenses.”