The most incredible scientific photos of the outgoing year

Everyone who claims that science is boring is very wrong! This year, many discoveries have been made on the planet, countless bright natural phenomena and moments of life in the world around us have been photographed.

Scientists, research photographers, and even ordinary people have taken these amazing pictures, proving how interesting and endless science is.

We hasten to introduce you to some of the scientific masterpieces.

(Total 25 photos)

1. As a result of the eruption of Mount Etna on the Italian island of Sicily, giant rings of clouds with a diameter of more than 100 meters could be observed in the sky.

2. Russian photographer Sergey Gorshkov managed to photograph the Plosky Tolbachik volcano, which erupted this year after 36 years of silence. By the way, this photo won the annual wildlife photography competition.

3. At the very beginning of the outgoing year, on January 23, Chicago firefighters managed to put out a fire in one of the warehouses. And the record low temperature immediately turned the consequences of the fire into a magical ice "castle".

4. This combined composition depicts the November solar eclipse. The sun behind the moon creates incredible reflections of light.

5. The stunning Aurora aurora above the Arctic Circle was photographed in the early morning hours. Also known as the "Northern Lights", the spectacular light show is created by the rapidly moving charged particles of the Sun.

The photo was published in the new book "Beautiful World" by Lonely Planet.

6. This year, the public became aware of the existence of cute multi-colored corn. Moreover, you can already buy this “new colorful vegetable” in a number of US online stores.

7. British explorer photographer Tim Flach created a series of shots called "More Than Human", which captures the amazing moments of the behavior of wild animals. For example, the expressive gestures of the tiger.

8. When the Giant Magellan Telescope is ready, it will be 10 times more powerful than NASA's main telescope. The photo, however, shows a sculptural copy of the telescope, but its creators promise to install the telescope in Chile by 2020.

9. Nick Brandt took a series of photos of birds and bats on a lake in Tanzania that look like they were made of stone. This effect is actually given by the high concentration of ash and salt in the water of the lake.

10. "A cafe in the city of Aquas Calientes in Peru attracts a lot of wild parrots who beg for treats from tourists." - says photographer Adam Likhshen, he managed to take this photo for participation in the competition from National Geographic. “The curious parrot looked at me with great interest, apparently he liked my camera.”

11. Researchers of sleep disorders have discovered channels (in blue in the photo) created by neurons to get rid of unnecessary emotions during a person’s sleep. The picture shows a beautiful color scheme.

12. Olinkito is the first previously unknown mammal to be discovered in America in the last 35 years. This relative of the raccoon turned out to be a cute animal!

13. Record-breaking algae Enteromorpha blooms have been observed off the coast of China. Although algae are not toxic, they consume a lot of oxygen, thereby causing significant damage to the environment.

14. An American photographer captured the attack of a female jaguar on a male in the Brazilian forests. The picture won a prize at a wildlife contest. (Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition)

15. Photo of the year: during a rocket launch in Virginia, a frog thrown by a wave hit the camera lens and became the “hit” of the summer.

16. Enlarged image of a chameleon embryo - you can see cartilage (blue) and bones (red). Photo - the winner of the October competition Nikon Small World.

17. British ice cream guru Charlie Francis has created a glow-in-the-dark ice cream using synthesized jellyfish proteins — the very ones that allow these marine animals to produce light inside their bodies. The price of ice cream is only some $220.

18. The London Zoo holds an annual weigh-in of its pets, which by the way, there are more than 19,000 pieces. In the photo, by cunning, they are trying to weigh the anteater.

19. The first high-quality map of disappearing forests on the planet. Between 2000 and 2012, we lost more forest than Mexico and Arizona combined…While only half the state of Alaska gained new forest.

20. A shot of a thunderstorm in Utah took second place in the 2013 National Geographic Traveler Photo Kennel.

21. A few years ago, people brought piglets to one of the Bahamas. Since then, the pigs have fearlessly swam around boats begging for food from tourists, and this photo also won a National Geographic award.

22. Record-breaking long fish called "herring king" was discovered in October off the coast of California. It took the strength of 15 people to pull it ashore (by that time the fish was already dead).

23. Rows of parked cars during the floods in Connecticut, which happened in September.

24. A German zoologist photographer took this photo at the local zoo. It turns out that primates experience and show such emotions as love, sadness, joy and cruelty.

25. A tiny baby panda was born at the American Zoo on August 23. During the first three weeks, the newborn not only had no hair, but even sexual characteristics! Experts were able to determine the sex of the baby only 3 weeks after his birth.