daily pic

Daily Pic (New Year’s Eve)

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A new tradition in London

The large-scale New Year’s Eve fireworks display in London didn’t begin until 1999, but the extravaganza has been going strong ever since. Our photo today shows the celebration in 2017, as fireworks over the London Eye (the large Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the Thames) explode with color. And even though Big Ben’s chime has been silenced until maintenance on the tower is completed in 2021, the bell will ring for the New Year. Whether you’re out on the streets of a major urban area, or quietly celebrating at home, we hope you have a fun New Year’s Eve.

Daily Pic 12/31/17

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New Year’s Eve fireworks in the Nordkette range, Austria



Daily Pic (Sea Slug / Costasiella kuroshimae)

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Adorably evolutionary sea sheep

Perhaps you can understand why this tiny sea slug is sometimes called the ‘sea sheep’ or ‘leaf sheep’? It grazes on algae just as a sheep grazes on grass, and it bears more than a little resemblance to an actual sheep. Sea sheep don’t digest the chloroplasts in the algae they eat—instead, they absorb the energy-producing cells. As a result, the leaf-like fins all over the sea sheep’s back are loaded with working chloroplasts, making the sea sheep one of the only non-plant life forms on Earth with the ability to photosynthesize—that is, produce its own energy using sunlight and water. Who knew an evolutionary advancement could be so cute?

Daily Pic 12/30/17

© John Alexander/plainpicture

The Thames Barrier at London, England