Photos

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Arts, Geography, Science

Appropriate For
T I F S K

The World's Fair Unisphere, located in Queens, New York, towers 13 stories above fountains. The Earth's axial tilt, about 23.5 degrees, is accurately represented. Encircling the stainless steel globe are the paths of Telstar, the first communications satellite; Vostok-1, the first spacecraft carrying a person (Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin); and Friendship-7, the spacecraft that carried the first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Geography, Social Studies

Appropriate For
T I F S K

The ancient Zhenlong Tower of downtown Urumqi, China, overlooks the superhighway that cuts through the city. Urumqi is the capital city of Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Xinjiang forms part of China's border with Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Physical Education, Geography, Health

Appropriate For
T I F S K

Donald Buraglio is an ultramarathoner—someone who competes in races extending longer than the traditional 26.2-mile marathon. Buraglio trains in the hills near Monterey, California. "I love going uphill," he says.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Science

Appropriate For
T I F S K

Zebras are black animals with white stripes. This striking coloration is probably a form of camouflage. It helps zebras blend into the shadows of tall grasses. It also helps them blend in when they are in a herd. When clustered together, it is nearly impossible to tell one zebra from another, making it difficult for predators such as lions to stalk an individual animal.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Arts, Physical Education, Geography, Health

Appropriate For
T I F S K

A triathlon consists of a race in three parts: a 1,500-meter (4,921-foot) swim, a 40-kilometer (24.85-mile) bike ride, and a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) run, in that order. Triathlons became an Olympic sport in 2000.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Physical Education, Geography

Appropriate For
T I F S K

Volleyball has two disciplines: volleyball and beach volleyball. Volleyball made its Olympic debut in 1964, while beach volleyball (played outdoors on a sand court) became an Olympic sport in 1996.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Foreign Languages, Geography

Appropriate For
T I F S K

Although the remote Turkana Basin does not have the tourism economy enjoyed by other regions of Kenya, many people do travel to the area. Turkana communities often engage in traditional dances and ceremonies to share their culture and supplement their income. Here, a Turkana woman dresses in traditional costume for a dance.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Science, Social Studies

Appropriate For
T I F S K

Meerkats live in burrows, which protect them from the Kalahari's extreme climates—hot during the day, and sometimes freezing at night. Meerkats sometimes dig their own burrows, but often use those made by animals such as mongooses.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Physical Education, Science, Social Studies

Appropriate For
T I F S K

Oceanographer and U.S. Navy Lt. Don Walsh, Swiss oceanographer Auguste Piccard, and a U.S. Navy team used a Zodiac inflatable boat to reach the Trieste. The bathyscaphe had to be towed to the Mariana Trench by a much larger and powerful ship as did its successor in deep-sea exploration, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Geography

Appropriate For
T I F S K

Few organisms can survive the barren climate of an ice cap. Many animals, however, thrive on their borders. Here, sheep graze near the Vatnajokull glacier, one of the largest ice caps in Europe.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Social Studies, Geography, Health, Science

Appropriate For
T I F S K

The volcano "Tungurahua" or throat of fire, is an active volano in Ecuador.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Geography

Appropriate For
T I F S K

The mustached and long-tusked walrus is most often found near the Arctic Circle, lying on the ice with hundreds of companions. These marine mammals are extremely sociable, prone to loudly bellowing and snorting at one another, but are aggressive during mating season. Walruses use their iconic tusks for a variety of reasons, such as hauling their enormous bodies out of the water and breaking breathing holes into ice from below.

Best For
Grades 6-12+ (Ages 11+)

Subjects
Science

Appropriate For
T I S 

  Moore's Law is the observation that silicon transistors shrink to half their size every two years. Silicon transistors are semiconductor devices used to amplify and switch electronic signals and electrical power—the very foundation of modern electronic devices. Moore's Law accounts for the rapid improvement of such functions as screen resolution, processing speed, and memory capacity. So, how small can you get? IBM researchers, working at the forefront of nanotechnology, say "Moore's Law ends at the individual atom. Physically speaking, we can't get smaller than that."

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Science

Appropriate For
T I F S K

The "Whales of the World" poster was printed in December 1976. The poster features an overview article about whales, information about each species, and beautiful paintings by Larry Foster.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Geography

Appropriate For
T I F S K

The state of New York will open more than 21,000 additional acres of Adirondack parkland in October 2013. There is a vigorous local debate as to whether the land should be open to motorized vehicles, such as cars, boats, and personal watercraft.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Language Arts, Arts

Appropriate For
T I F S K

This unusual photo was taken at a Butterfly Farm in Costa Rica of a collage of different butterfly wings, each with a naturally occurring letter of the english alphabet, or a number between one and nine.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Arts, Geography, Social Studies, Science

Appropriate For
T I F S K

The acqua alta, or high tide, floods the Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy. The aqua alta is usually most pronounced between autumn and spring. Like all tides, the aqua alta is governed by the gravitational pull of the moon. In addition, local wind patterns (called the sirocco and the bora) augment the tide.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Geography, Science

Appropriate For
T I F S K

The American Alligator can grow to be 4.6 meters (15 feet) long.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Arts, Religion, Geography, Social Studies

Appropriate For
T I F S K

Angkor Wat, a 12th-century Hindu temple complex in Cambodia, is the largest religious monument in the world.

Best For
Grades 4-12+ (Ages 9+)

Subjects
Arts, Geography, Social Studies

Appropriate For
T I F S K

The USS Arizona burns after being hit by an armor-piercing bomb in the second wave of the attack. Four bombs hit the Arizona, the last one penetrating her ammunition magazines, which held 500 tons of explosives. The ship burned for two days, and 1,177 crew members were killed. It remains the greatest loss of life on any warship in American history.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Arts, Geography, Social Studies

Appropriate For
T I F S K

Brig. Gen. William W. Averell led Union troops at the Battle of Kelly's Ford, Virginia, in 1863. Averell had attended West Point, the military academy in New York, with Fitzhugh Lee, who went on to become a brigadier general for the Confederate States of America. The two friends met on the battlefield at Kelly's Ford, with Lee's Confederate cavalry forcing Averell's troops to withdraw.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Geography, Social Studies, Science

Appropriate For
T I F S K

Scott's team was dedicated to collecting samples and recording data on their trek to the pole. Here, members of the expedition release a weather balloon.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Science

Appropriate For
T I F S K

Bees are pollen gatherers and pollinators. There are more than 20,000 species. Most are solitary, meaning they live in small groups with a single breeding female and her offspring. Pollen is gathered to feed the young; sometimes it is mixed with nectar to make a paste.

Best For
Grades 3-12+ (Ages 8+)

Subjects
Geography, Social Studies, Informal Education

Appropriate For
T I F S 

Photo. From scriblita to the Big Easy.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Geography

Appropriate For
T I F S K

Seas have an enormous impact on the people who live near them. The Bay of Bengal, the largest bay in the world, is a sea that is part of the northeastern Indian Ocean. This sea has played a pivotal role in the histories of the nations that surround it, including India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Here, Hindu pilgrims bathe where the sacred Ganges River empties into the Bay of Bengal.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Geography

Appropriate For
T I F S K

The Bay of Bengal, part of the Indian Ocean, is the largest bay in the world. The tropical bay is home to dozens of popular tourist beaches—as well as tsunamis. As the Indian subcontinent continues to crash into Asia, the bay continues to be a site of tectonic activity.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Geography

Appropriate For
T I F S K

The Berlin wall separated East and West Germany from 1961 to 1989.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Geography

Appropriate For
T I F S K

Vehicles speed past Big Ben in London.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Social Studies, Vocational Education, Geography, Health, Science

Appropriate For
T I F S K

In addition to pastoralists and farmers, Martins works to educate students and guides on the importance of Africa's insect pollinators. In 2011, Martins spent time training guides at the exclusive Grumeti reserve in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Here, a guide named Mishi meets a blister beetle. The orange coloring alerts predators to the beetle's stinging, toxic secretion. The secretion is valuable, however—a variation is used to treat warts.

Best For
All Grades

Subjects
Geography

Appropriate For
T I F S K

A blue whale dives down in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. Blue whales are the largest animals ever known to have lived on Earth. Adults can grow to be 25 to 32 meters (82 to 105 feet) long and can weigh up to 181, 437 kilograms (200 tons). Their hearts alone can weigh as much as an automobile.