Nature & Science Part II

Warren Cave, Antarctica

A mix of ropes and ladders eases access to Warren Cave, a labyrinth of passages melted from the ice by the volcano's heat. Small currents of air probably cause the scalloping around the cave's entrance.

Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland

The volcano Eyjafjallajökull, in Iceland, just before dawn on April 23, 2010: The worst is over. Lava flows freely. Earlier, as it punched through the ice cap, it triggered a meltwater flood that destroyed roads and farms, and a steam explosion that hurled ash into the stratosphere, stopping air traffic for a week.

Butterfly Egg

Dryas iulia

Perched on the tendril of a Passiflora plant, the egg of the Julia heliconian butterfly may be safe from hungry ants. This species lays its eggs almost exclusively on this plant's twisted vines.

Sunset, South Africa

In the southern summer of 2012, I spent some weeks for work in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, together with my wife, and we used to take long walks on the beaches around the city in our spare time. One evening we came to a beach called Maitland, a large stretch of sand dunes.

I took a few photographs of the beach while a light wind was moving the sand and the sky was getting cloudy. Gradually the sea and the sky became first gray and then brown before the sun went down. It lasted just a few minutes, but luckily I had not yet finished the battery of my smartphone! I did nothing to this photograph; I was surprised myself but the sunset really looked like this.

MikroKopter Drone

With eight arms spanning less than a yard, a German MikroKopter provides a stable camera platform for under $5,000.

Nuclear Explosion Simulation, New Mexico

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory study nuclear explosions by using 3-D simulations. They follow a long tradition of nuclear research that led to the creation of the atomic and hydrogen bombs.

Redwood Tree, California

Partway up a 350-foot tree, botanist Marie Antoine (at right) passes a slender core sample of its wood—750 years of redwood biography—to canopy ecologist Giacomo Renzullo. Research now shows that the older such trees get, the more wood they put on.