A Lyrid meteor photographed in Yunnan Province, China, on April 24, 2022 Jianfeng Dai / IAU OAE via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 4.0
Courtesy Smithsonian Magazine

The regular mining bee, is an important pollinator species. (Bryan Danforth)

Researchers in Ithaca estimated the number of ground-nesting bees emerging from beneath a local cemetery at 5.6 million in spring 2023, revealing just how abundant some understudied pollinators are. Smithsonian Magazine

Ellen Speiser / Winner 23rd Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Picture of the Day / Travel /
Friends
A swan and a woman seen interacting at a park.
#nature #park #swan #united #kingdom

Human / Nature Capybaras eat grass in the public areas of the private town of Nordelta, in Tigre, Buenos Aires. Nordelta was built on a wetland, an ecosystem where water is the main factor controlling plant and animal life
Photograph: Anita Pouchard Serra/Sony World Photography Awards 2026

Out for a walk, seven goslings and their parents along the river Main in Frankfurt, Germany
Photograph: Michael Probst/AP/Guardian

One of my very favorite places since I was a teenager. North Berwick, Scotland
Sunrise behind Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth east of Edinburgh
Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA/Guardian

The real cost of banana plantations, synthetic fertilisers, exploitation. LAOS
Young Hmong workers rest after long hours labor on a banana plantation in, northern Laos. Many, including children under 15, face direct exposure to hazardous chemicals used on the plantations.

Anonymous | Mekong Eye

The LECTURE Everyone Needs to HEAR. YouTube video by GROWTH™

If you watch only one video, make it this one. Stand up. Speak clearly. youtube.com/shorts/fAfeP...

Jinê Land: Where Women Keep the Earth Alive
Şirîn Ehmed is a teacher at Jinwar, Jinwar is a women-only village for women and their children. Its name comes from Kurdish: jin (woman) and war (space or home), meaning ‘women’s space’.
Photograph: Matteo Trevisan/Sony World Photography Awards 2026

‘What is the city but the people?’ – William Shakespeare. Arnob returns in memory to Green Model Town, Dhaka, Bangladesh, where the rivers and fields that once held laughter are now buried under concrete.
Photograph: Jubair Ahmed Arnob/Sony World Photography Awards 2026

King of the birds’ set to return to England’s skies
Golden eagles are poised for a comeback in England after the government backed plans to reintroduce them. The birds might arrive under their own steam first, though: Positive News

Sheriff Knight (centre), the ‘Dancing Cowboy,’ leads the line dance during International Cowboy Day. Photograph: Fredrik Lerneryd/Sony World Photography Awards 2026 / Guardian

Honduras. It’s the first time a cloud jaguar has been seen here in a decade, showing that they are still moving through the high-elevation corridors between Honduras and Guatemala
Photograph: Panthera / Guardian

Winner, professional |wildlife & nature |
An eastern black rhinoceros moves through a forested river crossing in Kenya’s Maasai Mara. A remote camera trap installed in collaboration with rhino rangers monitors this conservation
corridor. Photo: Will Burrard-Lucas/Sony World Photography Awards 2026

On the ash plains of Mount Yasur, island of Tanna, Vanuatu, Phillip, an internationally recognised, self-taught volcanologist, stands barefoot atop a volcanic rock bomb. This portrait captures him in his element
Photograph: Elle Leontiev/Sony World Photography Awards 2026

23rd Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest/People

Yamato is an eight-year-old boy from a small rural town called Ena in Japan. He and his family have been traveling all over the United States of America performing traditional drumming.
#pennsylvania #people
Photo ; Owen Prucey

Road To Fulfilment Trailer With Award Credits - 4K UHD (2022/23) YouTube video by Stuart Chambers. People. Planet. Purpose.

You think it can’t be done? The power of I can

youtu.be/pYyXr1Z9NXs?...

Photographer of the year | creative | Bilha, Stories of my Sisters
Mitzy is part of Indigenous Futures, a network that discusses the climate crisis from the perspective of Indigenous peoples.
Photograph: Citlali Fabián/Sony World Photography Awards 2026

As of April 10, 105 kakapo eggs had hatched, and 95 chicks were still alive. New Zealand Department of Conservation
Biologists in New Zealand are celebrating a record breeding season for the kakapo, a critically endangered bird on the brink of extinction. Smithsonian Magazine

Cabo Pulmo, Mexico, a global symbol of community-led conservation. What makes Cabo Pulmo unique is not only its biodiversity, but also the web of diversities that sustain it, and why the lives that depend on it must also be safeguarded.
Photo | Octavio Aburto | El Universal : Pulitzer Center

No problem

No. Thats the oxidised rocks that put allot of rusty red sediment into the water

Anna Donets | Rolling Stone / Pulitzer Center
Working with these teenagers is a humbling lesson in resilience and the profoundly unjust reality of this brutality. I was constantly inspired by the Ukrainian's youth's strength, to survive and thrive, and help each other.

I can ask

Very true. We take so much for granted. I reached out to the photographer to ask him about the car x

Huaraz, Peru, people wash wool in the Quilcay River, a glacier-fed stream in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range that today flows with oxidized water. Locals remember when the clear streams carried trout. But as global temperatures rise glaciers shrink.
Photo :
Marco Garro : ReVista / Pulitzer

Tswale, a bull elephant from Limpopo, was moved in 2025 to Bellevue Forest Reserve. After decades in captivity, he is now rewilded and in a free roaming herd.

#elephant #africa
Image; Wiktoria West. 23rd Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

In Gran Chaco - many young families have found in beekeeping a profession that dignifies their lives, takes care of the ecosystem, and generates a good amount of organic honey, granting them a level of sovereignty that provides social and economic mobility.

Sofía López Mañan | Pulitzer Center

The tree stands like an ancient pillar. The light weaves like a spirit - a reminder that nature has its own rhythm, and memory, transforming the woods into a temple of light and life in quiet harmony.
#forest #mirror #roots #temple
Photo : Yurii Hurych
Smithsonian Magazine Photo Awards

Runner-up: Wildscape & animals in their habitat

A Malabar gliding frog rests on a yam-footed plant. Blending into the layered greens around it, the frog becomes part of the habitat, showcasing how these amphibians use colour and form to stay hidden.

Photograph: Pratik Pradhan/Nature inFocus