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40 maps that explain World War II by Timothy B. Lee on November 13, 2014 World War II was a great tragedy, claiming 60 million lives and throwing millions more into turmoil. Yet the war also spurred rapid technological development, hastened the end of colonialism, and laid the foundation for institutions like the United Nations and the European Union. Here are 42 maps that explain the conflict — how it started, why the Allies won, and how it has shaped the modern world. Background
National Geographic Photo Contest 2011 - Alan Taylor - In Focus National Geographic is currently holding its annual photo contest, with the deadline for submissions coming up on November 30. For the past nine weeks, the society has been gathering and presenting galleries of submissions, encouraging readers to vote for them as well. National Geographic was kind enough to let me choose among its entries from 2011 for display here on In Focus. Gathered below are 45 images from the three categories of People, Places, and Nature, with captions written by the individual photographers. [45 photos] Use j/k keys or ←/→ to navigate Choose: Many people pilgrimage to Uluru, but what is seen there often depends on where you've come from. World War I in Photos: Introduction - In Focus A century ago, an assassin, a Serbian nationalist, killed the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary as he visited Sarajevo. This act was a catalyst that ignited a massive conflict that lasted for four years. More than 65 million soldiers were mobilized by more than 30 nations, with battles taking place around the world. Industrialization brought modern weapons, machinery, and tactics to warfare, vastly increasing the killing power of armies. Battlefield conditions were horrific, typified by the chaotic, cratered hellscape of the Western Front, where soldiers in muddy trenches faced bullets, bombs, gas, bayonet charges, and more. On this 100-year anniversary, I've gathered photographs of the Great War from dozens of collections, some digitized for the first time, to try to tell the story of the conflict, those caught up in it, and how much it affected the world.
This Animated Data Visualization Of World War II Fatalities Is Shocking Peace on earth: a statement heard around the world and an ideal that most of seem to want to yet have no idea how to attain. It seems like conflicts and wars are a reality in every part of the world, every single day. From religious battles to political quarrels, we seem to find a way to make our differences and thirst for power and control lead us to battle time and time again. And while everything I’m saying is true, there’s probably something you haven’t considered that may shock you.
What Nagasaki looked like before and after the bomb Three days after leveling the city of Hiroshima with a uranium atomic bomb known as a "Little Boy," the United States dropped the more menacing-sounding "Fat Man" over Nagasaki. It was Aug. 9, 1945. Some 40,000 to 80,000 people were killed, and much of the city was pulverized. Nuclear weapons would never again be used in warfare. This is what Nagasaki looked like 70 years ago, before the bomb fell: Nagasaki before the bomb fell.
12 Creative Family Portraits I thought we'd end the week with a collection of creative family portraits. Though the holidays are now officially over (and there's no more Christmas "photo" cards to be made), you can still take pictures of your family in any number of creative ways. We've rounded up 10 ideas that include everything from simply layering your family's hands to using a small chalkboard as a prop.
Understanding Exposure - ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed Explained What controls exposure? ISO ratings determine the image sensor’s sensitivity to light, each value of the rating represents a “stop” of light, and each incremental ISO number (up or down) represents a doubling or halving of the sensor’s sensitivity to light. The Aperture controls the lens’ diaphragm, which controls the amount of light traveling through the lens to the film plane. The aperture setting is indicated by the f-number, whereas each f-number represents a “stop” of light. The Nazis' Forgotten Anti-Smoking Campaign - Tracy Brown Hamilton Nazi Germany’s well-known obsession with creating a master Aryan race led to many atrocities. But from these same sinister motives came research that may have had health benefits for the German people during World War II—studies on the dangers of smoking that led to the most advanced anti-tobacco campaign of its time. Unfortunately, the campaign was only concerned with protecting the health of Aryan Germans. “Nazi Germany was governed by a health-conscious political elite bent on European conquest and genocidal extermination,” writes Stanford researcher Robert Proctor in his book, The Nazi War on Cancer, “and tobacco at the time was viewed as one among many ‘threats’ to the health of the chosen folk.” In 1939, German scientist Franz Müller presented the first epidemiological study linking tobacco use and cancer. Research by German doctors also brought to light the harmful effects of secondhand smoke for the first time, and coined the term “passive smoking.”
22 Crazy Perspective Photos Taken With a GoPro Camera Chances are that if you're into extreme sports, you already know about GoPro, the company that makes small, wearable, waterproof and shockproof cameras. Founder Nick Woodman was inspired to start a company dedicated to adventure photography after a 2002 surfing trip to Australia. Hoping to capture incredible images, he soon discovered that high quality equipment could not be obtained for reasonable prices. The Year in Pictures 2015 THIS was the year of the great unraveling, with international orders and borders challenged or broken, with thousands of deaths, vast flows of migrants and terrorist attacks on some of the most cherished symbols of civilization, both Western and Muslim. Palmyra and Paris (twice). Aleppo, Homs, Kobani and even San Bernardino, Calif.
Atomic vet recalls 1946 bomb tests — and dirty aftermath Video Project Crossroads was a series of two nuclear tests, Able and Baker, the first tests conducted at the Pacific Proving Ground, near the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. These were the fourth and fifth nuclear detonations in history. Matt Wisniewski combines old and new in his beautiful photo collages. Some people create images to make a statement. Others, like Matt Wisniewski, do it because it looks pretty. “It’s mostly just aesthetic,” explains the 21-year-old computer science student of his spectral photo collages. “Whatever looks nice, really.” Art for art’s sake is no new conceit.