Through the looking glass: Since Team Fortress 2 implemented one of the earliest microtransaction markets in 2010, the game has captivated economists and observers alike, as millions of dollars have flowed through its community. Remarkably, the game's player count continues to grow 17 years after its launch, and traded items are only increasing in value. Prolific Team Fortress 2 player and organizer Vytal recently completed the largest trade in the 14-year history of the game's microtransaction economy. The deal far surpasses the previous record set in January 2024, indicating that the market within Valve's free-to-play shooter is thriving as its player base appears healthier than ever.The exact value of the trade for an ultra-rare Level 84 "Masterpiece" Crone's Dome varies across trading platforms. However, all estimates agree the transaction was unprecedented.In an interview with PC Gamer, Vytal revealed that he acquired the hat, along with a few additional items, for 24,000 keys. In the Team Fortress 2 economy, common supply crate keys function as a de facto currency, with their dollar value fluctuating similarly to foreign exchange rates.Currently, keys sell for just over $2 on platforms like Steam and Backpack.tf, making the Crone's Dome worth approximately $50,000. Using the Marketplace.tf valuation of $1.78 per key, the estimate falls closer to $42,000. // Related StoriesEven at the lower valuation, this trade more than doubles the previous record from January 2024, when a similar Crone's Dome was traded for 10,000 keys, or about $18,000. Instances of the Crone's Dome with various effects are extremely rare, as the item originally appeared during brief special events in 2013, 2014, and 2017. With no plans to reintroduce it, the supply is unlikely to increase.Notably, the Crone's Dome acquired by Vytal boasts multiple rare effects and a glitched killstreak, elevating its uniqueness. The buyer insists, it is the best hat in the game.It remains unclear how long Vytal's record will stand. Originally released in 2007, Team Fortress 2 is something of an ancient predecessor to popular hero shooters like Overwatch, Apex Legends, and Marvel Rivals, but it remains one of Steam's most popular titles.Recent traffic peaks have seen over 150,000 players logged into the game, while Valve has responded to its growing community by releasing significant updates over the last two years.Technical upgrades have fixed longstanding bugs, introduced 64-bit support, and raised the framerate cap to 400fps. Content updates have added around two dozen new maps and numerous cosmetic items, fueling record-breaking player counts that have exceeded 200,000 more than 15 years after the game's original launch.

Over the past couple of years, AI has made a solid impact in the field of medical sciences. From enhancing cancer detection to supercharging the discovery of drugs, we are seeing new breakthroughs at a rapid pace.Now, an AI-powered app is making life easier for parents concerned about infant jaundice, which is fairly common. Developed by Singapore General Hospital (SGH), SingHealth Polyclinics (SHP), and national HealthTech agency Synapxe, it lets parent screen their newborn babies for neonatal jaundice (NNJ).Recommended VideosThe underlying machine learning model, which is a first for Asian skin tones in this scenario, delivered impressive results. The team found that the app gave similar results when compared to existing methods of NNJ testing, with 100 percent sensitivity, claims Polyclinics SingHealth.Please enable Javascript to view this contentThe app was developed following two clinical studies over a span of two years, involving multiple rounds of validation on infants under 21 days of age. Named BiliSG, it employs a machine-learning model that analyzes the skin color in various regions, such as the chest, forehead, and abdomen. The app is named after bilirubin, a yellow chemical that originates from the breakdown of red blood cells and also happens to be an essential component of the digestive fluid produced by the liver.In a person suffering from jaundice, bilirubin imparts a yellow tint to the skin due to the leakage of the chemical in skin tissue. BiliSG makes it easier for parents to look for signs of neonatal jaundice (NNJ) from the comfort of their home instead of going through the ordeal of frequent hospital visits.NNJ is a condition that affects 60% of infants, but the number is even higher for pre-term babies. Body systems usually regulate the high levels of bilirubin in the bloodstream, but if that doesnt happen, jaundice complications can lead to permanent brain damage, development delays, and motor disabilities.SGHIt will transform the way we protect the brain health of babies by ensuring their jaundice is monitored closely by their parents in a convenient setting and with the safeguard and supervision of their family doctors via telemedicine, medical research experts who were a part of the project were quoted as saying.Parents only have to capture a picture of the skin area enclosed within a color calibration sticker. The color calibration sticker you see in the pictures above was designed to minimize reflection, perform light intensity corrections, and accommodate temperature variations. The team is now looking to fine-tune the app with expanded validation.The tests were conducted with the app running on an iPhone 12. The research team is hoping to expand the pool to more smartphone models (including Android), a process that would entail a lot of work, with camera-related factors (such as resolution) and the lighting situation being some of the core variables.The team is aiming to make the BiliSG app more robust and reliable in real-world scenarios beyond clinical setups. They are also focusing on making the app easier to use, especially for parents and caregivers who dont have as much experience using medical tools.You can read the full research paper here.Editors Recommendations

In Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, there is a scene where Big Nick OBrien (Gerard Butler) asks Donnie Wilson (OShea Jackson Jr.) why he continues to risk it all to pull off these seemingly impossible heists. Itll never be enough, Donnie tells Nick. Because its not about the money. Its about the challenge.Seven years have passed between 2018s Den of Thievesand its 2025 sequel. Between injuries to the actors, COVID-19, and the war in Ukraine, Den of Thieves 2almost never happened. Yet writer and director Christian Gudegast was determined to shoot a sequel. Like Donnie, Gudegast embraces the challenge, knowing he has more stories to tell within the Den of Thieves universe.Recommended VideosNo. Not enough, Gudegast tells Digital Trends when asked if he would have been OK without a Den of Thieves sequel. When I was researchingDen 1, I came across so much material that we always knew it was a much more expansive world. There were always going to be three or four stories in there. The arcs of the characters go through all three or four of them. It was from the very outset that we planned on a much longer story divvied up into different films.Rico Torres / LionsgateDen of Thieves 2ditches the streets of Los Angeles for a European excursion. Big Nick is still in disbelief that Donnie successfully robbed the Los Angeles Federal Reserve and escaped his grasp. Nicks humiliation has led to a divorce and a benching from the force. Driven by revenge, Nick travels to France and aligns himself with Pantera, a police task force looking to take down an elite gang of thieves in the Panther Mafia. Donnie has teamed with the Panthers for his next heist.RelatedIt doesnt take long for Big Nick to find Donnie. However, Nick does not arrest Donnie. Instead, he forces Donnie to let him join the next heist, with the target being the World Diamond Center. And the cop goes gangster, Donnie says to Nick, who transforms from a lawman into a criminal.Gudegast knew he wanted to explore the criminal underworld of Europe and began researching the heists that inspired the movies climactic sequence. Reading about these heists was not enough for Gudegast. He needed to immerse himself in this world, which meant traveling to Europe and speaking with the people, including real-life master thieves.Whenever I do research, I really do a deep dive into the world. I dont like to read an article or something. I actually go to the world, meet the people, hang out with them, Gudegast says. If you really want to get down into the details of something, you have to go to the world and get to know them to break down that wall, and thats when you get into the interesting stuff.Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025) Official Trailer Gerard Butler, OShea Jackson Jr.For Gudegast, the devil is in the details. Gudegast scripts every scene, including the attempted heist, with extreme precision and an emphasis on specificity. You have an ability to move things quickly when youre cutting it, says Gudegast, who meticulously maps out every scene ahead of time.At its core, Den of Thieves is an action franchise. However,Panterais funnier than expected thanks to the odd-couple-esque relationship between Nick and Donnie. The club scene, when Nick and Donnie party a little too hard before being thrown out, is a prime example of the budding chemistry between Butler and Jackson.We knew that from the beginning, it was going to be more of a buddy movie. We wanted to explore that side of them, Gudegast says. I think a lot of Den 1 was funnier than we anticipated, so we wanted to lean into that more in this one for sure.Rico Torres / Lionsgate FilmsThe ending leaves the door open for a third film. Whether Lionsgate greenlights Den of Thieves 3will come down to the box office returns and audience reception. Initial tracking projects Den of Thieves 2 to earn $11 million to $13 million domestically for its opening weekend, down from the $15.2 opening for Den of Thievesin 2018. Until then, Gudegast is prepared to make Den of Thieves 3.Research is done, and yeah, were ready to go, he said.Den of Thieves 2: Panteraisnow in theaters.Editors Recommendations

from origin to orbit New Glenn rocket is at the launch pad, waiting for calm seas to land "Landing our booster offshore is ambitiousbut were going for it." Eric Berger Jan 11, 2025 12:31 pm | 12 The fairing of the New Glenn rocket has some unique artwork. Credit: Blue Origin The fairing of the New Glenn rocket has some unique artwork. Credit: Blue Origin Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreCOCOA BEACH, Fla.As it so often does in the final days before the debut of a new rocket, it all comes down to weather. Accordingly, Blue Origin is only awaiting clear skies and fair seas for its massive New Glenn vehicle to lift off from Florida.After the company completed integration of the rocket this week, and rolled the super heavy lift rocket to its launch site at Cape Canaveral, the focus turned toward the weather. Conditions at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base have been favorable during the early morning launch windows available to the rocket, but there have been complications offshore.That's because Blue Origin aims to recover the first stage of the New Glenn rocket, and sea states in the Atlantic Ocean have been unsuitable for an initial attempt to catch the first stage booster on a drone ship. The company has already waivedone launch attempt set for 1 am ET (06:00 UTC) on Friday, January 10.Conditions have improved a bit since then, but the company's launch officials are still watching the weather closely as the rocket is prepared for new launch time of 1 am ET on Sunday, January 12. There is a three-hour launch window. The company will provide a webcast of proceedings at this link beginning one hour before liftoff.Seeking a nominal flightAccording to a mission timeline shared by Blue Origin on Saturday, it will take several hours to fuel the New Glenn rocket. Second stage hydrogen loading will begin 4.5 hours before liftoff, followed by the booster stage and second stage liquid oxygen at 4 hours, and methane for the booster stage at 3.5 hours to go. Fueling should be complete about an hour before liftoff.During a nominal mission the booster stage's seven BE-4 engineswhich have previously performed well during two flights of United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocketwill burn liquid methane for 3 minutes and 10 seconds. If all goes well with this booster stage after separation from the second stage, it will initiate a 28-second burn to make a controlled reentry into Earth's atmosphere, followed by a landing burn before touching down at 9 minutes and 28 seconds into the flight. Mission profile for the first flight of the New Glenn rocket. Credit: Blue Origin Mission profile for the first flight of the New Glenn rocket. Credit: Blue Origin Since this is the debut flight of New Glenn, it is plausible that something could go wrong with the booster stage or upper stage in flight, although Blue Origin has gone to great effort to ensure a clean mission. Landing the first stage successfully on the initial flight represents a major challenge, however. Success seems unlikely, but not impossible."Our objective is to reach orbit," Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said this week. "Anything beyond that is a bonus. Landing our booster offshore is ambitiousbut were going for it. No matter what, we will learn a lot."As for the second stage, it is intended to perform two burns within the first hour of the mission. The rocket is carrying a Blue Ring pathfinder, a demonstrator of the company's in-space vehicle that will provide power and last-mile services to future payloads.Eric BergerSenior Space EditorEric BergerSenior Space Editor Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to NASA policy, and author of two books: Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX; and Reentry, on the development of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston. 12 Comments

Mark Zuckerberg said Meta will start automating the work of midlevel software engineers this year.Meta may eventually outsource all coding on its apps to AI.Meta also plans to replace fact-checkers with community notes and reduce DEI initiatives.This year coding might go from one of the most sought-after skills on the job market to one that can be fully automated.Mark Zuckerberg said that Meta and some of the biggest companies in the tech industry are already working toward this on an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience on Friday."Probably in 2025, we at Meta, as well as the other companies that are basically working on this, are going to have an AI that can effectively be a sort of midlevel engineer that you have at your company that can write code."It may initially be an expensive endeavor, but Zuckerberg said Meta will reach the point where all of the code in its apps and the AI it generates will also be done by AI. According to a salary tracking site, midlevel software engineers at the company now earn close to mid-six figures in total compensation.Zuckerberg's interview with Rogan came after a big week of changes for the company.On Tuesday, Zuckerberg announced that Meta plans to replace third-party fact-checkers with community notes, similar to Elon Musk's X, and bring back more political content. The announcement has elicited alarm from dozens of fact-checking groups, who signed an open letter to Zuckerberg saying the changes would be "a step backward" for the company.Meta is also planning to roll back several of its DEI initiatives. In a memo sent to staff on Meta's internal communications platform, Workplace, its vice president of human resources, Janelle Gale, wrote, "We will no longer have a team focused on DEI."

Brooke Shields said a doctor once gave her a "bonus" vaginal rejuvenation without her consent.She wrote about the experience in her new book, "Brooke Shields is Not Allowed to Get Old.""This man surgically altered my body without my consent," she wrote.Brooke Shields has said that a surgeon once performed a vaginal rejuvenation procedure on her without her consent.In an excerpt published by People from her forthcoming autobiography, "Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old," the model and actor said that she elected to undergo a labia reduction surgery eight years after the birth of her youngest daughter.But she said that following the procedure, the male doctor who had performed the surgery told her he had thrown in a "bonus" rejuvenation, also known as vaginal tightening."I was horrified, but also at a loss," Shields wrote. "I didn't want to sue this man or maybe I did want to, but I didn't feel I could because I didn't particularly want talk of my lady parts, once again, on the front page of every paper."Shields, 59, said that it was on the advice of her female gynecologist that she had decided to have the surgery, as she had been experiencing discomfort and pain since high school.But Shields said that when she woke up from the operation, the surgeon told her that he had gone further: "I was in there for four hours, and you know what I did? I tightened you up a little bit! Gave you a little rejuvenation!""He acted as if he'd done me a favor," she wrote. "But I had never asked to be 'tightened' or 'rejuvenated' (translation: given a younger vagina). I felt numb.""This man surgically altered my body without my consent," she continued. "The sheer gall of it enraged me. The fact that the most intimate parts of my body had been a public focal point for so long ... it was enough already."Shields has spoken candidly in recent years about her experience of being sexualized and objectified from a young age following her breakout performance playing a child prostitute in the film "Pretty Baby" at age 11. Her 2023 documentary of the same name explored the media's treatment of her throughout her career.Shields said that while she was outraged by her treatment during the procedure, she "never took action against this doctor" or spoke to him about it, as she questioned herself and wondered "if he was right" that she should feel lucky.Shields also said that it took her a while to discuss what had happened with her husband, Chris Henchy, adding that "he was nearly as angry as I was.""Had I been happy with the results of the procedure, I still would have been angry that he did it without my consent. But as it turns out, I wasn't happy with the results, and haven't been since," she went on.Shields added that while she was "embarrassed" to share her story, she felt it was important to "bring up the uncomfortable but very real issues" if people were to change the way they approach the topic of women's health."Shame is no longer an option," she wrote.

It wasnt that long ago DreamWorks revealed the Shrek franchise was making a comeback with a new movie. For those excited to kick back with him, Fiona, and Donkey, youll have to wait a bit longer. On Friday, Universal announced it had pushed Shrek 5 back from its original July 1, 2026 slot to December 23 that same year. Minions 3 nowhas Shreksoriginal spot; Illuminations threequel was announced last year with an intended release of June 30, 2027. And whereMinionsonce was, a currently untitled movie fromIllumination has now planted a flag on that June 2027 date after previously being locked in for that March. The studio didnt say why it pushed the movies forward (or back), but it ends up working in ShrekandMinions favor. The Despicable Mefranchise tends to do pretty well during the Independence Day season, and kids movies have been shown to have pretty strong holiday legs. BothShrek 5andMinions 3are being headed up by longtime veterans from their respective franchises.Shrek 2co-director Conrad Vernon and Walt Dohrn, artist-story head on Shrek 4, are helming the new film, which brings back the series voice trio of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy. Puss in Boots 2sending Antonio Banderas swashbuckling feline may also come back, but its currently unclear how or if hell be featured in this film. Meanwhile, Minions 3will be directed by Peter Coffin, who directed the first three Despicable Me films (and voices the chittering yellow beasts), and written by Brian Lynch, who penned the original 2015 spinoff movie.So, to recap: Minions 3on July 1, 2026, Shrek 5on December 23, 2026, and an unknown Illumination movie on June 30, 2027. And just beforeMinions is thenext Super Mario on April 3, 2026.[]via Deadline] Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

SummaryThis podcast episode focuses on creating destruction visual effects (VFX) in Unreal Engine, a powerful game development engine. The discussion covers the fundamental concepts behind destruction VFX, including how to create fractured meshes and simulate physics using the Chaos Destruction System. The episode also emphasizes the importance of using Niagara particle systems for enhancing visual impact. The podcast then addresses the challenges of creating effective destruction VFX, such as performance optimization, overdraw, and collision complexity. It concludes by discussing best practices, such as starting simple, using culling for debris, leveraging blueprint logic, and testing on target devices. The podcast also highlights upcoming trends in destruction VFX, including increased realism in Chaos, the potential of Nanite and virtualized geometry, and the development of procedural destruction.

CGI 3D Animated Short Film: Roald: A Cookies Adventure Animated Short Film by Jrmie Amicone, Camille Triponney, Ileana Borzan, Zo Rivera, Myriam Lecomte, Alexis Bleusez, Margot Lemason And Romain Tersigni at ESMA. Featured on CGMeetup Gallery http://www.cgmeetup.com/gallery Dimitri, a cookie knight, and his faithful friend Ppite are heading to the cookie Kings castle. He gives them a very important mission : bring back the Princesss heart and win her hand. Their adventures across strange, sugary lands will be dangerous and scrumptious.Directors: Jrmie Amicone, Camille Triponney, Ileana Borzan, Zo Rivera, Myriam Lecomte, Alexis Bleusez, Margot Lemason And Romain TersigniMusic: Jeffrey BriceVoices: Guillaume Darnault, Sylvie Jacob, Nathalie Homs, Vronique Augereau, Emmanuel Curtil, David Krger Chanteuse / Singer: Lisa James BennettSound: Baptiste Leblanc, Tristan Lebozec, Yoann Poncet, Jos Vicente - Studio Des AviateursAnimation film produced as part of the 3D animated film training of the school ESMA http://www.esma-artistique.com/ 

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Sitting in the middle of the Iranian plateau, the Dasht-e Kavir, or Great Salt Desert, is the planets 24th largest desert. From the ground, the desolate sand dues and bordering mountain range are imposing and beautiful. From above, you get an entirely different perspective. The US Geological Survey-operated Landsat 7 satellite captured a stunning image of the Dasht-e Kavir from above (seen below) way back in 2000. The Landsat 7 satellite operated from 1999-2024. The Dasht-e Kavir, or Great Salt Desert, is the largest desert in Iran. It is primarily uninhabited wasteland, composed of mud and salt marshes covered with crusts of salt that protect the meager moisture from completely evaporating. This image was taken by the Landsat 7 satellite on October 24, 2000. It is a false-color composite image made using infrared, green and red wavelengths. The image has also been sharpened using the sensors panchromatic band.Credit: NASA/USGS Landsat 7;NASA Earth Observatory The Landsat 7 satellite isnt the only craft capturing beautiful images of our planet from above. Other satellites and crew members on the International Space Station have also documented Earth, taking shots of everywhere from Georgia, USA to the islands of New Caledonia in the South Pacific. In a dense swampland in Georgia, just north of the Florida border, you find the headwaters of the Suwannee River (upper right). The Suwannee is known as a blackwater river because of its dark-brown waters laden with organic material. This river system has been called one of the most pristine in the United States, but some environmental pressures are putting that distinction in jeopardy.Unlike other blackwater rivers, the Suwannee maintains its inky color along its entire 400-kilometer (250-mile) journey to the sea. When the river finally meets the Gulf of Mexico along Floridas Big Bendthat portion of coast where the states panhandle curves to meet its peninsulaits dark waters act like a tracer, revealing where the river water mixes with the sea. That mixing was on display on February 20, 2015, when the Operational Land Imager on NASAs Landsat 8 satellite captured this view.Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Dr. Alice Alonso, using Landsat satellite data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption adapted fromLaura Rocchio, NASA Landsat Science Outreach. Like distant galaxies amid clouds of interstellar dust, chunks of sea ice drift through graceful swirls of grease ice in the frigid waters of Foxe Basin near Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. Sea ice often begins as grease ice, a soupy slick of tiny ice crystals on the oceans surface. As the temperature drops, grease ice thickens and coalesces into slabs of more solid ice.This image was acquired on August 4, 2002, by the Landsat 7 satellite.Credit: USGS/NASA/Landsat 7 This image, showing tidal flats and channels on Long Island, in the Bahamas, was taken by an Expedition 26 crew member onboard the International Space Station. The islands of the Bahamas in the Caribbean Sea are situated on large platforms made mainly from carbonate sediments ringed by fringing reefs the islands themselves are only the parts of the platform currently exposed above sea level. The sediments are formed mostly from the skeletal remains of organisms settling to the sea floor; over geologic time, these sediments will consolidate to form carbonate sedimentary rocks such as limestone. Darker blue shows deeper water, while light blue-green shows shallow water on the tidal flat. The continually exposed parts of the island are seen in brown, a result of soil formation and vegetation growth (left).Credit: Expedition 26 crew member onboard the International Space Station, courtesy of NASA Every summer, phytoplankton spread across the northern basins of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, with blooms spanning hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles. Nutrient-rich, cooler waters tend to promote more growth among marine plants and phytoplankton than is found in tropical waters. Blooms in summer 2018 off Scandinavia seem to be particularly intense.On July 18, 2018, theOperational Land Imager(OLI) onLandsat 8acquired a natural-color image of a swirling green phytoplankton bloom in the Gulf of Finland, a section of the Baltic Sea. Note how the phytoplankton trace the edges of a vortex; it is possible that this ocean eddy is pumping up nutrients from the depths.Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens and Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from theU.S. Geological Surveyand MODIS data fromLANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response From NASAs Operation IceBridge campaign in Alaska: A high altitude view of Icy Bay, in the Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness. Just a century ago, this body of water was covered in ice.Credit: NASA Perhaps the most impressive of cloud formations, cumulonimbus (from the Latin for pile and rain cloud) clouds form due to vigorous convection (rising and overturning) of warm, moist and unstable air. Surface air is warmed by the sun-heated ground surface and rises; if sufficient atmospheric moisture is present, water droplets will condense as the air mass encounters cooler air at higher altitudes. The air mass itself also expands and cools as it rises due to decreasing atmospheric pressure, a process known as adiabatic cooling. This type of convection is common in tropical latitudes year-round and during the summer season at higher latitudes.The image, taken while the International Space Station was located over western Africa near the Senegal-Mali border, shows a fully formed anvil cloud with numerous smaller cumulonimbus towers rising near it.Credit: NASA The Mackenzie River in Canada plays a major role in Arctic climate as warmer fresh water mixes with cold seawater.This image was taken by the Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 satellite on July 18, 2017.Credit: Source:NASA/USGS Landsat 8; Norman Kuring, GSFC This beautiful image, taken on 11 January 2001, shows a geological formation in the Maur Adrar Desert in Mauritania, Africa. Known as the Richat Structure, this snail-shell-like formation was created when a volcanic dome hardened and gradually eroded, exposing onion-like layers of rock.Credit: NASA/U.S. Geological Survey/Landsat-7/Goddard Space Flight Center Dagze Co (Lake) is one of many inland lakes in Tibet. In glacial times, the region was considerably wetter, and lakes were correspondingly much larger. This is evident by the numerous fossil shorelines that circle the lake, and attest to the presence of a larger, deeper lake. Changes in climate have resulted in greater aridity of the Tibetan Plateau, and drying up of the lakes. Image taken by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on October 8, 2001.Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS and the U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team Guinea-Bissau is a small country in West Africa. Complex patterns can be seen in the shallow waters along its coastline, where silt carried by the Geba and other rivers washes out into the Atlantic Ocean. Image taken by Landsat 7 on December 1, 2000. Credit: USGS/NASA/Landsat 7 In the style of Van Goghs painting Starry Night, massive congregations of greenish phytoplankton swirl in the dark water around Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. Phytoplankton are microscopic marine plants that form the first link in nearly all ocean food chains. Population explosions, or blooms, of phytoplankton, like the one shown here, occur when deep currents bring nutrients up to sunlit surface waters, fueling the growth and reproduction of these tiny plants. Image taken by Landsat 7 on July 13, 2005.Credit: USGS/NASA/Landsat 7 This photo, taken on January 22, 2001 by the Landsat-7 satellite, shows Akpatok Island, which lies in Ungava Bay in Canada. Accessible only by air, Akpatok Island rises out of the water as sheer cliffs that soar 500 to 800 feet (150 to 243 meters) above the sea surface. The island is an important sanctuary for cliff-nesting seabirds. Numerous ice floes around the island attract walruses and whales, making Akpatok a traditional hunting ground for native Inuit people.Credit: NASA/USGS Landsat 7 satellite; NASA Earth Observatory