These 15 Dynamic Photos Will Make You Want to Dance Get footloose with these Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest dance scenes Photographs selected by Quentin Nardi Text by Tracy Scott Forson June 13, 2025 In the 1500s, ballet roles for female characters were performed by men. Women entered the art form in the late 1600s and are now dominant in ballet. Libby Zhang, Texas, 2016 Like many art forms, dance transcends cultures, countries and continents. Flamenco, breakdancing, ballet, tango and other well-known genres are all forms of movement performed all across the globe. While being a professional can take decades of dedication and training, one appeal of dance is that you don’t have to be an expert to participate in or enjoy it. Just visit any preschool for evidence of that. “The arts teach tolerance because there is no one way of doing anything,” said dance icon and Emmy winner Debbie Allen. While some forms of dance are more structured and formal than others, they’re all about using the body as a tool of expression. Take a look. In Istanbul, a customary trance-like dance, embodying spiritual devotion and the pursuit of unity with the divine, is performed as part of a Sufi ceremony. Uku Sööt, Turkey, 2024 Passersby cheer and applaud energetic dancers in vibrant colors as they entertain a crowd at Fuzhou. Yi Yuan, China, 2024 A young dance student’s elegant movements are complemented by the flow and motion of her beautiful garment. Felicia Tolbert, Michigan, 2024 During a celebration in Tyrol, the locals perform a traditional dance called Schuhplattler, which is very demanding physically and requires the dancers to reach their shoes while jumping. Ory Schneor, Austria, 2024 Young dancers strike poses for photos before participating in a performance at Brihadeeswara Temple. Ravikanth Kurma, India, 2019 Members of Hush Crew, based in Boston, perform at public venues around the city—and all over social media—showing off their dance skills. Paul Karns, Massachusetts, 2024 A flamenco dancer from Granada jumps to heights that could rival any NBA Hall of Famer. Javier Fergo, Spain, 2017 Dancers of the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet nearly collide as they practice for a performance titled The Roof. Le Nguyen Huy Thuy, Vietnam, 2015 Genres converge as two dancers fuse the movements and choreography of ballet and hip-hop. Tom Griscom, Tennessee, 2015 A teenage dance student celebrates the first day of summer with an iconic ballet leap. Vicki Surges, Minnesota, 2010 Dressed in elaborate, ornate garments, dancers celebrating Day of the Dead participate in a colorful parade. Michelle Atkinson, Texas, 2013 With roots in Italy, ballet, like many forms of dance, is now common in countries and cultures around the world. Xiaoping Mao, China, 2023 Bodies blur as they move to the music during a party to celebrate the festive week of Maslenitsa at the St. Petersburg State University. Anton Golyshev, Russia, 2011 A wedding party celebrates new nuptials with a dance through the historic alleys of New Orleans’ French Quarter. Osman Sharif, Louisiana, 2021 Get the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.

An artist's illustration of an unlucky massive star approaching a supermassive black hole. Credit: University of Hawai'i Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. At any given time across the universe, massive cosmic bodies are releasing incomprehensible amounts of energy. Stars burn like celestial nuclear fusion reactors, quasars emit thousands of times the luminosity of the Milky Way galaxy, and asteroids slam into planets. But all of these pale in comparison to a new class of events discovered by researchers at the University of Hawai’i’s Institute for Astronomy (IfA). According to their findings published June 4 in the journal Science Advances, it’s time to classify the universe’s most energetic explosions as extreme nuclear transients–or ENTs. ENTs are as devastating as they are rare. They only occur when a massive star at least three times heavier than the sun drifts too close to a supermassive black hole. The colliding forces subsequently obliterate the star, sending out plumes of energy across huge swaths of space. Similar events known as tidal disruption events (TDEs) are known to occur on a (comparatively) smaller scale, and have been documented for over a decade. But ENTs are something else entirely. “ENTs are different beasts,” study lead author and astronomer Jason Hinkle explained in an accompanying statement. “Not only are ENTs far brighter than normal tidal disruption events, but they remain luminous for years, far surpassing the energy output of even the brightest known supernova explosions.” Hinkle was first tipped off to ENTs while looking into transients—longlasting flares that spew energy from a galaxy’s center. Two particularly strange examples captured by the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission caught his eye. The pair of events brightened over a much longer timeframe than previously documented transients, but lacked some of their usual characteristics. “Gaia doesn’t tell you what a transient is, just that something changed in brightness,” Hinkle said. “But when I saw these smooth, long-lived flares from the centers of distant galaxies, I knew we were looking at something unusual.” Hinkle soon reached out to observatory teams around the world for what would become a multiyear project to understand these anomalies. In the process, a third suspect was detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego. After months of analysis, Hinkle and collaborators realized they were witnessing something unprecedented. An infrared echo tells us that a dusty torus surrounds the central black hole and newly-formed accretion disk. Credit: University of Hawai’i The ENTs analyzed by astronomers displayed smoother, longer lasting flares that pointed towards something very particular—a supermassive black hole accreting a giant, wayward star. This contrasts with a more standard black hole that typically acquires its material and energy unpredictably, resulting in irregular brightness fluctuations. The energy and luminosity of an ENT boggles the mind. The most powerful ENT documented in Hinkle’s study, Gaia18cdj, generated 25 times more energy than the most powerful known supernovae. For reference, a standard supernova puts out as much energy in a single year as the sun does across its entire 10 billion year lifespan. Gaia18cdj, meanwhile, manages to give off 100 suns’ worth of energy over just 12 months. The implications of ENTs and their massive energy surges go far beyond their impressive energy outputs. Astronomers believe they contribute to some of the most pivotal events in the cosmos. “These ENTs don’t just mark the dramatic end of a massive star’s life. They illuminate the processes responsible for growing the largest black holes in the universe,” said Hinkle. From here on Earth, ENTs can also help researchers as they continue studying massive, distant black holes. “Because they’re so bright, we can see them across vast cosmic distances—and in astronomy, looking far away means looking back in time,” explained study co-author and astronomer Benjamin Shappee. “By observing these prolonged flares, we gain insights into black hole growth when the universe was half its current age… forming stars and feeding their supermassive black holes 10 times more vigorously than they do today.” There’s a catch for astronomers, however. While supernovae are relatively well-documented, ENTs are estimated to occur at least 10 million times less often. This means that further study requires consistent monitoring of the cosmos backed by the support of international governments, astronomical associations, and the public.

Cyberattacks on UK retailers reveal deep cybersecurity talent shortages, with ethical hackers and AI threat specialists now critical.

I find it so ridiculous that there are still people who don’t believe in climate change. The effect on our environment has been so obvious the past few decades. We’re seeing so many unnatural weather conditions as well as the devastating impact it has had on natural coral reefs and vulnerable coastlines. This and natural disasters have affected the life and livelihood of people who live in areas near water. Miami is taking an innovative approach to combat climate change and protect its coastline: 3D-printed coral reefs. These artificial reefs are not just aesthetically interesting; they serve a crucial purpose in creating micro environments for marine life and acting as natural seawalls. The initiative, called the BIOCAP project, recognizes the significant threat climate change poses to natural coral reefs through rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification. These factors lead to coral bleaching and the degradation of vital marine ecosystems. To counter this, Florida International University (FIU) researchers led by Sara Pezeshk and Shahin Vassigh are designing and deploying intricate 3D-printed structures that mimic the complexity of natural reefs. Designer: Florida International University These artificial reefs are created using environmentally friendly materials and are carefully designed to provide the nooks and crannies that various marine species need for shelter, feeding, and reproduction. By offering a stable and suitable habitat, the 3D-printed reefs aim to attract and support a thriving community of fish, invertebrates, and other marine organisms. Beyond creating essential habitats, the artificial reefs also function as a form of natural coastal protection. Their complex structure helps to dissipate wave energy, acting as a buffer against erosion and storm surges. This is particularly important for low-lying coastal areas like Miami, which are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of rising sea levels and more intense weather events. This project is a collaborative effort, bringing together expertise in marine biology, materials science, and 3D printing technology. This interdisciplinary approach is crucial for developing effective and sustainable solutions to the challenges posed by climate change. While 3D-printed reefs are not a complete replacement for natural coral reefs, which are incredibly complex and have evolved over millennia, they offer a promising tool for reef restoration and coastal protection in the face of environmental change. The project in Miami serves as an inspiring example of how human ingenuity and technology can be harnessed to address the urgent challenges of our time and contribute to the resilience of our planet’s vital ecosystems. As the project progresses, it will be crucial to monitor the long-term effectiveness of these artificial reefs and continue to refine their design and deployment for maximum ecological benefit. The post 3D-printed coral reefs can help protect coastline first appeared on Yanko Design.

There’s something so satisfying about surprising “aha!” moments — those strange instances of insight that strike when you’re struggling with a problem and arrive at an answer suddenly, seemingly without warning. But is satisfying all that those moments are?Apparently not, as it turns out that the flashes of inspiration you feel when a solution finally bursts into your brain are much more than pleasurable. They’re also an important part of your memory-making process. Tied to surges of activity in your brain, these moments may shape your ideas into stronger memories, a new neuroimaging study suggests. Published in Nature Communications, the results may adjust the way we approach education, as environments that encourage learners to explore problems and experience “eureka” moments may lead to longer-lasting learning. New Insight Into Eureka MomentsExample of the hidden picture puzzles in the black/white images on the left; corresponding real-world picture on the right. (Image Credit: Maxi Becker) It’s a bit of a stretch to say that the relationship between “aha!” moments and memory is a sudden insight in and of itself, as eureka moments and epiphanies have been associated with memory boosts before. But little is known about how, exactly, these moments work, and about how they’re tied to memory at a neuroscientific level. Setting out to study the neural mechanisms that connect sudden insight and memory together, the authors of the new study recorded people’s neural activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as they solved a series of visual puzzles. After the participants solved the puzzles, the researchers then prompted them to describe their thought process — particularly, whether they worked out their solutions suddenly or slowly, with a single moment of inspiration or without. Analyzing the participants’ recordings along with their responses, the authors revealed that the puzzles that participants solved with moments of sudden insight were associated with surges of activity in the hippocampus — a small structure in the brain that’s responsible for learning and memory. In fact, the researchers even linked stronger moments of inspiration to stronger surges of activity in the hippocampus. And these surges weren’t trivial, either, as they meant that participants were “actually more likely to remember the solution” to particular puzzles later on, said lead study author Maxi Becker, a neuroscience researcher at Humboldt University, according to a press release. When the authors tested the participants to see whether they remembered their solutions to the puzzles several days after they solved them, the results revealed that they recalled the solutions they settled on suddenly, with a sense of epiphany, better than those they settled on slowly, without that same sense. “If you have an ‘aha! moment’ while learning something, it almost doubles your memory,” said senior study author Roberto Cabeza, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, according to a press release. “There are few memory effects that are as powerful as this.”Read More: What Happens in Your Brain When You Make Memories?Measuring ‘Aha!’ MomentsExample of the hidden picture puzzles in the black/white images on the left; the corresponding real-world picture on the right. (Image Credit: Maxi Becker.) The puzzles themselves were simple, though they were still able to encourage epiphanies on a small scale. Testing their ability to parse through patchy visual information, the puzzles prompted participants to identify ambiguous black-and-white images of objects and of animals, such as snakes, snails, and spiders. “It’s just a little discovery that you are making, but it produces the same type of characteristics that exist in more important insight events,” Cabeza said in the release. According to the researchers, the brain recordings also revealed bumps in activity in brain regions responsible for visual recognition, with a stronger sense of sudden insight being seen with a stronger bump in activity in the ventral occipito-temporal cortex (VOTC). Not only that, the researchers also revealed an association between more intense “aha!” moments and more intense brain connectivity between the hippocampus and the VOTC. “The different regions essentially communicate with each other more efficiently,” Cabeza said in the release.Ultimately, the study provides important insights into the neuroscience of some of our most sudden, most creative, and most satisfying solutions. It also supports the idea that exploratory learning, based on active inquiry and investigation, may be better for our minds by encouraging these surprising moments to occur. “Insight is key for creativity,” Cabeza said in the release — a lesson for learning that all of us should try to remember.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Nature Communications. Insight Predicts Subsequent Memory via Cortical Representational Change and Hippocampal ActivityPsychological Research. Aha! Experiences Leave a Mark: Facilitated Recall of Insight SolutionsSam Walters is a journalist covering archaeology, paleontology, ecology, and evolution for Discover, along with an assortment of other topics. Before joining the Discover team as an assistant editor in 2022, Sam studied journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

This month marked the start of Beach of Dreams, a festival with scale, heart, and purpose. Running until 1 June 2025, the month-long creative programme is transforming the UK's coastlines into a dynamic stage for climate action and cultural storytelling, all through the lens of art. Led by participatory arts organisation Kinetika, with support from Arts Council England and Historic England, Beach of Dreams has unfolded across the shores of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, activating over 90 events, eight major artist commissions, and a national touring artwork to reimagine our collective relationship with the coast. It's ambitious in scope but rooted in local stories. It celebrates heritage, calls for resilience, and provides a platform for communities to be seen, heard, and felt. A coastline in flux As sea levels rise and storm surges increase, the UK's 19,000 miles of coastline are facing unprecedented environmental pressures. But Beach of Dreams isn't just about drawing attention to what's at risk. It's about uncovering what we love, what we fear, and what we might create together in response. "Through Beach of Dreams, we are journeying from the Beach of Broken Dreams in Thurrock to shine a spotlight on the coastal gems, organisations, people, and projects across the UK that are creating positive change and inspiring hope," says Ali Pretty, artistic director of Beach of Dreams and founder of Kinetika. "In these uncertain times, Beach of Dreams emphasises the power of local communities to shape their own futures." The silks that started it all At the heart of the programme is The Beach of Dreams Silks, a national artwork made up of 838 naturally dyed silk pennants, each one carrying a personal story and Climate Commitment from participants around the country. Installed at key moments throughout the month, the silks will ripple across beaches from Fife to Felixstowe, forming a vast, mobile artwork infused with care, memory, and intention. Each pennant represents an individual's connection to the coast, often made in community workshops using foraged materials and natural dyes. As the silks tour, they become a kind of collective archive – one that is strikingly beautiful but also quietly urgent in its call for stewardship and solidarity. Eight commissions, infinite perspectives The silks may be the symbolic thread, but the festival's soul lies in its artist commissions, each developed in collaboration with communities and exploring a different question about our relationship to the sea. In Tilbury, the festival launched on 3 May with Threads for Tomorrow, a poignant commission by designer Rahemur Rahman. Working with local sewing groups, Rahman has transformed damaged silk pennants – torn during a 2023 storm – into richly embroidered panels using waste materials and naturally dyed threads. These panels will embellish carnival structures inspired by Bangladeshi sampans, merging cultural identity with ecological reinvention in a live performance led by choreographer Charlene Low. Further north, sound artist Jason Singh brings Cyd-Wrando (Listen Together) to Colwyn Bay, Wales. Here, community participants are invited to hear the subtle signals of the environment – from honeycomb worms to ancient yews – via a site-specific soundscape accessed through AR markers along the coastline. It's immersive, interactive, and deeply tuned into the dialogue between land and sea. In South Tyneside, The Power of Nature sees photographer Tessa Bunney and writer Stevie Ronnie exploring how underwater habitats like kelp forests and oyster reefs can stabilise our coasts and boost biodiversity. Developed with local groups through Stronger Shores, a DEFRA-funded resilience programme, the project includes an outdoor photography exhibition and original poetry created by the community. Over in Northern Ireland, Our Siren Song by Beat Carnival channels myth and music. From 13–17 May, a week of coastal walks, storytelling, carnival arts and music workshops will culminate in a spectacular procession through Millisle, featuring a four-metre-tall operatic siren, community choirs, and musicians singing out across the sea. Meanwhile, in Fife, artist Julie Brook crafts Tide Line – a 100-metre sculptural intervention made from local stones and built at low tide. Accompanied by walking journeys, creative workshops, and new choral work, the project draws attention to erosion, plastic pollution, and rising seas – making visible the invisible forces shaping our shorelines. Other commissions include Collecting Dreams, Shifting Futures in East Anglia, a story-gathering project supported by Historic England and taking place in Great Yarmouth, Harwich and Orford Ness, and The Beach of Dreams Village, a striking, sustainable installation in Great Yarmouth designed with Bamboology's Joseph Williams. Both offer joyful, participatory spaces for reflection, learning and celebration. A digital storytelling platform and an invitation to act While the physical artworks form the festival's public face, Beach of Dreams is just as alive online. A digital Stories platform serves as an evolving archive of community voices, creative processes, and climate reflections, offering behind-the-scenes access and amplifying regional perspectives. Importantly, anyone can participate, whether by joining a walk, submitting a workshop idea, or sharing a Climate Commitment on the Beach of Dreams website. These tangible pledges, like planting seagrass or reducing plastic use, add up to a national network of local action. Legacy and reflection Although the festival runs until 1 June, its legacy continues later in the year. In September, Beach of Dreams will culminate in a final performance – Sonnet of Samsara – in partnership with Activate Performing Arts as part of Inside Out Dorset. The piece will weave together movement, silk installations, and storytelling along Weymouth Beach, offering a moment of collective reflection. It will also mark the start of a new residency, bringing together artists, thinkers, and local voices to explore how the festival's's creative energy can seed longer-term change. With its mix of spectacle and sensitivity, Beach of Dreams is more than a festival. It's's a model for how art can hold space for complexity – beauty and vulnerability, tradition and change, grief and imagination – all while inviting us to walk, listen, make, and care a little more deeply for the places we so often take for granted.

Tencent on Wednesday reported an annual rise in its top and bottom line in the first quarter fuelled by accelerated growth in its key gaming business.