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It is the world’s second largest after theOosterscheldekering barrierin the Netherlands. The barrier is made up of 9 steel gates reaching 520m across the river. When closed, the gates are rotated upwards until they block the river. The gates are filled with water when submerged and empty as they emerge from the river. Photo credit Flooding has been a problem in London for centuries. Construction on the Thames Barrier began in 1974 and was officially opened a decade later....

A discarded washing machine door was repurposed into a window, and pizza delivery bags became materials for insulation. So far Kloehn has built 10 tiny houses, some of which have already found tenants. Before that, he was making sculptures. But soon he got tired peddling them to rich people, while the sculptures accomplish nothing by themselves. It just sits there, he said.

In 80 highly aesthetic images, Kowalski depicts landfills and waste spills, snow-covered orchards and autumn leaves. Sometimes the pictures resemble drawings, Kowalski said. Sometimes they are like maps with traces of human presence on the Earth. An aerial view of a Polish forest, with trees changing color. Kowalski doesnt seem to be averse to human encroachment on nature. Even forests, meadows and lakes are modified by people, he said. After having worked in architecture for four years, he devoted himself entirely to flying and photography....

The beluga is a medium-size whale that lives primarily in the Arctic. Its white color is also the source of its name, which comes from the Russian word for white. Belugas were hunted for their meat, blubber and skin, and hunting has been carried out for centuries. There is a building called Kjeftausa which is upturned rowboat with a peat embankment just south-east of Bamsebu. It was probably used as food storage, but today the building is a monument to resourcefulness and re-use....

This doesnt make for a beautiful city but it is a great environment for mural work. Some 8 years ago, the municipality set up a committee to help promote mural art in Tehran.

Over thousands of lipstick kisses and graffiti messages cover the bottom half of the tomb. The practice started in the late 1990s, when somebody decided to leave a lipstick kiss on the tomb. Kissing Oscar’s tomb on the Paris tourist circuit has become a cult pastime. Appeals from Wildes grandson Merlin Holland to stop the practice also fell on deaf ears. A plaque asking fans to respect the tomb instead of defacing it went in vain....

The Raja Ampat area contains the highest recorded diversity of marine life on Earth, according to Conservation International. But it is under the water where one finds the most amazing creatures in abundance. There are more than 1,500 species of fish, 537 species of coral and 699 mollusk species. The name of Raja Ampat comes from local mythology that tells about a woman who finds seven eggs. History shows that Raja Ampat was once a part of Sultanate of Tidore, an influential kingdom from Maluku....

There is an estimated 3,000 jars scattered across 90 sites in Xieng Khouang province. Some jars are decorated with bas relief on the exterior. An estimated 30 per cent of the bombs failed to explode on impact. Every week people are being killed and injured when they set them off.

The fleece can be black, or red, but is most commonly blond. The resulting Mangalitsa sported curly hair and were inclined to put on much weight. Photo credit Mangalitsa does not require special care and has good fattening ability. Its meat is considered among the tastiest pork in the world. This is due to the natural diet of forage, wheat, corn and barley. From the beginning of the 19th century until 1950 it was the most popular swine breed in Hungary....

Myanmar is rich in natural resources, but much of this remains untapped. Drilling is expensive and a costly gamble. Land costs about $4,000 an acre, and drills are $2,000. Most drillers pool their resources to pay the bills and share their profits. Many start out drilling by hand until they can afford a generator and engine. But the country’s artisanal wells wont last long. Sources:Nat Geo/The GuardianviaAvax News.

For those whose lives revolve around airplanes, Spruce Creek is a paradise. The people of Spruce Creek live in a tightly knit community. Most of them are professional pilots and they talk in aviation jargon. But Spruce Creek isnt the only residential airpark in the country. Spruce Creek is the largest fly-in community. The aviation lifestyle has even spread internationally to Canada, South Africa and Costa Rica.

These monumental features is believed to be erected by Bronze Age nomads, approximately 3000 years ago. Reindeer feature prominently in nearly all of the deer stones. Early stones have very simple images of reindeer, and as time progresses, the designs increase in detail. A gap of 500 years results in the appearance of the complicated flying reindeer depiction. Reindeer are depicted as flying through the air, rather than merely running on land....

Does your house have things that go bump in the night? Luckily there are a few things you could do tosilence those squeaksand rattles. This post originally appeared onImprovement Center. The explanation is much simpler than an apparition in the attic. Houses, whether new or old, make plenty of noise. What sounds should you expect from your house, and which ones are cause for concern? It’s the sound of the ductwork in your house expanding and contracting with the change in temperature....