"Correspondence is a leap of faith, and that is part of what makes it wonderful," says Rachel Syme, author of Syme's Letter Writer: A Guide to Modern Correspondence. "You may never know if the person you are writing to will write you back." Illustration © by Joana Avillez, Reprinted with permission from Syme's Letter Writer by Rachel Syme/Clarkson Potter Publishers hide caption
This panel is from the "Slingshot Spiders" comic that describes the manuscript "Ultrafast launch of slingshot spiders using conical silk webs", published in the journal Current Biology. Lindsey Leigh/Bhamla Lab hide caption
Arewà Basit poses in front of Trans Forming Liberty (2024), a 10-foot oil painting by Amy Sherald for which she served as the model. Sansho Scott/BFA.com hide caption
John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres, Jamese Jefferson and Gloria Bollock, 1992, acrylic on Hydrocal plaster life cast Anacostia Community Museum/Smithsonian Institution hide caption
The Gamble House in Pasadena
Alexander Verikoff
/Vertikoff Archives
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The site of a former lead and zinc mine in Kabwe, Zambia. Thirty years after the closure of the mine, the land remains highly contaminated — and artisanal miners continue to work here, exposing themselves daily to dangerously high levels of lead. Tommy Trenchard for NPR hide caption
A sculpture of Aphrodite is displayed during an exhibition of ancient Greek art in 2007 in Beijing, China. The collection is from the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. Many ancient statues were scented, a researcher says. China Photos/Getty Images hide caption
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 24: Vincent D'Onofrio attends the Daredevil: Born Again red-carpet launch event at The Hudson Theater on February 24, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Disney) Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Disney hide caption
The Wichita Art Museum in Wichita, Kan., says more young people have been attending exhibitions since it decided to stop charging admissions for its permanent collection in 2023.
Naama Marcos
/Wichita Art Museum
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The boy and bird are, of course, not really flying together. But ... they are both airborne. The child is jumping into the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok, Thailand, during a heatwave in February 2024. Photographer Andre Malerba notes: "This image recalls the free feeling of leaping from several times one's height into water to escape the heat as friends laugh and cheer you on. A time many of us might remember as when we felt truly whole and at peace, even if life wasn't perfect. It's always worth realizing that this version of ourselves still exists somewhere inside and to let that lend us a sense of well-being that can never be taken away."
Andre Malerba / The Everyday Projects/
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The sister of the brand's founder, Gianni Versace, served as the creative director for 28 years. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images/Getty Images North America hide caption
West Village, 2015, Chengdu, People's Republic of China Arch-Exist hide caption
Cynthia Erivo Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Pioneering Black architect Robert Kennard led the team that designed Carson City Hall in Carson, Calif., which opened in 1976. The team also included Frank Sata and Robert Alexander. Elon Schoenholz/Getty Foundation hide caption
"50 Years of Hope and HA-HAs" is the first Vietnamese American art exhibit to open in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia region, according to the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Maansi Srivastava for NPR hide caption
Kendrick Lamar performs at the 2025 Super Bowl. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images hide caption
A diptych from Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst's "xhairymutantx." The work, originally commissioned as part of a larger piece for the 2024 Whitney Biennial, is among those offered for sale at Christie's landmark AI art auction. Christie's Images Ltd. 2025 hide caption
Children gather inside a traditional tent, known as an ortz, in the Siberian taiga of northern Mongolia, watching a documentary about a Norwegian reindeer herder. Despite their remote location deep in the forest — accessible only by horseback or reindeer — the families stay connected with the outside world through such modern technology as solar panels and the occasional Wi-Fi connection. Claire Thomas hide caption
Syl Cole and Ashley Abaya Chloe Veltman/NPR hide caption
An infrared image of Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto, revealing another portrait underneath. The Courtauld Institute of Art/The Courtauld Institute of Art hide caption