Bosco Verticale (The Vertical Forest towers), Porta Nuova, Milan, Italy

Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest) is a pair of residential towers in the Porta Nuova district of Milan, Italy, between Via Gaetano de Castillia and Via Federico Confalonieri near Milano Porta Garibaldi railway station. They have a height of 111 metres (364 ft) and 76 metres (249 ft) and contain more than 900 trees (approximately 550 and 350 in the first and second towers, respectively) on 8,900 square metres (96,000 sq ft) of terraces. Within the complex is an 11-storey office building; its facade does not include plants.

The towers were designed by Boeri Studio (Stefano Boeri,Gianandrea Barreca and Giovanni La Varra). It also involved input from horticulturalists and botanists. The building was inaugurated in October 2014.

The project was designed as part of the rehabilitation of the historic district of Milan between Via De Castillia and Confalonieri in Porta Nuova, which is known to be the richest business district in Europe. Bosco Verticale is one of the biggest European redevelopment projects, consisting of two residential towers of which the largest is 26 floors and 110 metres high (called Torre E) and the smaller tower is 18 floors and 76 metres high (called Torre D). It contains 400 condominium units priced from 3,000–12,000 Euro per square metre.

According to Stefano Boeri, the building was inspired by Italo Calvino's 1957 novel The Baron in the Trees, in which the protagonist decides to abandon the ground and live on the trees for the rest of his life. The project was named Bosco Verticale, or in English "Vertical Forest", because each tower houses 900 trees, 5,000 shrubs and 11,000 perennial plants, which help mitigate smog and produce oxygen. These tree-packed high rises help cities built for density, adding more housing and infrastructure, while improving the air quality. Trees and plants are the most efficient and cost effective way to absorb carbon dioxide. The 20,000 trees and perennial plants in the buildings will convert approximately 44,000 pounds of carbon each year. With more than 90 species, the buildings' biodiversity is expected to attract new bird and insect species to the city. It is also used to moderate temperatures in the building in the winter and summer, by shading the interiors from the sun and blocking harsh winds. The vegetation also protects the interior spaces from noise pollution and dust from street-level traffic.

The building itself is self-sufficient by using renewable energy from solar panels and filtered waste water to sustain the buildings' plant life. These green technology systems reduce the overall waste and carbon footprint of the towers. Lead designer Stefano Boeri stated, “It’s very important to completely change how these new cities are developing. Urban forestation is one of the biggest issues for me in that context. That means parks, it means gardens, but it also means having buildings with trees.”

The design was tested in a wind tunnel to ensure the trees would not topple from gusts of wind. Botanists and horticulturalists were consulted by the engineering team to ensure that the structure could bear the load imposed by the plants. The steel-reinforced concrete balconies are designed to be 28 cm thick, with 1.30 metre parapets. Bosco Verticale is the first model of urban densification of nature in a city and Boeri plans to build similar structures in Switzerland, the Netherlands (one is already under construction in Utrecht), and multiple cities in China.

The construction of the towers began in late 2009 and early 2010, involving 6,000 onsite construction workers. Between mid-2010 and early 2011 construction progressed very slowly and the towers rose by only five floors while the core rose to the seventh floor. Construction progressed throughout 2011, and by the beginning of 2012 the structures were completed, and construction of the facades and installation of the plants began on June 13, 2012. The building was inaugurated in October 2014.

On 11 April 2012, one of the buildings was used as a temporary art gallery and opened to the public for an art exhibition hosted during Milan Fashion Week. The two buildings have 730 trees (480 large, 250 small), 5,000 shrubs, and 11,000 perennials and ground cover on its façades. The original design had specified 1,280 tall plants and 920 short plants encompassing 50 species. Overall, the vegetation is the equivalent of that found in a one hectare wood. The innovative use of heat-pump technology is helping to reduce heating and cooling costs

On 19 November 2014, Bosco Verticale won the International Highrise Award, a prestigious international competition held every two years to honour excellence in recently constructed buildings that stand a minimum of 100 metres (328 feet) tall. The five finalists were selected from 26 nominees in 17 countries. On 12 November 2015, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) Awards Jury selected Bosco Verticale as the overall “2015 Best Tall Building Worldwide” at the 14th Annual CTBUH International Best Tall Building Awards Symposium, Ceremony & Dinner, celebrated at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago.

Ice Eggs (Mysterious Of Eggs), Hailuoto Island, Finland

Ice Eggs is a rare weather phenomenon. Thousands of egg-shaped balls of ice have covered a beach in Finland. Experts say it is caused by a rare process in which small pieces of ice are rolled over by wind and water. The "ice eggs" littered an area the length of about one-quarter of a football field and ranged in size from that of an average chicken egg to that of a hefty soccer ball.

Autumn is the perfect time to see the phenomenon, according to Dr James Carter, emeritus professor of geography-geology at Illinois State University, as this is when ice starts to form on the surface of water, creating a form of slush when moved by waves. The core begins to collect ice around it and the swell moves it along the beach, forward and back. A small ball surface gets wet, freezes and becomes bigger and bigger.”

Coron Island, Palawan in the Philippines.

Coron Island is the third-largest island in the Calamian Islands in northern Palawan in the Philippines. The island is part of the larger municipality of the same name. It is about 170 nautical miles (310 km) southwest of Manila and is known for several Japaneseshipwrecks of World War II vintage. Because of its unique ecological features, the entire area is protected by several legal proclamations.

The island and surrounding fishing grounds are part of the ancestral domain of the indigenous Tagbanwa people, officially designated such on June 5, 1998. Known as Calis among the Tagbanwas and Coronians, its tribal chieftain is Rodolfo Aguilar I. The island comprises two barangays of the municipality of Coron: Banuang Daan and Cabugao.

 

Partially between Busuanga and Culion islands, Coron Island faces the Sulu Sea and forms the eastern side of Coron Bay. It is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) long from north to south, and 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) at its widest point. It is a wedge-shaped mountainous island, dominated by steep cliffs and Karst rock formations made of Permianlimestone of Jurassic origin that comprises about 70% of its area. Another 25% is rolling hills, while only 5% is relatively flat. There are 11 lakes nestled in the rugged terrain, of which 3 have underground connections to the sea. There are a few mangroves in coastal areas.

The area around the wrecks has rock formations which provide for snorkeling opportunities, with underwater visibility extending up to 80 feet (24 m). The water is often calm. Coron is one of the most visited destinations for wreck diving in the Philippines. Wreck dive sites are found in depths as shallow as 10–30 feet (3.0–9.1 m) and as deep as 120–140 feet (37–43 m). Most are in the range of about 60–80 feet (18–24 m). Dive sites around Coron include many different reef dive sites and "Günter´s Cave", also known as Cathedral Cave because during a certain time of the day, the sun throws a beam of light through a hole in the cave ceiling, illuminating the inside. It is possible to surface in the cave, as the hole in the cave-ceiling allows fresh air to enter. The cave is named after Günther Bernert, who was part of the first dive group to explore the cave, after hearing from local fishermen about its existence.

Wreck diving sites in Coron Bay include the Akitsushima, Irako, Kogyo Maru, Kyokuzan Maru, Nanshin Maru, Okikawa Maru, Olympia Maru, Lusong Gunboat, East Tangat gunboat (the name of the ship, Terukaze Maru, was recently discovered by a group of Dutch divers, who spent a couple of days digging into bottom sand around the stern), and 'Skeleton' Wrecks. The aquatic views from the sunken Japanese ships off Coron Island are listed in Forbes Traveler Magazine’s top-10 best scuba diving sites in the world. Ecotourism has long surpassed diving as the top draw to Coron island in the last decade. With domestic tourism on the rise due to a rapidly growing middle class, Coron is one of the top destinations for Filipinos to add to their wish list, with Coron island containing some of the most iconic.

Crowley Lake ( The Strange Columnar Formations), Mono County, California, United States

Crowley Lake is a reservoir on the upper Owens River in southern Mono County, California, in the United States. Crowley Lake is 15 miles south of Mammoth Lakes.

The lake was created in 1941 by the building of the Long Valley Dam by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP), as storage for the Los Angeles Aqueduct and for flood control. The dam is 126 feet high and impounds 183,465 acre-feet. For more on the history of the lake, see Owens Lake.

It is known for its trout fishing: Between 6,000 and 10,000 anglers hit the lake on opening day. The largest brown trout taken from the lake weighed 26 pounds. Many people from all over California head here for late summer and fall fly fishing since the lake contains some of the largest trout around. Crowley Lake Fish Camp, run in cooperation with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, is the only way to access the lake, and visitors can rent boats, book camping sites, and buy supplies at the Fish Camp.

The lake is named after Father John J. Crowley, “the desert Padre”, who was a key figure in Owens Valley history and a local hero. When it became obvious that the city of Los Angeles’s appropriation of the water supply had made agriculture impossible in the Owens Valley, many of the residents of the Valley lost all hope. Father Crowley traveled up and down the Valley, convincing many of them that it could become a tourist destination. Thus, it is fitting that while it exists to serve the Los Angeles aqueduct, Crowley Lake is also a prime destination for anglers. Father Crowley was killed in 1940 in an automobile accident. 

Upon completion of the reservoir in 1941, strange columnar formations, some of which reached heights of as much as 20 feet, were spotted along the reservoir's eastern shore. Some described them as stone cylinders connected by fortified stone arches that had been completely covered and obscured for millions of years but which had been gradually unmasked by the incessant pummeling of the lake's powerful waves, whose constant pounding had eroded the more malleable rock at the base of the cliffs encasing these pillars. The pillars were simply regarded as oddities until 2015, when geologists realized that they were the result of frigid water from melting snow seeping down into volcanic ash (the result of a catastrophic explosion more than 700,000 years prior), creating tiny holes in the hot ash, the byproduct being boiling water and steam, which then rose up and out of these same holes. Samples of the resulting "evenly spaced convection cells similar to heat pipes" (a quote from a study at UC Berkeley) were analyzed using X-rays and electronic microscopes; and researchers found that minute crevices in these "convection pipes" were literally bonded into place by minerals that were able to resist the corrosive force of the lake's waves. Researchers have now counted nearly 5,000 of these pillars, which appear in groups and vary widely in shape, size and color over an area of 4000 acres, with some of the columns standing as erect as towering pylons and sporting ringed apertures approximately a foot apart; others which are warped or leaning at various angles; and still others that are half-submerged and, some say, resemble the petrified remains of dinosaur vertebrae.