Well, I found out that the first week of the year was actually week 52 of 2010, which makes last week the actual week 14.

If anyone asks you, this is week 14 bis of 2011.
Anyway, these are the pretty pictures I stumbled upon last week:

National Geographics photographer Alanna Schmidt took this amazing shot, which I’m posting with the added bonus of pleasing my wife (she loves big cats).

I couldn’t find her original post, but if you want to stalk her (the photographer, not my wife) or find other useful links, here’s the thread on reddit where the picture comes from.

The author’s full caption: “While on general patrol on Highway 527, 45 kilometers south of Armstrong, Ontario, my partner and I came across what we thought was only one lynx. Once we pulled over to the side of the road, three others came out of the bush. I was able to get out and take photos from the road without the family being spooked. I took 62 pictures in total.”

Some geologist descended into Eyjafjallajökull’s magma chamber.

After I read the headline I expected something spectacular like men vaporised by the rage of the volcano hollywood-style, but nothing happened. Pictures were taken though.

An underwater art museum off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula has opened a new “room” filled with concrete sculptures that depict scenes from modern life, while creating new homes for sea creatures.

Here’s another link (the image below leads to Wired) with a different set of pictures of the same place, I find this thing amazing.

Manta rays don’t like to migrate on their own.

As for the rest, last week Wired Science published the winners of the Geology Photo Contest.
The image below is in Wadi Rum, South western Jordan. Before reading the article I thought it was some artist’s impression of Mars, then I learnt that this place is actually so alien that it was used as the surface of Mars in the movie Red Planet.