Three Beauties of the Present Day is a nishiki-e colour woodblock print from c. 1792–93 by Japanese ukiyo-e artist Kitagawa Utamaro. The triangular composition depicts the busts of three celebrity beauties of the time: geisha Tomimoto Toyohina, and teahouse waitresses Naniwa Kita and Takashima Hisa. Each figure in the work is adorned with an identifying family crest. The portraits are idealized, and though at first glance their faces seem similar, subtle differences in their features and expressions can be detected. The luxurious print, made with multiple woodblocks, was published by Tsutaya Jūzaburō and is believed to have been quite popular.

Painting: Kitagawa Utamaro

A promotional poster for Shelter, a survival video game developed by Might and Delight for Windows and Mac released on 28 August 2013. In the game, players control a mother badger who must protect and feed her cubs while travelling from their burrow to a new one. The game has received positive reviews for its graphics and sound, as well as the emotional impact that it evoked. Reviewers gave mixed reactions regarding the game's difficulty and length.

Poster: Might and Delight

An interior view of the Hagia Sophia in 1852, when it was known as the Ayasofya Mosque. The building was originally constructed as a main Eastern Orthodox church and served in this role from 537 AD until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 (except between 1204 and 1261 when it was converted by the Fourth Crusaders to a Roman Catholic cathedral). When the Ottoman Turks under Mehmed II conquered Constantinople, the Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque and Christian relics and art were either removed or plastered over. It remained a mosque for almost 500 years, before being converted into a museum between 1931 and 1935. Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and influenced the design of numerous mosques in what is now Istanbul.

Artwork: Gaspare Fossati; lithograph: Louis Haghe; restoration: Adam Cuerden

The Malaysian plover (Charadrius peronii) is a small wader that nests on beaches and salt flats in Southeast Asia. It is classified as near-threatened, a situation attributed to increased human use of important beach habitats.

Photograph: JJ Harrison

The Panorpidae are a family of scorpionflies. This family contains more than 350 species. These insects, which average 9–25 mm long, have four membranous wings and threadlike antennae. Their elongated faces terminate with jaws that are used to feed on dead and dying insects, nectar, and rotting fruit. While in larval form, they scavenge by consuming dead insects on the ground.

Pictured here is a Panorpa alpina male.

Photograph: Luc Viatour

The Hammer projection is a map projection described by Ernst Hammer in 1892. It uses the same 2:1 elliptical outer shape as the Mollweide projection. Both projections are equal-area, but by depicting parallels of latitude as curved lines rather than straight, Hammer reduced distortion toward the outer limbs, where it is extreme in the Mollweide.

Map: Strebe, using Geocart

Sunflowers are two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The earlier series, executed in Paris in 1887, depicts the flowers lying on the ground. The second set, executed a year later in Arles, shows bouquets of sunflowers in a vase. Depicted here is the version held at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Painting: Vincent Van Gogh

David Dixon Porter (1813–1891) was the second U.S. Navy officer to attain the rank of admiral. Porter joined the Navy at age ten under his father, David. During the American Civil War, Porter was involved in actions at Fort Pickens, New Orleans, Vicksburg, Red River, and Fort Fisher, rising to the rank of rear admiral. After the war, Porter became the Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy and initiated reforms in the curriculum. He was promoted to admiral after the death of David Farragut.

Photograph: Mathew Brady; restoration: Adam Cuerden

A betafite octahedron collected in Bancroft, Ontario, Canada. Betafite, a mineral group in the pyrochlore supergroup, typically occurs as a primary mineral in granite pegmatites, and rarely in carbonatites. Though there is no applicable use for the accepted betafite species, it is an important ore of thorium, uranium, and niobium.

Photograph: Heinrich Pniok