2022年5月

大草原之火博物馆, 陆上公园, 堪萨斯州 Museum at Prairiefire, Overland Park, Kansas (© Bernard P. Friel/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

这座博物馆使大草原着火 This museum sets the prairie on fire

International Museum Day

To mark International Museum Day, we're featuring a destination that hasn't (yet!) achieved the fame of the Louvre or the Getty or the Met, although it's as unmistakable in appearance as any of them. This relatively small wonder proves that inspiration can be found in many places, including this suburb of Kansas City. At 42,000 square feet, the Museum at Prairiefire in Overland Park, Kansas, is about 1/50th the size of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, with which it has a partnership. But to those who find beauty and truth behind its walls, Prairiefire is no less enriching.

International Museum Day was created by the International Council of Museums in 1977 to create awareness that 'museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples.' It's observed annually on or around May 18 by more than 37,000 museums in 158 countries and territories. Each year is assigned a different theme. This year's theme is 'The Power of Museums,' to innovate and build community.

The Museum at Prairiefire, which opened in May 2014, is devoted primarily to natural history. It borrows displays from larger museums and hosts at least two major traveling exhibits per year. Its striking glass exterior, featured here, was designed to reference the intentional prairie fires that were an integral part of farming life in Kansas. The glass is dichroic, which means that its color changes with the light of the day. The museum is itself a work of art.

国际博物馆日

为了纪念国际博物馆日，我们推出了一个尚未（目前！）获得了卢浮宫、盖蒂宫或大都会博物馆的美誉，尽管它在外观上和它们中的任何一个一样无误。这一相对较小的奇迹证明，灵感可以在许多地方找到，包括堪萨斯城的这个郊区。位于堪萨斯州Overland Park的Prairiefire博物馆占地42000平方英尺，大约是与之合作的纽约美国自然历史博物馆的一半大小。但对于那些在墙后发现美丽和真理的人来说，草原之火同样丰富多彩。

国际博物馆日是由国际博物馆理事会于1977年创建的，目的是让人们认识到“博物馆是文化交流、丰富文化、促进各国人民相互理解、合作与和平的重要手段”每年5月18日左右，158个国家和地区的37000多家博物馆都会举办这一活动。每年都有不同的主题。今年的主题是“博物馆的力量”，创新和建设社区。

草原之火博物馆于2014年5月开放，主要致力于自然历史。它借用大型博物馆的展品，每年至少举办两次大型巡回展览。其引人注目的玻璃外观，这里的特色，旨在参考故意草原火灾，这是堪萨斯州农业生活的组成部分。这种玻璃是二向色的，这意味着它的颜色会随着白天的光线而变化。博物馆本身就是一件艺术品。

护城河边的格吕克斯堡城堡，德国 (© Christian Back/eStock Photo)

位于弗伦斯堡峡湾的水上城堡

马拉斯盐田，秘鲁 Salt ponds of Maras in Peru's Sacred Valley of the Incas (© Fotofeeling/Westend61 on Offset/Shutterstock)

巧夺天工的印加智慧 Incan ingenuity

Salt ponds of Maras, Peru

Peru's spectacularly beautiful Cuzco region has plenty of Incan wonders waiting to be rediscovered. Take, for example, these ancient salt ponds, stepping their way down the mountainside in Maras, nestled in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. You'll find more than 6,000 of the little salt pans near Maras, many of them owned and mined by local families. Salt is still harvested from the ponds through evaporation, just as it was in the 1400s when the Inca created the pools. Production is—pun sort of intended—seasonal. From May to October output is greater and of higher quality, and you'll see crystallized salt with its subtle pink hue. Maras salt is prized for its flavor and rough texture, and people swear by its healthy properties, too. The salt is sold in markets, and of course visitors are encouraged to take samples back home with them.

It's not far from Maras to Moray, another location where Incan ingenuity is on display. This time it's in the form of grass-covered stone rings believed to have been test beds for crop experimentation. The soil is from a few areas in the region, and studies show that the rings were designed to create microclimates to see what worked best for different plants.

秘鲁马拉斯的盐池

秘鲁美丽的库斯科地区有许多印加奇观等待重新发现。举个例子，这些古老的盐池坐落在神圣的印加山谷中，沿着马拉斯的山坡往下走。你会在马拉斯附近发现6000多个小盐田，其中许多是当地家庭拥有和开采的。盐仍然是通过蒸发从池塘中获取的，就像14世纪印加人创造池塘时一样。生产是双关语，有点季节性的。从5月到10月，产量更大，质量更高，你会看到结晶盐带有淡淡的粉红色。玛拉盐因其风味和粗糙的质地而备受赞誉，人们也对其健康特性深信不疑。食盐在市场上出售，当然也鼓励游客带着食盐回家。

从马拉斯到马里不远，这是印加的另一个创意展示地。这一次，它以草覆盖的石环的形式出现，据信石环是作物试验的试验台。土壤来自该地区的几个地区，研究表明，这些环是为了创造小气候，以观察什么对不同的植物最有效。

贝尔尼纳山脉和血月，瑞士 Panoramic view of the Bernina Range with blood moon, Eastern Alps, Engadin, Switzerland (© Bernd Zoller/Shutterstock)

准备迎接血月 Get ready for the blood moon

Lunar eclipse

If you're lucky enough to find yourself under a cloudless sky tonight, you'll be able to see one of our solar system's great wonders, a full lunar eclipse, also known as a 'blood moon.' The spooky nickname derives from the reddish hue the moon takes on when Earth casts its shadow upon it. Featured here is a blood moon over the Swiss Alps. A full lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth and moon align perfectly with the sun, and the moon falls directly behind Earth's shadow. When Earth falls behind the Moon's shadow, a solar eclipse occurs.

While total eclipses of the sun get more attention and make a more dramatic entrance, total lunar eclipses are majestic in their own right and are much more user-friendly. For one, you can look directly at a total lunar eclipse without any worry of harming your eyes. And they're viewable by far more people than solar eclipses. That's because a total lunar eclipse can last for hours, while solar eclipses last just a few minutes. In addition, lunar eclipses are viewable anywhere on the nighttime side of the world while total solar eclipses occur only within a narrow longitude on the planet.

Tonight's lunar eclipse coincides with the Flower Moon, the full moon of every May. It can be seen from Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia, but is best viewed from North and South America. While not exactly rare, total lunar eclipses don't occur too often, and even when they do, they can be hidden by cloud cover. If you miss tonight's blood moon, you'll get a second chance this year in November. Your next chance after that will be in three years, so you might want to plan to stay up late tonight.

月食

如果你足够幸运，今晚能在万里无云的天空下发现自己，你将能够看到我们太阳系的一大奇迹，月全食，也被称为“血月”这个令人毛骨悚然的绰号源于当地球把它的影子投射到月球上时，月球呈现出的微红色。这里的特色是瑞士阿尔卑斯山上的血月。当地球和月球与太阳完全对齐，月球直接落在地球阴影后面时，就会发生月全食。当地球落在月球的阴影后面时，就会发生日食。

虽然日全食得到了更多的关注，并做出了一个更引人注目的入口，但月全食本身就很壮观，而且更方便用户使用。首先，你可以直接看到月全食，而不用担心会伤害你的眼睛。比起日食，人们能看到的人要多得多。这是因为月全食可以持续数小时，而日食只持续几分钟。此外，月食在世界夜间的任何地方都可以看到，而日全食只发生在地球上一个狭窄的经度范围内。

今晚的月食与每年五月的满月——花月重合。从欧洲、非洲和亚洲部分地区都可以看到它，但从北美和南美看得最好。虽然并不十分罕见，但月全食并不经常发生，即使发生，也可能被云层掩盖。如果你错过今晚的血月，你将在今年11月获得第二次机会。之后的下一次机会是三年后，所以你可能想今晚熬夜。

金德代克风车群，荷兰 Windmills, Kinderdijk, Netherlands (© Achim Thomae/Getty Images)

可靠的移水器 Trusty water-shifters

Windmills in Kinderdijk, the Netherlands

This stretch of windmills is one of the best-known Dutch tourist sites—you probably recognize them from postcards and calendars. Both iconic and historic, the windmills in the village of Kinderdijk have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. The Netherlands has about 1,200 windmills, though only 300 or so are still operational. Over the years they've played a major role in pumping sea water away from the nation's reclaimed land. Keeping the water at bay is a perennial issue for the flat 'low countries,' where much of the ground is below sea level.

The second Saturday in May—today!—is National Windmill Day in the Netherlands, when windmills all over the country open their doors to visitors, letting locals and tourists alike marvel over the simple yet highly effective inner workings. And of course, though wind is a force of nature that's been harnessed for centuries, it's having a resurgence, albeit in a more high-tech form. It's a leading producer of 'green' energy and is expected to grow dramatically in the coming years. So, on National Windmill Day, let's tip our hats to these sturdy ancestors while also cheering the pioneering work of the sleek, graceful new generation.

荷兰金德迪克的风车

这段风车是荷兰最著名的旅游景点之一，你可能从明信片和日历上就能认出它们。Kinderdijk村的风车既是标志性的也是历史性的，自1997年以来一直是联合国教科文组织的世界遗产。荷兰约有1200座风车，但仍在运营的只有300座左右。多年来，他们在将海水从国家填海区抽走方面发挥了重要作用。对于地势平坦的“低海拔国家”，保持海水不受影响是一个长期存在的问题，那里的大部分土地低于海平面。

今天是五月的第二个星期六-是荷兰的国家风车日，全国各地的风车向游客敞开大门，让当地人和游客都惊叹于简单但高效的内部工作。当然，尽管风是一种自然力，已经被利用了几个世纪，但它正在复兴，尽管是以更高科技的形式。它是“绿色”能源的主要生产商，预计未来几年将大幅增长。因此，在全国风车日，让我们向这些强壮的祖先致敬，同时也为时尚优雅的新一代的开拓工作欢呼。

一只马赛长颈鹿，肯尼亚马赛马拉国家保护区 Masai giraffe in Maasai Mara, Kenya (© Andy Rouse/Minden Pictures)

独自在草原上 Solo on the savannah

A giraffe in Maasai Mara, Kenya

Our lonely giant is silhouetted on the Maasai Mara, or just 'The Mara' to locals. It's a large national game reserve in Kenya, and one of the world's most important wildlife conservation areas. The preserve was established in 1961 and is contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania—together, the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, protects some 9,700 square miles. In addition to our friend the giraffe, the Maasai Mara is home to large populations of elephants, lions, cheetahs, rhinos, wildebeest, hippos, crocodiles, zebras, and many more creatures.

While some zoologists consider the Masai giraffe its own species, most authorities recognize just one species of giraffe with nine subspecies. Masai giraffes like this one are the tallest of those, with males reaching heights of more than 18 feet. They range from southern Kenya, south through the Serengeti, and through all of Tanzania. Though not considered endangered by the Union for Conservation of Nature, all giraffes are a 'vulnerable' species, and some of the subspecies may be nearly extinct.

Until the late 19th century, giraffes were commonly known as cameleopards, due to the mistaken belief that a giraffe was a cross between a camel and leopard. But if you've ever tried to get a camel and a leopard to even go on a first date, you'd know how unlikely this is.

肯尼亚马赛马拉的长颈鹿

我们孤独的巨人的剪影出现在马赛马拉岛上，对当地人来说就是“马拉岛”。它是肯尼亚的一个大型国家野生动物保护区，也是世界上最重要的野生动物保护区之一。该保护区成立于1961年，与坦桑尼亚的塞伦盖蒂国家公园相连。马拉塞伦盖蒂生态系统保护着约9700平方英里的土地。除了我们的朋友长颈鹿，马赛马拉岛是大象、狮子、猎豹、犀牛、角马、河马、鳄鱼、斑马和更多生物的家园。

虽然一些动物学家认为马赛长颈鹿是自己的物种，但大多数权威机构只承认一种长颈鹿，有九个亚种。像这样的马赛长颈鹿是其中最高的，雄性长颈鹿的身高超过18英尺。从肯尼亚南部到塞伦盖蒂，再到坦桑尼亚全境。虽然没有被自然保护联盟认为濒危，但所有长颈鹿都是“脆弱”物种，其中一些亚种可能已经濒临灭绝。

直到19世纪末，长颈鹿通常被称为驼鹿，因为人们错误地认为长颈鹿是骆驼和豹子的杂交。但如果你试过让骆驼和豹子第一次约会，你就会知道这是多么不可能。

布拉塞河上的雾天黎明，英国湖区国家公园 (© fstopphotography/Getty Images)

映湖之美

圣托里尼岛上的伊亚镇，希腊 The village of Oia on the island of Santorini, Greece (© Zebra-Studio/Shutterstock)

米诺斯人的古老家园 The ancient home of the Minoans

Santorini, Greece

Officially known as Thira, Santorini is perhaps the most famous of all the Greek Islands. Located at the southern end of the Aegean Sea, Santorini is part of the Cyclades group of islands and receives about 2 million visitors a year. That's a lot of adoring attention for a small island (only 28 square miles) of 15,000 residents, and it's no wonder why. The whitewashed, clifftop villages of Santorini, like Oia featured in this image, are postcard perfect. And so are the unlimited panoramic views of the azure Mediterranean Sea.

Its tranquil beauty belies the cataclysmic eruption that formed the island as we know it today. The Minoan eruption, about 3,600 years ago, was one of the world's largest known volcanic eruptions. It destroyed what was a thriving Minoan city and created a giant caldera that sank below the sea, leaving behind the picturesque lagoon seen here. Volcanic activity has continued since then. At the center of the lagoon is the uninhabited volcanic island of Nea Kameni, which emerged from the sea in 19 CE, according to Pliny the Elder. It's had several major eruptions over the past 300 years.

With millennia of experience, people have learned to live with the volcanic activity of these islands. Tourism is now the main activity on Santorini, along with a small winemaking industry. Throw in abundant sunshine, constant sea breezes, and meandering steps through storybook villages and you'll never run out of reasons to visit.

希腊圣托里尼

圣托里尼岛的官方名称是蒂拉岛，它可能是希腊所有岛屿中最著名的。圣托里尼岛位于爱琴海南端，是基克拉迪群岛的一部分，每年接待约200万游客。这是一个拥有15000名居民的小岛（仅28平方英里）的巨大关注，这也难怪为什么。圣托里尼被粉刷过的悬崖上的村庄，就像这张照片中的Oia一样，都是明信片上的完美之作。蔚蓝的地中海的无限全景也是如此。

它宁静的美丽掩盖了我们今天所知道的形成这个岛屿的灾难性喷发。大约3600年前的米诺斯火山喷发是世界上已知的最大的火山喷发之一。它摧毁了一座繁荣的米诺斯城市，形成了一个巨大的火山口，沉入海底，留下了这里风景如画的环礁湖。从那时起，火山活动一直在继续。根据老普林尼的说法，泻湖的中心是无人居住的火山岛尼娅·卡梅尼，该岛于公元19世纪从海上浮出水面。在过去的300年里，它发生过几次大的喷发。

经过数千年的经验，人们已经学会了适应这些岛屿的火山活动。旅游业现在是圣托里尼岛的主要活动，还有一个小型酿酒业。在充足的阳光下，持续的海风中，蜿蜒的步子穿过故事书中的村庄，你永远不会失去参观的理由。

春天的豹溪瀑布，吉福德·平肖国家森林，美国华盛顿州 Panther Creek Falls in spring, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Washington (© Stephen Matera/Tandem Stills + Motion)

拥有6000年历史的大森林 A large forest with 6,000 of years of history

Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Today we're paying a visit to an 'elder statesman' of the United States' national forests. Seen in today's photo is Panther Creek Falls at Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington state. Officially, the forest was named in 1949 in honor of Pinchot, the first head of the US Forest Service. Located between Mount St. Helens to the west and Mount Adams to the east, the land was set aside as a place worth preserving as far back as 1897. But people had been living in the forest for more than 6,000 years. Archaeologists continue to make discoveries within the dense forest that teach us about the past lives of Native Americans.

Spanning 1.3 million acres, GPNF exhibits an array of natural wonders: forests, wildlife, mountains, and numerous rivers and lakes that offer excellent fishing. Goose Lake is said to be the best fishing hole in the state. The forest is known as a native habitat for several threatened species, like the spotted owl, bull trout, and chinook salmon. One of the largest known Ponderosa pines in the world rose 202 feet at the base of Mount Adams before its death in 2015. The grounds also include the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, established in 1982.

吉福德平肖国家森林

今天我们要拜访美国国家森林的一位“资深政治家”。在今天的照片中可以看到华盛顿州吉福德平肖国家森林的豹溪瀑布。该森林于1949年正式命名，以纪念美国林业局第一任局长平肖。这片土地位于西面的圣海伦斯山和东面的亚当斯山之间，早在1897年就被作为一个值得保护的地方保留下来。但是人们已经在森林里生活了6000多年。考古学家继续在茂密的森林中进行发现，让我们了解美洲原住民的过去生活。

GPNF占地130万英亩，展示了一系列自然奇观：森林、野生动物、山脉，以及无数河流和湖泊，这些河流和湖泊提供了极好的渔业。鹅湖据说是该州最好的渔场。这片森林被称为几种濒危物种的原生栖息地，如斑点猫头鹰、牛鳟鱼和奇努克鲑鱼。2015年亚当斯山死亡前，世界上已知最大的黄松之一在亚当斯山的底部上升了202英尺。场地还包括建于1982年的占地11万英亩的圣海伦斯山国家火山纪念碑。

从观景台俯瞰格雷梅，格雷梅国家公园，土耳其卡帕多西亚省 View of Göreme from an observation deck, Göreme National Park, Cappadocia, Turkey (© Anton Petrus/Getty Images)

那些生动的岩石 Living rock

Göreme, in Cappadocia, Turkey

Both natural wonders and historic landmarks, the 'fairy chimneys' of Göreme may suggest the fantastical dwellings of an alien species or an illustration from a Dr. Seuss book. These and similar rock formations are known by many names—hoodoos, tent rocks, earth pyramids, as well as fairy chimneys—and are typically found in dry, hot areas. Here in Cappadocia, in south-central Turkey, they were formed when a thick layer of volcanic ash solidified over millions of years into soft, porous rock called tuff that was overlaid by hard basalt. Cracks in the basalt allowed wind and rain to gradually wash away the softer bottom layer, leaving the hard basalt to cap tall columns of the tuff. The result is these unusual, often beautiful—and perhaps puzzling—formations that spread across the Anatolian plain.

This part of modern day Turkey has been inhabited since at least the Hittite era, between 1800 and 1200 BCE, and possibly for much longer. Innumerable ancient empires fought over the region, with Hittites, Assyrians, Neo-Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans each laying claim to Anatolia at times. To escape this dangerous world, the locals learned to burrow into the hillsides for protection. Today, a visitor can see the vast, complex, interconnected caves in which societies thrived and sheltered for millennia. Göreme National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985 and is now a popular tourist destination.

格勒梅，土耳其卡帕多西亚

无论是自然奇观还是历史地标，戈雷米的“童话烟囱”都可能暗示着一个外来物种的奇幻住所，或是苏斯博士书中的插图。这些和类似的岩层以许多名字而闻名于世，如树丛、帐篷岩、地球金字塔，以及仙女烟囱，通常出现在干燥炎热的地区。在土耳其中南部的卡帕多西亚，一层厚厚的火山灰经过数百万年的固化，形成了一种叫做凝灰岩的软多孔岩石，上面覆盖着坚硬的玄武岩。玄武岩中的裂缝使风和雨逐渐冲走较软的底层，留下坚硬的玄武岩覆盖凝灰岩的高柱。结果就是这些不寻常的、通常美丽的、也许令人费解的地层遍布安纳托利亚平原。

现代土耳其的这一部分至少从赫梯时代（公元前1800年至1200年）起就有人居住，而且可能会更久。无数的古代帝国为该地区而战，赫梯人、亚述人、新亚述人、波斯人、希腊人和罗马人有时都声称对安纳托利亚拥有主权。为了逃离这个危险的世界，当地人学会了在山坡上挖洞保护自己。今天，游客可以看到巨大、复杂、相互连接的洞穴，数千年来，社会在这些洞穴中繁衍生息并得到庇护。戈雷米国家公园于1985年被联合国教科文组织列入世界遗产名录，现在是一个受欢迎的旅游目的地。