Rare great white shark encounter off Maine coast captured in heart-stopping National Geographic photo

The screen of National Geographic's December 2025 variation highlights its yearly "Pictures of the Year." For years, lensman Anand Varma has attempted to papers erstwhile an ovum yolk tin inactive beryllium seen but a vertebrate signifier has intelligibly emerged. He experimented by incubating embryos successful artificial shells earlier yet capturing the translation astatine 12 days old. Varma separately raised immoderate embryos to chicks, similar the 1 above, which helium donated to radical successful the community.  (Anand Varma; National Geographic)

For years, lensman Anand Varma has attempted to papers erstwhile an ovum yolk tin inactive beryllium seen but a vertebrate signifier has intelligibly emerged. He experimented by incubating embryos successful artificial shells earlier yet capturing the translation astatine 12 days old. Varma separately raised immoderate embryos to chicks, which helium donated to radical successful the community.  (Anand Varma)

A sunflower chimney bee rests connected a pillow of velvety ochers successful the aboriginal evening, apt already snoozing aft a agelong day’s enactment pollinating plants. This taxon of bee often nests astatine the basal of sunflowers, moving with commercialized farmers arsenic they rotate their crops.  (Karine Aigner)

Photographer Brian Skerry has been chronicling marine beingness for decades, but this representation represents his archetypal run-in with a large achromatic shark successful the Gulf of Maine, a spot helium did not expect to brushwood 1 — particularly from 4 feet away. Sightings of sharks similar this 10-footer are expanding from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia, possibly owed successful portion to changing clime patterns. (Brian Skerry)

This two-day-old piglet was bred to prevention lives. Scientists modified its genes successful an effort to harvest kidneys for quality transplantation. Pigs similar this correspond caller anticipation for the tens of thousands of Americans successful hopeless request of kidneys, 66% of whom stay connected the waiting database for much than a year. (Craig Cutler)