“There is grandeur in this view of life… from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” — Charles Darwin

Did you know it’s Darwin’s bicentenary this year? To mark the occasion, The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, UK is showing an imaginative exhibition called Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science and the Visual Arts which explores the ways that Darwin’s scientific theories influenced artists.

They’d love to see some contemporary responses to the themes in their exhibition, so they’ve set up the Endless Forms Group on Flickr – all photos from the group will be displayed on screens in the courtyard of the Fitzwilliam Museum until the exhibition closes in October 2009. Just head on over the Endless Forms Group to find out how you can submit a photo.

Photos from the Endless Forms Group Pool by Thierry.Bégat, Shelley & Dave and dr_brackenthorn.

And current images of Cardiff Castle, Bangor Pier, Swallow Falls, and Cader Idris…

Photos by The Library of Congress, Gavmonster, johninbkk, steveandthedogs, and Nigel Blake.

On July 25th in cities all over the world, rallies were held in support of the people of Iran. Above are photos from Paris, Geneva, Toronto, London, Munich, Sydney, Los Angeles, Austin, and Berlin. You can see more photos from this worldwide event in the July 25th, 2009: A Global Day of Action group, or by doing a tag search for united4iran.

Photos from nathalto, Raphael Moser, nuztorad, simoneme1, *zanraf*, shahabr1981, election88, Skept, and Gholamreza.

Whether studying blood cells, botany, heavy metals, insects, or nano teddy bears, scientists the world over peer deeply into tiny spaces using powerful electron microscopy. Some even find ways to use microbes to devour toxic pollution. Take a journey into inner space.

Photos from rodolfobernal, Lalitree, Nate C, milopics, toby price, and notoneproject.

Comic, sci-fi, and fantasy fans got together this weekend in San Diego for Comic Con 2009. But it wasn’t just the fans that attended. Some of the characters came to life and showed up as well.

Photos from Duckyguy, San Diego Shooter, Parka81, austinspace, merhawk, and bhampton1963.

Enjoy!

(Maybe with some friends.)

Photos from jgwat, rideracelive, minka6 and Dave Bryson.

Photos from drifs, thinklab, tdub303, and rianflynn.

Photos by kaoyy, BennyFeng, daedrius, Mochachocolata-Rita and Kuan-ming Su.

There are many more lovely photos of today’s total solar eclipse on Flickr, captured by Flickr members in Asia. Go, world!

NASA held a tweetup today, using our new Flickr-to-Twitter feature. People were able to tweet their questions to the STS-125 shuttle mission crew members and see the crew members as they responded on NASA HQ’s photostream, all via tweets to the hashtag,#nasatweetup. Houston, the eagle has landed in social media!

Photos from Shutterhack, nuzz, speedM, BigBen1861, rmhprintz, chris paltzat, and Neil67.