Out in space there are no borders, and no signs or sounds of human conflicts, or the clash of ideas. There is just the blue marble that is planet earth, writes Ben Sandilands.
Photo galleries
A collection of our favourite photo galleries
PHOTO GALLERY 
Never-before-seen photos from the night MLK died
LIFE photographer Henry Groskinsky was in Alabama on April 4, 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr was shot dead. He rushed to the crime scene and took these incredible photos of grieving civil rights leaders.
PHOTO GALLERY 
Wander China’s technicolour frozen wonderland
It may be cold living in Harbin, China, one of the world’s most northern metropolitan areas. But the benefit is the annual ice festival, where 2000 giant ice sculptures and buildings full of lights fill the city.
PHOTO GALLERY 
Global No Pants Subway Ride Day
What’s that? You didn’t participate in Global No Pants Subway Ride Day? Lucky for you, the internet was invented. Check Boing Boing for a collection of leggy photographs.
PHOTO GALLERY 
Faces of post-war Iraq
Citizens of Iraq have had good reason to flee their homes in recent years, but many chose to stay and build their lives there despite war and decaying infrastructure. Andrea Bruce offers a beautiful gallery of Iraqi pride.
PHOTO GALLERY 
When in Rome…admire the Romans
It’s hard to dispute that a noticeably high percentage of Romans carry off that hard to pin down quality we call Style, says W H Chong, soaking up the sights of Europe.
PHOTO GALLERY 
Key moments in Oz political history, as told by Lego
Relive the disappearance of Harold Holt and Gough Whitlam’s dismissal and speech on the steps of Parliament House in this glorious photo galley of Lego recreations by Liz Chomiak.
PHOTO GALLERY The beautiful blues
If your favourite colour is blue — or if you’re just after some lovely things to look at — Life’s photo gallery of beautiful blue things will tickle your retinas and sweeten your eyeballs.
PHOTO GALLERY Debauchery rises as freeloaders flock to Wall Street
Not all “protesters” occupying Wall Street are there for political purposes: freeloaders, homeless people and randoms from all over have flocked in their masses, bringing debauchery with them.
PHOTO GALLERY 
Top ten travel games
From Guess Who?, Connect Four to a revamped Rubik’s Cube, a summer holiday is not complete without travel games. The Independent presents 10 of the best.
PHOTO GALLERY Time to know the world’s best watches
As wristwatches continue to slink into smartphone-inflicted nostalgia, now is a good time to reflect, courtesy of The independent, on the best 50 watches from around the world.
PHOTO GALLERY 
40 glorious examples of infrared manipulation
BuzzFeed has compiled a compilation of photographs, handpicked by Josh Fjelstad, that demonstrate a powerful and potentially gobsmacking tool for photographers: the manipulation of infrared light.
PHOTO GALLERY Hurricane Irene whips New York
It wasn’t the doomsday prediction that authorities had feared, but New York didn’t escape Hurricane Irene completely unscathed. Check out these photos of flooded lower Manhattan and Brooklyn brownstones covered in fallen trees.
PHOTO GALLERY 
Rebels gain control of Libya
Colonel Gaddafi is losing his stronghold over Libya, with increased fighting with rebel forces in recent days who captured two of Gaddafi’s sons and have regained much of the capital Tripoli.
PHOTO GALLERY 
Photographing the ‘real’ United Arib Emirates
Lauren Lancaster originally intended to visit the United Arab Emirates on an archaeology study but ended up there as a photographer dedicated to capturing how the place differs from its “comic-book-like” image perpetuated in Western media.
PHOTO GALLERY 
A century of cycle-lution
How has the humble bicycle evolved over the past 100 years? Vanity Fair chronicles its many different forms, from the ‘Sironval Sportplex’ in the 30s to the lightweight carbon-composite ‘Lotus Sport’ from the 90s.
PHOTO GALLERY Inside secretive North Korea
As part of Associated Press’s attempts to gain more access to the quiet communist nation of North Korea, photographer David Guttenfelder was given an orchestrated-but-fascinating tour.
PHOTO GALLERY 
Skeletal, scared and dying: Somalian refugees flee to Kenya
A truly eye-opening photo gallery examining the malnutrition and starvation currently being experienced — by predominantly young children and the elderly — in the Horn of Africa.
PHOTO GALLERY 
The children of Russia’s nouveau riche
A fascinating look at the wealthiest children in Russia, where little girls play football in the marble ballrooms in their homes and boys play with Kalashnikovs in their opulent bedrooms.
PHOTO GALLERY Norway mourns and remembers
A look at life in Norway in the five days since a massacre that killed 68 people rocked the small country. Roses have been taken on by Norway locals as an mourning floral emblem of sorts.
PHOTO GALLERY 
“I now pronounce you married”: New York’s gay wedding bonanza
Hundreds of gay couples flocked to registry offices in New York on the first weekend that same-sex marraige was legaliesd. Check out this charming gallery of happy couples and families celebrating the constant stream of nuptials.
PHOTO GALLERY The hungry children of Somalia’s famine
Nearly 11 million people in the Horn of Africa are currently in desperate need of emergency food aid. This heartbreaking LIFE photo gallery takes a look at the lives of starving Somalian refugees.
PHOTO GALLERY Creating SFX for classic blockbuster movies
Dennis Muren is the first visual effects artist artist to be awarded a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Vanity Fair presents a collection of photographs of Muren on the set of classic blockbusters such as E.T. and The Empire Strikes Back.
PHOTO GALLERY The beginning of South Sudan
Last Saturday the Republic of South Sudan officially declared its independence, becoming the newest nation in the world. The Atlantic marks the occasion with a collection of 35 striking photographs.
PHOTO GALLERY 
The end of America’s space shuttle program
Over the last three years Phillip Scott Andrews documented through a beautiful collection of black and white photographs the final days of America’s space shuttle program.
