Memorial Day weekend

In the US wonder |wander | world celebrates Memorial Day this weekend with inclement weather and storm alerts.

This year we cannot help but draw parallels between the bad weather and the turbulence of our times. All over the world it seems like things are blowing up and we have lost our grip on major fronts.

Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May. On this day we honor the men and women who died while serving in the country's armed forces.

Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War, this became an official federal holiday in 1971.

Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades.

Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season.

Stormy as this weekend may be we encourage all to carve out some peace for ourselves and share some loves as we hold our feasts and festivities with loved ones and strangers around the world.

This Memorial Day 2017, build good and long lasting memories we can all be proud of!

botanical illustrations

Our wonder | wander | world find for this week celebrates both the art and beauty of science, as well as the life and work of Maria Sibilla Merian - 17th century entomologist, artist, and adventurer.

In a time when women were corseted in limitations and had few options, Merian made her own profession.

Mental Health Awareness Week

A medical foundation commissioned some illustrations for Mental Health Awareness Week 2017.

The brief outlined points on mental health in the workplace, and how even the most outwardly functional people struggle with it in their daily lives.

Cassini's grand finale

The Cassini mission to Saturn is one of the most ambitious efforts in planetary space exploration ever mounted.

A joint endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Cassini is a sophisticated robotic spacecraft orbiting the ringed planet and studying the Saturnian system in detail.

After 13 memorable years, the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has entered its final dive, called "The Grand Finale".

Google commemorated the event in a doodle that celebrates the journey of the nearly 20-year-old spacecraft. Cassini has stayed in space these long years and is now beginning the last leg of its exploration journey.

According to NASA's website following the spacecraft, "Cassini will leap over the planet's icy rings and begin a series of 22 weekly dives between the planet and the rings" after a final close flyby of Titan.

The spacecraft, launched from Cape Canaveral in The US in 1997, is now running out of rocket fuel for its mission that will conclude on September 15 this year.