When the Space Shuttle flew its 135th and final mission in July and retired without a direct replacement, some critics accused Washington of abandoning America’s 50-year orbital legacy. The Telegraph even called it a “retreat.”

Then last week, the U.S. government revealed new and formerly secret space initiatives that underscore America’s continuing orbital dominance. NASA announced plans for the biggest-ever rocket, set to launch in six years. Meanwhile, the hush-hush National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), keeper of America’s most secretive surveillance satellites, used the occasion of its 50t...

Marc da Cuhna Lopes' Vertebrata images place animal skeletons in unlikely locales.

Imagine a human-free future, where giant animal skeletons have taken over the homes and buildings civilization has left behind. It’s a world that haunts photographer Marc da Cuhna Lopes‘ dreams, so he’s brought it into reality with his Vertebrata series.