Blown wildly out of proportion in large format, the slime molds that British photographer Barry Webb captures seem atmospheric and sculptural. Stemonitis, for example, looks like dozens of thin pieces of wire with their ends coated in colored wax. But this fungi-like form is one of hundreds of kinds of slime mold, and it typically only reaches a height of about two centimeters at the most. Thanks to Webb’s macro photos, we glimpse a phenomenally beautiful world up-close that is otherwise virtually invisible.

Scientists have documented hundreds of these organisms, which aren’t actually related to plants, fungi, animals, or molds—despite the name. They comprise a unique group unto themselves, more closely related to amoebas. And new discoveries are being made all the time. From mottled gray bulbs that look like snow-covered trees to pink, coral-like tendrils, Webb chronicles a huge array of colors and shapes. He also consistently submits images to local and national botanical records so that researchers have access to high-resolution imagery.

Webb’s image of a species called Lamproderma scintillans, partly engulfed by a water droplet, won the Botanical Britain category of the British Wildlife Photography Awards. Several of his photos are on display in large format in the exhibition Mythos Wald at Gasometer Oberhausen in Germany, which continues through the end of the year. And in the U.K., see Webb’s awarded images in the 2026 International Garden Photographer of the Year exhibition at Cambridge University Botanic Garden. Find more on his Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Barry Webb Documents a Marvelous, Macro Array of Colorful Slime Molds appeared first on Colossal.

Honouring a centuries-old tradition with a modern twist. 

Every summer, people around Japan eat eel to regain energy from the tiring heat. It’s a tradition that’s been around for centuries, with people commonly consuming eel on the Midsummer Day of the Ox, or “Doyo no Ushi no Hi” as it’s known in Japanese, which this year falls on 26 July.

With so many retailers offering eel on this day, many look for ways to stand out, and one bakery in Kochi Prefecture has everyone’s attention with a new product called “Super! Eel Bread“.

At first glance, the new product looks like sushi, but look closer and you’ll see it’s actually a whole eel, wrapped in a strip of nori seaweed around a super soft bread roll.

The eel is the star of the show, grilled over charcoal in the traditional kabayaki (sweet soy-glazed) style by Kitahama Shoten, an eel specialty shop with over 85 years of history. The new bread, which uses locally-sourced eel, is said to combine the appeal of Kochi’s regional ingredients with the playful spirit unique to Komi Bakery.

According to the bakery, the Super! Eel Bread has been three years in the making, born from an idea by the store’s head of bread and sandwich production, with the aim of contributing to the culture of Doyo no Ushi no Hi as a bakery.

▼ Kazuto Nishiyama, Head of Bread and Sandwich Production and creator of bold ideas.

Nishiyama and his team have certainly succeeded in creating an eye-catching product that honours the tradition of Doyo no Ushi no Hi while adding a unique twist that appeals to modern tastes. Komi Bakery says it plans to continue developing new releases tailored to seasonal events while also supporting local industries.

The longstanding bakery is getting ahead of peak eel season by releasing the new bread in store from 21-23 May, with reservations required three days ahead thereafter, and sales on 26 July are limited to reservations only. Given that it includes a whole eel, the bread is larger than it seems, and is priced at 2,500 yen (US$15.73), or 3,500 yen for online sales, including delivery.

Related: Komi Bakery
Source, images: Press release
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Our resident sticker-collecting writer shares why she’s saying “enough is enough” and is extricating herself from a sticky situation.

Sticker collecting and trading as a hobby has been sweeping Japan among kids and adults alike for a while now, to the point that puffy stickers were sold out last year and people were shelling out ridiculous amounts of money to get their hands on them. Our Japanese-language reporter Haruka Takagi also got all in on the fun herself, even making new friends through this shared interest…until recently, that is. She suddenly stopped collecting them last month for one simple reason–she got tired of the hassle.

Now, there are still plenty of stickers that she hasn’t gotten her hands on yet, such as those from the 3-D Bon Bon Drops brand, anything featuring her beloved pandas, Sanrio’s Pompompurin, and more that she’s seen on social media. The company behind Bon Bon Drops recently announced that it increased its production by 2.5 times due to popular demand…which sounds like she should be able to easily get her hands on them, no? The truth isn’t quite so simple.

▼ Keep calm and stick on

As a homebody, Haruka prefers purchasing most of her stickers online on places like Amazon and Rakuten through the official manufacturers’ pages. Until not that long ago, she was able to purchase stickers by occasionally browsing these sites and placing an order. Even if some of them sold out in five minutes, that still gave her enough time to look through the options and use her loyalty points. However, that practice changed completely with the advent of “breaking news” sticker social media sites, where certain accounts give notifications at the exact moment popular stickers go on sale, causing tens of thousands of fans to flood the shopping sites all at once. She can barely even buy stickers online at all now as a result.

She could try proactively patrolling her usual pages before these kinds of announcements are made, but that practice is unsustainable. Although she’s a freelance writer, that doesn’t mean she has the time to obsessively check these sites every hour, especially when she’s wearing her “mom hat.” The situation is also unrealistic for physical store locations, where stickers might sell out in five minutes and then customers have to either store-hop from place to place or wait for hours on-site for workers to restock them. It doesn’t make any sense to go to these extreme lengths for what’s supposed to be a simple hobby.

A further concern is that the stickers Haruka orders might not arrive–if she even manages to buy them in the first place. She’s been hearing more and more about such cases recently, and has even personally experienced not getting a set that she went through a lot of trouble to order that never came and the ensuing emotional letdown. She’s realized that when a site lists things like “reserve now” or “estimated restock time,” sometimes the stickers don’t materialize for months, or the store might even cancel the order after a certain amount of time.

That frustration led her to consider making purchases from third-party sellers on auction sites. Initially she was enthusiastic about the idea because the prices weren’t that far off from the manufacturers’ prices, and she should be able to find her favorites more easily. However, she then learned that the tradeoff is that counterfeits abound. Take the Tamagotchi sets pictured below, for instance, which appear to be almost indistinguishable at a glance. However, she received the fake version from a third-party seller, which made her lose trust in such sites.

▼ Genuine set (left) versus counterfeit set (right)

However, the final straw that broke the camel’s back for Haruka’s sticker collecting was the official manufacturers announcing that they would be releasing dozens of new sticker sets, seemingly all at once, too.

While the prospect of new stickers may sound exciting, Haruka had a completely different natural reaction to the news along the lines of the following:

“That probably means they’ll be discontinuing the ones I want and have been waiting for forever.”
“It’s not like I’ll be able to get my hands on any of the new ones anyway…”
“I’m so tired of this.”

Since then, all of the fiery passion that she once had for growing her collection dimmed until it was nothing more than a whiff of smoke. Now she feels strangely sad when she hears about newly released sticker sets, which is why she’s decided to take a break from stickers altogether.

That doesn’t mean Haruka’s given up all hope, though. She has faith that someday she’ll be able to pick her hobby back up again, whenever she can leisurely browse through the options and not have to jump through all kinds of hoops to get them. In the meantime, we hope she’ll consider starting a new collection–ideally something that won’t become just as complicated.

All images © SoraNews24
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KOTA TINGGI, June 2 — Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties should consider fielding young and new faces as candidates in the upcoming Johor state election, particularly in constituencies with a high percentage of young voters, Umno Information Chief Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said.

The move would not only have a positive impact on BN but would also create opportunities for a new generation of leaders to emerge as the party’s future leadership through the state legislative assembly, she added.

“We have to accept the reality that many young people are now voters. Even in my constituency, about 40 per cent of the electorate are young voters. My hope is that this will be given emphasis,” she told a press conference after launching the Madani Adopted Village Programme in Kampung Tanjung Serindit here today.

She pointed out that the final decision on candidate selection rests entirely with the state BN leadership and political bureau.

At the same time, Azalina, who is also Pengerang MP, expressed hope that the two incumbent state assemblymen under her parliamentary constituency — Aznan Tamin (Tanjung Surat) and Fauziah Misri (Penawar) — would be retained as candidates for this election, and that the election would proceed in the spirit of democracy, free from violence or any untoward incidents.

On the dissolution of the Johor State Legislative Assembly, Azalina said the state government under Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi had the right to dissolve the assembly with the consent of the Johor Palace.

According to her, the decision was made following continued positive support from the people of Johor for the state government’s leadership under BN.

“Perhaps with what has happened, such as the Umno 80th Anniversary Celebration at Istana Besar Johor and Johor Darul Ta’zim’s 12th Super League title victory, I see a great deal of positive support from the people of Johor towards the state government’s leadership. Maybe these are among the factors,” she said.

Yesterday, Onn Hafiz announced the dissolution of the Johor State Legislative Assembly with effect from June 1 after receiving the consent of Johor Regent, Tunku Mahkota Ismail. — Bernama

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Ironbridge 40's Weekend 2026, held 23rd and 24th May 2026 at Dale End Park, Ironbridge, in Shropshire. An annual 1940's military and civilian re-enactment, using themes and characters mostly from the European theatre of conflict. As always, the atmosphere was fun, friendly and vibrant. Photos taken

Pictures were taken on the Sunday, 24/05/26, at a public event where it is assumed to be OK to publish on the internet. Permission was granted by the subjects for posed photos. However, if anyone wants any photo removed from this set, please contact me, Bob, at dimparcio@protonmail quoting the file number eg DSC1234 and I will do so forthwith. Otherwise, if you like them and would like to download them, please do so, especially if it helps promote re-enactments such as this.

dimparcio posted a photo:

Ironbridge 40's Weekend 2026, held 23rd and 24th May 2026 at Dale End Park, Ironbridge, in Shropshire. An annual 1940's military and civilian re-enactment, using themes and characters mostly from the European theatre of conflict. As always, the atmosphere was fun, friendly and vibrant. Photos taken

Pictures were taken on the Sunday, 24/05/26, at a public event where it is assumed to be OK to publish on the internet. Permission was granted by the subjects for posed photos. However, if anyone wants any photo removed from this set, please contact me, Bob, at dimparcio@protonmail quoting the file number eg DSC1234 and I will do so forthwith. Otherwise, if you like them and would like to download them, please do so, especially if it helps promote re-enactments such as this.