Fascinating Pictures That Are Already Going Viral In 2025
Even when the new year is still relatively fresh, there's still no shortage of fascinating new photos that have been doing the rounds online. After all, it's estimated that 5.3 billion photos are captured daily, which means that well over a trillion are snapped each year.
So let's delve into some of the most fascinating photos that have gone viral in 2025. While many more are sure to follow, these are the pics that had everyone talking in the early weeks of 2025.
It was handled with care.
A Redditor opened up a package of sliced cheddar cheese from the grocery store, only to find a fingerprint sitting squarely on the top slice of cheese.
Some commenters thought it might have been from someone who grabbed the cheese while it was already packaged, but the fact that the fingerprint is so detailed would seem to suggest that a worker touched the cheese with their bare finger.
An aquatic dining set.
With wildfires in the news non-stop to start 2025, pictures like this one started to circulate. While this depicted actions taken against a 2018 wildfire, people affected by fires are doing the same thing in 2025.
The genius here is that putting valuables (at least water-safe valuables) in a swimming pool will protect them from the flames. It's unlikely that fine china would survive a raging fire on its own, but the water will surely help.
Shades of 2020.
A flight attendant posted this photo to highlight the fact that only 13 people were onboard - an unusually low number for sure, and one that harkens back to the days of 2020.
Of course, any number of circumstances can lead to an underbooked flight. The unfortunate thing is that these blessedly empty flights never seem to be the ones that you get booked on.
Where it all goes.
This adorable doggo is in the pic for scale against what looks like a pretty uninteresting cable on the beach. But with some context, that seemingly boring cable becomes fascinating.
That's because this isn't any cable, but a subsea fiber optic cable. That means it stretches for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of miles along the seabed to deliver internet and other infrastructure to the other side of the ocean.
I don't remember this episode.
This nativity set inexplicably has a figure that looks almost exactly like Mr. Bean. Without being more familiar with the lore, it's hard to say which character he's supposed to be — but it's safe to say he isn't one of the three wise men.
Mr. Bean's hijinks all happened in contemporary times, but this makes one wonder how things would have been different had he been a time traveller.
Apparently, no two are alike.
A Redditor managed to take this photo, which perfectly shows a snowflake as it falls, using their iPhone camera. It's a great endorsement for the quality of the cameras in modern phones.
It's also mind-boggling to think that — if no two snowflakes are alike — this specific shape fell from the sky once, landed, and will never be seen again (outside of this stunning photograph, of course).
Ranked by size.
This looks like an array of dogs, all ranked from small to large — and in a sense, it is. But the true details are much more heartwarming.
This motley crew of pups are all older and as such are less likely to be adopted. That's why they've all been adopted by a man who's devoted his life to homing dogs who otherwise would remain at the shelter.
Let it go, dad.
Mousepads really aren't necessary anymore thanks to modern optical mice, but some people have trouble letting go. In fact, some people have been using the same mousepad for more than three decades.
This person has been using this Microsoft Access promo mousepad since (at least) 1992. Microsoft Access itself is still around, of course, but it's changed quite a bit since this mousepad was produced back in the early '90s.
Lazy counterfeiters take note.
This person tried to print some fake money for a Christmas prank, but was foiled by the fact that their printer detected the image and stopped the print job.
It's interesting that printers have built-in mechanisms designed to prevent counterfeiting, but it seems unnecessary. It's hard to imagine anyone actually falling for a fake bill that was printed on standard printer paper.
Minimal effort.
Pigeons are known to be fairly underwhelming when it comes to their nest-building skills, but this is just ridiculous. You can't just lay your egg on a couple of sticks and simply call it a day.
There's a reason for their awful skills, though — ancestral pigeons would nest on flat surfaces in small caves, usually on cliffs. This means that they're used to their nesting area being mostly premade.
Is that how lights work?
This doesn't look like a particularly interesting photo until you start to take a second, and then a third, look at it. This waterfront property doesn't have any lights on — but its reflection in the water appears to show all lights blazing.
There's a cool explanation for this, though: The setting (or rising) sun is reflecting off of the windows, and those windows — lit up with golden hues — are reflecting on the surface of the water.
Those feet can hurt.
Have you ever had a cat sit on your lap and wondered how a ten-pound creature can exert such force with its tiny little feet?
Part of it is the fact that all of that weight is concentrated in those tiny feet, but it's still surprising how much impact it can have. This cat literally left craters on its human's leg, which is truly a sight to see.
At least the Kinect is useful for something.
If you recognize the nondescript black and white item in the top left, congratulations — you're a true gamer. That's an Xbox Kinect, an ill-fated foray by Microsoft into the motion gaming genre.
The Kinect was a spectacular flop and was quickly abandoned by Microsoft — but its motion-sensing capabilities have been put to use here at the baggage drop of an airport.
Not sure how to feel about this one.
There's nothing wrong with bar soap, but we're conditioned to using exclusively liquid soap in public washrooms. The washroom at this upscale French restaurant bucks convention and simply has a bar of soap mounted on the wall.
While it's true that this bar of soap will clean your hands just as well as liquid soap, there's something vaguely off-putting about this method.
Going through them like candy.
Hearing aid batteries can last for a long time — but when you're in an environment with a lot of hearing aids, those dead batteries can really start to add up.
This jar of used hearing aid batteries was found at a retirement home, which makes perfect sense. It would be interesting to know how many the home goes through in a given month or year.
So that's why it didn't work.
"Checked my carbon monoxide detector and it had candy instead of a battery," wrote a Redditor who thankfully is still alive and has not succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.
There's no further context here, so we're just left with this baffling image. Let this serve as a reminder to make sure that your carbon monoxide and smoke detectors all have functioning batteries inside, and not candy.
Instructions unclear, returned to site.
This dog has a little note around its neck reading, "Please keep me home, I'm causing problems when I roam." The note was placed around its neck by workers at a construction site.
It's nice of the doggo to want to help out around the site, but yeah — it's easy to see why a friendly dog would be more of a hindrance than a help when you're dealing with heavy machinery.
Some folks run hot.
After a vigorous workout, this couple found that only one of them steamed up the windshield. Even though the other had also worked out, their side of the windshield was completely clear.
Some people sweat endlessly while they work out and some people stay cool. There are biological reasons for this, but the easiest way to find out whether you run hot or cool is to get into a car after a workout and see what happens to the windshield.
There must be a story here.
The Redditor who posted this stated simply, "Found an empty wheelchair on an empty beach today." That's it — not further details or context, which allows our imaginations to run wild.
Was this person the lucky recipient of a miracle? Were they a mermaid returning home? We'll probably never know — but on the plus side, somebody's getting a free wheelchair.
That might be an oversight.
This is an attractive display of various Victorinox (or Swiss Army) knives. They're handy, they're durable, and they make a great gift. So what exactly are we looking at here?
Well, the odd thing is that this can be found at an airport gift shop — crucially, the kind of airport gift shop you can visit after clearing security. This seems like it might be a security issue.
We're going to need a bigger pot.
If you're a fan of novelty foods, get a load of this: A package of meter-long spaghetti noodles. Unfortunately, these are so big that you'd either need a comically large pot to cook them, or would have to break them up, which spoils the fun.
For those who are wondering, one metre in freedom units equals 3.28 feet. It's easy to wonder if there's some specialized factory in Italy that exclusively makes giant spaghetti.
Here's how you know it's fresh.
Even from a close-up, cropped image, you can tell that this is authentic pizza from a high end restaurant. The crust is perfectly browned, the pepperoni looks delicious, and there's even a garnish.
Then, on looking at the garnish, it's pretty clear that there's a green worm — like, a living, moving worm — inching its way along the leaf. This must be what farm to table pizza looks like.
Like a video game powerup.
This apple brandy is made with apples from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, and is labeled "Atomik." It seems like something you might drink in Fallout.
Of course, it's worth remembering that Chernobyl was the site of a catastrophic meltdown that caused widespread death. This brandy might be totally safe to drink, but I'd want to steer clear of it.
The old one still looks pretty good.
This comparison shows a Doc Marten that was worn for eight years versus an identical model that was purchased brand new.
It's easy to see which boot is new and which is old, but it's actually a bit surprising to see how well the old one has held up. Some footwear would be absolutely pulverized after eight years of continuous wear.
A thaw-inspiring mystery.
Someone spotted this random spot on the road — a slightly imperfect circle where snow doesn't accumulate, likely because of increased heat in this specific area.
While commenters joked that this was a sign that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were cooking up a subterranean pizza, the real explanation is that a manhole cover was paved over. This isn't supposed to happen, of course, but nobody's perfect.
Momming like a pro.
This mom is just setting off on a ten-hour flight from Seoul to San Francisco with her baby in toe. The person who posted this photo says that she handed out more than 200 goodie bags to passengers.
These bags were meant to show gratitude to her fellow passengers for dealing with the crying baby, and were full of not just candy and other loot, but also earplugs. It's an incredibly thoughtful gesture.
He's just a little guy.
With smaller dogs, it can be hard to know where their body ends and the floof begins. This image shows sunlight hitting a little pup just right, so you can really see just how small (and how fluffy) they are.
It's almost alarming to see that this dog's actual body is about half as wide as it normally appears to be. One thing's for certain, though: Come summertime, this dog will need a haircut.
The perils of aging.
This old set of silverware has gradually turned iridescent over time, with gorgeous colorful hues slowly overtaking the silver.
While it might not be the safest thing ever to eat with decades-old silverware that's been affected by complicated chemical processes, there's absolutely no denying how cool this looks. I'll take iridescent cutlery over silver cutlery any day.
This person is a ninja.
If it wasn't for the Nike branding on these shoes, you might be forgiven for thinking there weren't any shoes at all in this picture. The speckled pattern on the footwear perfectly matches the speckled pattern of the gym floor.
Maybe Nike knows exactly what they're doing here, and deliberately designed shoes that would blend in with gym floors and emphasize their branding.
Well, that's rude.
This person pulled an egg from the carton and found this, uh, message stamped on one of them. It isn't unusual to see an egg with some kind of code printed on it, but it's usually just a couple of random letters or numbers.
This was either a massive, hilarious coincidence, or someone at the egg factory is having a rough day. In any case, I'd think twice before eating this egg.
Any support is good support.
It's pretty clear from looking at this pic that these are modern work crews, working on modern scaffolding to repair an ancient castle wall. What's fascinating is how that scaffold is supported.
While the scaffold itself might be made of modern materials, it's using the exact same scaffold supports that were installed in the walls eight centuries ago. Good engineering is timeless, it would seem.
A little bonus flavor.
We've seen people finding odd things hidden inside their pet's chew toy, but here's a fun twist on that formula. This cute toy is based around a cup of ramen noodles — and after it's chewed through, there's a separate chew toy inside that resembles a flavor packet.
Not only does this create two chew toys for the price of one, it shows an impressive level of attention to detail from whoever manufactured the toy.
Infinite ratings glitch.
This hotel is rated 8.6 out of 10 on booking.com — a seemingly good rating. However, the hotel has decided to be a bit cheeky, putting the sign upside down so it appears to say 9.8.
While this isn't exactly in the spirit of the rating system, they're displaying their rating in plain sight — it's just flipped upside-down. It's a good way to get a modest but noticeable ratings boost.
Iridescent skies.
If you spend any amount of time outside, you know that it isn't that rare to see an absolutely spectacular sunrise or sunset, with orange hues blending into purple as the sun sits close to the horizon.
However, this sunrise in Sweden is on another level. Whatever magic is going on with light refraction is making the clouds in the sky look like all the colors of the rainbow.
Holy repairs, Batman!
If you drive along highways, you've probably seen your fair share of strange equipment getting hauled on the back of a flatbed truck, but this is a new one.
That isn't just any helicopter, it's a straight up Batcopter from the original 1960s Adam West Batman TV series. Considering the helicopter is more than half a century old at this point, it's probably overdue for a tune-up.
The magic of shadows.
It's always fascinating to see how snow melts, as these patterns can reveal a lot about warm spots and cool spots on the ground. In this case, almost all of the snow is gone, save for the areas in the shadow of this fence.
Of course, as the sun continues to move across the sky, these areas will soon melt as well. It's just a temporary thing, but still quite fascinating to see.
Taking extra precautions.
A Redditor checked into an Airbnb and found that these dampening stoppers had been installed behind the headboard of their bed.
Unexpected Airbnb discoveries are almost always spycams, so this one's refreshingly original. Whatever guests choose to do in this bed, they can rest easy knowing that it's properly braced against the wall behind it.
It's like playing Where's Waldo.
This pretty gradient puzzle is missing one piece — and that missing spot can clearly be seen in this photo. It's difficult to find, though, because it blends in perfectly with the table underneath.
If you're looking and looking and still can't find it, check out the brownish-yellow region towards the bottom right of the image. It's a happy accident that the missing area blends in so well.
Every drop in its place.
Everyone knows that condensation will build up on the outside of a soda can when it's cold — but it's rare to see condensation that's as visually pleasing as this.
While the drops aren't quite uniform in size and aren't quite arranged in a perfect grid, it's still incredible to see then lined up in such an orderly way. Credit to the photographer here for so clearly capturing the droplets.
Black lights are weird.
This is a room with a blue LED light, which functions much the same as a black light — casting items in a dark glow, with certain colors popping out as if they've been marked with a highlighter.
Every single item on this shelf is bathed in a monochromatic dark blue color except for the plucky rubber duck in the lower right. It's kind of surprising that not one other item has any colors that pop in the same way.
Anyone care for some shampoo balls?
Pop quiz: what happens to shampoo when it freezes? This is a question that most of us have probably never thought of before, and also one that would seemingly have a boring answer.
In this case, the answer is kinda-sorta what you'd expect (if you freeze shampoo, you'll get frozen shampoo) — but with a twist. Something about the formulation of this shampoo caused it to create little balls.
Who knows what's lurking in your phone case?
Cheap, disposable products from questionable retailers are often made of recycled or upcycled materials — and you'd never know it, unless you're willing to cut things open.
In this case, an old phone case was cut open to reveal that it was bolstered with cardboard from a case of beer. It's kind of weird and a little off-putting, but at least they're finding creative ways to reuse materials.
Keep on building.
This photo is oddly centered around a big, comfy-looking beanbag chair, but that's not what we're here to look at. The thing you should really be looking at is the ball that's in front of the chair.
That ball is composed entirely of rubber bands, and weighs around 40 pounds. It seems like a fun (if useless) project to work on, or a particularly painful way to play dodgeball.
Just chillin'.
This drink cooler at a grocery store is a brilliant idea. If you're shopping for beverages, dunk them in this cooler, finish your shopping, then pick up the cooled drinks, check out, and leave.
Considering how much energy is used to keep drinks cold in your typical grocery store, this is a novel way to reduce energy usage — and a more interactive, fun way to ensure that your drinks are chilled.
For the indecisive foodie.
With the proliferation of food delivery services, it's possible to get virtually any cuisine delivered to your door in a matter of minutes. But this limitless selection can make deciding extra difficult.
This person has a dice that helps make the decision for them. While it's a good idea, this dice only has six sides and six options. They might need to upgrade to a 20-sided die if they want to expand their culinary horizons.
That shadow vibrates.
Well, it doesn't literally vibrate, but it definitely has a visual vibration — just look at how the shadow has two separate outlines.
This is the result of casting a shadow when lights of different colors are shining down on you. The resulting effect is known as chromatic aberration, or, in layman's terms, funky shadow syndrome.
A planner that prioritizes.
This is one of those planners that has a bunch of stickers to liven up the experience, stickers that can be used to represent everything from good vibes to appointments.
In this case, the planner has a ton of 'Boob check' stickers. This is good, as breast cancer screening is important — but the person who posted this noted that the planner includes more of these stickers than it does workout stickers.
Hey Luigi, that's indecent.
This was spotted inside a claw machine in China. All of the plush toys within are obvious bootlegs, with a weird hybrid between Sonic the Hedgehog and a teddy bear. But what we're looking at is the Luigi toys.
Either the manufacturers of these toys decided to depict Luigi as shirtless and bulky, or they found an alternate use for Donkey Kong bodies by changing their skin tone.
Always check those receipts.
This receipt from a grocery store seems pretty standard at first glance. This person spent a few pounds here and there on necessities, food, and cleaning supplies.
A little more than halfway down the list, though, and there's the revelation that they were charged £834.60 for a certain item. What item? A muffin, apparently. Fortunately the purchase was voided, but it's a reminder to always make sure the total charge reflects what you're actually buying.
Who's a happy little pepper?
Here's a photo of a pepper that's in the middle of being roasted. As this happens, the skin turns brown, then black, then starts to peel back in some areas to reveal the tender pepper underneath.
This time, the pepper is revealing something else: A friendly smile. Not only are roasted peppers delicious, they're also apparently very happy to be eaten. It's good to know.
A relic from a different time.
This photo was snapped in Wellington, New Zealand, showing an old Nokia phone (a Nokia 2270, to be exact) embedded in the asphalt.
While technology has since eclipsed these early phones by leaps and bounds, and modern cellular networks are no longer compatible with them, they were some of the most durable phones ever made. This phone, if it's ever pulled out of the asphalt, will probably turn on just fine.
The frost monsters are creeping in.
There's something undeniably cozy about hunkering down indoors when the weather is cold, blasting the heat, and leaving all the ice and frost on the other side of the door.
Of course, when conditions are just right, the frost can find a way in. In this case, it's found a conduit through a door knob. It isn't about to colonize the indoors or anything, but there's a good chance that door knob is frozen up until it gets warmer.
Bonus delivery.
A Redditor was confused when they checked their front door for new deliveries, only to find that an Amazon driver had left their entire tote, packages and all, on their doorstep.
What happened here? Did the driver have somewhere else to be, or were they suddenly raptured? In any event, it'll probably be a hassle to sort this out with Amazon.
