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The holidays are just around the corner, and there’s nothing like an electrifying display of holiday lights to charge you up for the season and zap you with that jolly-good Christmas cheer. Luckily for us, there’s no place in the world that does holiday lights quite like the good ol’ U.S. of A., and we’ve rounded up a merry mix of small towns and sprawling cities that do it best. From East to West, from dazzling Disney displays to brilliant boat parades, sparkling city skylines to mesmerizing megawatt-lined drives, when these top 10 destinations for holiday lights flip the switch, they mark the spectacular start to the holiday season, guaranteeing spectators a sparkling dose of over-the-top holiday spirit. 1. New York City, NY The Big Apple is known for doing things bigger, better, and brighter, and the holidays are no exception, what with the city’s wondrous window displays, holiday concerts and events, bustling holiday markets, ice-skating rinks, chestnut-roasting street vendors, and

They’re the biggest, the boldest, the busiest—each of these bridges accomplishes a feat so fantastic our ancestors wouldn't have believed it possible. Yes, they're miracles of engineering, but they're also a testament to human creativity, seamlessly integrating function with style. Tallest: Millau Viaduct, France Not long ago, Millau — a provincial town set between two limestone plateaus in the South of France — was known for little more than its traffic jams. Every July and August, the village would become jammed with travelers en route to their summer vacations in Spain. But thanks to the Millau Viaduct, the town is now home to one of the country's major tourist attractions. Seventeen years in the making, from the first sketches in 1987 to the final touches in 2004, the Millau Viaduct is an architectural feat in more ways than one. Sure, it is held up by the highest pylons in the world (803 feet high) and has the highest road-bridge deck in Europe (886 feet). But, mos

LOS ANGELES — Michael Jackson, among the most famous and beloved performers in pop music history, spent his final days in a sleep-deprived haze of medication and misery until finally succumbing to a fatal dose of potent drugs given to him by the private physician he had hired to act as his personal pharmaceutical dispensary, a jury decided on Monday. The physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter nearly two and a half years after the star’s shocking death at age 50. The verdict came after nearly 50 witnesses, 22 days of testimony and less than two days of deliberation by a jury of seven men and five women. The trial had focused primarily on whether Dr. Murray was guilty of abdicating his duty or of acting with reckless criminal negligence, directly causing his patient’s death. Dr. Murray now faces up to four years in prison and the loss of his medical license. Judge Michael Pastor denied a defense request for bail for Dr. Murray and ordered him handcuffe

A startling mix of human and primitive traits found in the brains, hips, feet and hands of an extinct species identified last year make a strong case for it being the immediate ancestor to the human lineage, scientists have announced. These new findings could rewrite long-standing theories about the precise steps human evolution took, they added, including the notion that early human female hips changed shape to accommodate larger-brained offspring. There is also new evidence suggesting that this species had the hands of a toolmaker. Fossils of the extinct hominid known as Australopithecus sediba were accidentally discovered by the 9-year-old son of a scientist in the remains of a cave in South Africa in 2008, findings detailed by researchers last year. Australopithecus means "southern ape," and is a group that includes the iconic fossil Lucy, while sediba means "wellspring" in the South African language Sotho. [See images of human ancestor] Two key specimens were d

No wonder people from ancient Austronesians to Captain Bligh pitched a few coconuts aboard before setting sail. (The mutiny of the Bounty is supposed to have been triggered by Bligh's harsh punishment of the theft of coconuts from the ship's store.) So extensively is the history of the coconut interwoven with the history of people traveling that Kenneth Olsen, a plant evolutionary biologist, didn't expect to find much geographical structure to coconut genetics when he and his colleagues set out to examine the DNA of more than 1300 coconuts from all over the world. "I thought it would be mostly a mish-mash," he says, thoroughly homogenized by humans schlepping coconuts with them on their travels. He was in for a surprise. It turned out that there are two clearly differentiated populations of coconuts, a finding that strongly suggests the coconut was brought under cultivation in two separate locations, one in the Pacific basin and the other in the Indian Ocean basin

Thirty years ago on Wednesday (May 11), Bob Marley -- one of the best-known musicians in the world -- a cultural icon who almost single-handedly put Jamaican music on the map -- died from complications related to cancer. At the just-opened Cannes Film Festival, the day was marked with a screening of "Marley," a new documentary about the musician from "Last King of Scotland" director Kevin McDonald. The film marks the first time that the Marley family has allowed use of their own private archive of music, photographs and film. "Part of the idea is trying to look at the influence he's had all around the world," said McDonald. He definitely had an influence here in the U.S. where his greatest hits -- songs like "Three Little Birds," "Buffalo Soldier" and the ubiquitous "Stir it Up" -- are still frat house and spring break staples. But since there was way more to Marley than his greatest hits, we've compiled a playlist of

The film stock that started color photography having final roll processed.