Today’s post was brought to you by the bag of peanuts I just ate (they were salty). Here’s salt – aka sodium chloride – in all of it’s unexpected splendour:

1. Chunky, cuboidal salt crystals, by Rob.

2. ‘Red Bacteria in ponds for making salt’. This striking photo was taken over San Francisco by Aroid.

3. Close-up salt crystals by Fergus Ray Murray. They look somehow like feathers, no?

4. Peruvian salt pans, by Dachalan.

5. Vivid indigo salt crystals. By Matt Hoffman.

Science is cool, kids.