These beautiful shots may look like works of modern art – but they are actually close-ups of chemical reactions. The works were snapped with the help of a group of scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in Anhui, China. Here: Zinc reacting with lead nitrate in a soft gel to form lead crystals. (Photo by Yan Liang/Caters News)

Fighters of the pro-government Popular Resistance Committees militia carry a cannon as they transport it in parts to Yemen's southwestern war-torn city of Taiz December 26, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, visible above Old Gardur Lighthouse on the northern point of the Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland on Sunday, November 24, 2024. The lighthouse dates to 1897, and was one of the first built in Iceland. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)

A Palestinian woman paints a mural, depicting a masked Palestinian holding a knife, in support of Palestinians committing stabbing attacks against Israelis, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip November 3, 2015. (Photo by Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)

Anti-government demonstrators perform in front of burning barricades as they attend a protest against a constitutional amendment, known as PEC 55, that limit public spending, in front of Brazil's National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, November 29, 2016. (Photo by Adriano Machado/Reuters)

A man carries a sheep after it was rescued from mud in Sanliurfa, Turkey on January 9, 2019. Total of 67 sheep and a donkey rescued from mud by gendarmerie forces, firefighters and local people in Sanliurfa's Bozova district. (Photo by Halil Fidan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Members of South Korean girl group Gfriend rehearse in Seoul December 23, 2014. Thousands of Korean children dream of becoming household names like rapper Psy, whose 2012 “Gangnam Style” video was a global YouTube hit, often putting up with punishing schedules in the hope of one day making it big in the music industry. A recent survey of pre-teens showed that 21 percent of respondents wanted to be K-pop (Korean pop) stars when they grow up, the most popular career choice. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

Travel photographer Amos Chapple recently crossed into Turkmenistan on a three-day transit visa and was able to photograph many of the sights and monuments in Ashgabat, the capital and largest city. Turkmenistan is a single-party country, a former Soviet state, run by a president at the center of a cult of personality.

Photo: A young couple leave the Alem Entertainment Center in Ashgabat. The current president has a history of breaking obscure records. In 2012 the wheel atop this complex was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest enclosed Ferris wheel. The structure was built at a cost of $90m. (Photo by Amos Chapple via The Atlantic)