A photographer with a hidden camera took 2,500 photos before this elusive badger was ready for his close-up in September 2020. (Photo by Andy Swinden/BNPS)

Rockhopper penguins live up to their name as they navigate the rugged coastline of Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean. (Photo by Thomas P. Peschak)

Competitors line up their boats for some formalities during the Aberdeen Dragon Boat Races. (Photo by Jessica Hromas)

Coffins are lined up near the wreckage of the bus, on July 29, 2013. (Photo by Salvatore Laporta/Associated Press)

Members of a cheerleading team warm- up during the Russian Cheerleading Championship of students in Moscow on November 20, 2016. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)

The Villarrica volcano lights up the sky at night seen from Pucon town, Chile on December 14, 2023. (Photo by Cristobal Saavedra Escobar/Reuters)

Soap Bubble Structures by Kym Cox. Bubbles optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This phenomenon makes them a useful tool in many areas of research, in particular, materials science and “packing” – how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom, which interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst. (Photo by Kym Cox/2019 Science Photographer of the Year/RPS)