Teenagers playing with mud started the Bloco da Lama in 1986 and it has since become an annual event in the city of Paraty, Brazil. Hundreds of people wrestle, coat each other in mud and throw it around to the sound of samba and reggaeton at a carnival beach party on February 18, 2023. Clothes are optional, but mud is not. (Photo by Fabio Teixeira/SIPA Press/Profimedia)

A young boy plugs his ears as his sister (C) and nanny (L) watch from Gravelly Point Park as planes land at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia on June 29, 2017. President Donald Trump' s travel ban on people from six mostly Muslim countries will come into force late Thursday, as controversy swirls over who qualifies for an exemption based on family ties. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP Photo)

Beautiful, strange and occasionally alarming pictures from the shortlist for this year’s Wellcome image awards – which celebrate the very best in science photography and imaging – from an x-ray of a bat to a micrograph of a kidney stone. The exhibition opens on 12 March at three science centres and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Photo: Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of an Arabidopsis thaliana flower, also commonly known as thale cress. Some of the anthers are open, revealing pollen grains ready for dispersal. Arabidopsis was the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced and is widely used as a model organism in molecular and plant biology. Horizontal width of image is 1200 microns. Magnification 100x. (Photo by Stefan Eberhard/Wellcome Images)

A protester is taken away by law enforcement officers during a rally held by opposition supporters on the parliamentary election day in Almaty, Kazakhstan on January 10, 2021. Dozens of activists were detained in at least three major cities, including the capital, Nur-Sultan, and Almaty, with reports of independent observers being denied access or detained at some polling stations. (Photo by Petr Trotsenko/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

This picture taken on January 14, 2021 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 15 shows Pak Jong Chon, chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, during a military parade celebrating the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA via KNS/AFP Photo)

A contestant lies in a chili covered pool eating Chillies during a chili eating contest on July 8, 2018 in Ningxiang, Hunan Province of China. Citizen Tang Shuaihui ate 50 Chillies in one minute winning the contest. (Photo by VCG/Getty Images)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (L) is welcomed by the European Parliament President Roberta Metsola ahead of a meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, 03 November 2022. (Photo by Stephanie Lecocq/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Girls make a heart sign as the sun sets over the Mediterranean Sea coastline in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, July 14, 2023. (Photo by Hassan Ammar/AP Photo)