A black-winged stilt patrols a reservoir in Jezreel Valley in Israel early April 2023. Their eggs are a golden colour mottled with brown. (Photo by Itamar Procaccia/Solent News)

Yoga enthusiasts perform a yoga exercise in a wine yoga class inside “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience”, a multi-sensorial exhibition featuring artworks of renowned artist Vincent van Gogh at a department store in Bangkok, Thailand, August 5, 2023. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

Actress Olga Kurylenko poses for a photograph at the British Academy of Film and Arts (BAFTA) awards ceremony at the Royal Opera House in London February 16, 2014. (Photo by Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters)

A volunteer photographs a woman as she kisses a volunteer wearing a condom costume during marking the International Condom Day in Kiev, Ukraine, 13 February 2015. The event was organized to promote and create awareness towards “Safe s*x” and the use of condoms to control and prevent Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted diseases on the occasion of the International Condom day. (Photo by Roman Pilipey/EPA)

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 member of an Egungun masquerade group, his identity obscured under his ornate costume in Ouidah, Benin on March 13, 2019. The exclusively male practitioners, found across Yoruba culture, use dance and spinning in the belief that they will summon the spirits of ancestors. (Photo by Massimo Rumi/Barcroft Images)

A new book published by the UK Natural History Museum showcases some of the most memorable underwater photographs taken over the last few decades in its annual wildlife photographer of the year competition. Here: Giant gathering by Tony Wu. “The first indication that something extraordinary was going on were the blows, huge numbers of them – the exhalations of huge numbers of whales. Entering the water, the photographer witnessed an extraordinary scene”. (Photo by Tony Wu/Unforgettable Underwater Photography/NHM)

A representative of Makinarium production, specialized in special visual effects, displays a latex mask for horror movie on a stand inside the Festival Palace during the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 14, 2016. (Photo by Regis Duvignau/Reuters)