This strange coral-looking specimen is actually a mushroom. The photo, “Beautiful Destroyer”, was taken in the Panamanian tropical rainforest where the mushroom produces nitrogen, an element vital to soil health. (Photo by Sarah A. Batterman)

Amateur Iranian photographer Mohammad Reza Domiri Ganji, 23 likes to learn as much as he can about a site before he photographs it. Then he utilizes a variety of wide-angle and fisheye lenses, as well as occasional panoramic techniques to create beautiful new, often mind-bending images. He usually shoots the architectural wonders of Iran, and hopes that the Iranian government will allow him to travel further from home in pursuit of other iconic architectural treasures. Photo: The Nasir al-mulk or “Pink” mosque in Shiraz, Iran. (Photo by Mohammad Reza Domiri Ganj)

Women stand at a bus stop next to an advertisement for military conscription showing a Russian soldier, in Moscow, Russia, 08 April 2024. According to Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, almost 540 thousand people entered military service under contract in the Russian Armed Forces in 2023, and about 50 thousand since the beginning of 2024. (Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA/EFE)

An artist has gone to incredible lengths to paint several iconic album covers on her own face. London-based artist Natalie Sharp wanted to celebrate Record Store Day in a unique way, and asked her Facebook friends for suggestions about which album covers to paint. She was overwhelmed with responses, and as a result painted 40 different album covers on her face, including Nirvana's “Nevermind”, King Crimson's “The Court of the Crimson King”, and “Melt” by Peter Gabriel. Here: King Crimson album. “In fact, I barely used by brushes for King Crimson; I would just keep smudging it with my fingers”. (Photo by Natalie Sharp/Caters News)

Bride Fan Huixiang (front R), a 25-year-old cancer patient, receives flowers from nurses on her bed before her wedding ceremony at a hospital in Zhengzhou, Henan province November 17, 2014. Fan was diagnosed with late stage adenocarcinoma, a type of cancerous tumor, at her thoracic vertebra this June. She and her 24-year-old husband Yu Haining held their wedding ceremony at the hospital on Monday after five years of relationship, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

Rio de Janeiro's state military policemen aim their guns during a violent protest in a favela next to Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro on April 22, 2014. Violent protests broke out in Rio's landmark beachfront district, Copacabana, following the death of a resident last weekend during clashes with the Army in a nearby favela. (Photo by Christophe Simon/AFP Photo)

A scorpion crawls out of the mouth of Thailand's Scorpion Queen and Ripley's Ambassador Kanchana Kaetkaew (also spelled Kanjana Ketkaew), at the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum in Pattaya city, Chonburi province, Thailand, 03 June 2017. (Photo by Diego Azubel/EPA)

A visitor views the work of artists Gonzalo Duran and Cheri Pann at their Mosaic Tile House in Venice, California U.S., August 26, 2016. With an array of thrift store china, humorous souvenirs and handmade tile adorning its walls and floors, the Mosaic Tile House in Venice stands as a monument to two decades of artistic collaboration between Cheri Pann and husband Gonzalo Duran. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)