“A Hawaiian photographer braved freezing temperatures for this cold SNAP – of what appears to be a firebird bursting from an aurora. Keen snapper CJ Kale, more used to sun, sea and sand while at work than snow, captured the incredible moment while on a trip to Alaska. It was his first time seeing the spectacular sight and lucked out – capturing some of the rarest colors of aurora on his first night”. – Caters News

Reuters photographer Siegfried Modola gained access to a circumcision ceremony in rural Kenya for young girls of the Pokot tribe, in Baringo County. Here: a Pokot girl, covered in animal skins, walks to a place where she will rest after being circumcised in a tribal ritual in a village about 80 kilometres from the town of Marigat in Baringo County, October 16, 2014. (Photo by Siegfried Modola/Reuters)

A detained protester escapes from a police truck after riot police released teargas to disperse the #OccupyHarambeeAve demonstration in Kenya's capital Nairobi November 25, 2014. Kenyan police used teargas to disperse demonstrators shouting “President, Stop the killings!” outside President Uhuru Kenyatta's offices on Tuesday, in the protest over 28 people killed in a weekend attack claimed by Islamist militants. (Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

Policemen and residents run as waves from a tidal bore surge past a barrier on the banks of Qiantang River in Haining, Zhejiang province August 31, 2011. As Typhoon Nanmadol approaches eastern China, the tides and waves in Qiantang River recorded its highest level in 10 years, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

The Öresund or Øresund Bridge is a double-track railway and dual carriageway bridge-tunnel across the Øresund strait between Scania (southernmost Sweden) and Denmark. The bridge runs nearly 8 km (5 miles) from the Swedish coast to the artificial island of Peberholm, which lies in the middle of the strait. The remainder of the link is by a 4 km (2.5 mile) tunnel from Peberholm to the Danish island of Amager. The Øresund Bridge is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe, and connects two major metropolitan areas: Copenhagen, the Danish capital city, and the major Swedish city of Malmö. It connects the road and rail networks of Scandinavia with those of Central and Western Europe.

During dull lectures 19-year-old Jody Steel, from Boston, America, likes to draw on her thigh. Using pen she creates stunning temporary masterpieces – and now her doodles have given her internet fame and job offers from around the world. Even her lecturer is a fan – instead of punishing Jody when she was spotted doodling on her leg in class, the lecturer commissioned her to illustrate a book she was editing.

A cenote is a natural phenomenon, a sinkhole in the Earth’s surface. The Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico has an estimated 7,000 cenotes because it is primarily made up of porous limestone. For millions of years, rainfall slowly ate away at the limestone and a huge system of underground caves and caverns was formed. Many filled with water from rain or from the underground water table. When the roof of a water filled cave collapses, a cenote is born. The water found in a cenote may be fresh water, salt water, or both. Structurally it may be completely open, like a lake, almost completely closed with just a small opening at the top, or somewhere in between.

The Smilovichi Felting Factory in Belarus was founded in 1928, when Smilovichi was a small Jewish settlement of craftsmen. Five of those craftsmen organized a small artel (a cooperative association of craftsmen who all live and work together), which produced warm boots called “valenki” for cold weather. Photo: Belarusian workers works at a felt boot factory in Smilovichi, some 35km from Minsk, Belarus, 16 January 2012. (Photo by Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA)