People will spout about impermanence of digital records, but books are really fragile, too. Alexis Arnold from San Francisco wanted to illustrate that with her project The Crystallized Book: collecting books and growing Borax crystals on them. Books range from literature classics to magazines, and there’s even a mysterious and arcane tome called “Linux: The Complete Manual”.

A competitor reacts ahead of Tough Guy Mudathon event in Perton, Britain, 04 February 2018. The original event which started in 1987 raises money for charity and challenges thousands of international competitors with a cross-country run followed by an assault course consisting of 20 obstacles including water, fire and tunnels. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/EPA/EFE)

The Great Picture” is a black and white panoramic print of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, an old military outpost. The print measures 111 feet wide by 32 feet high on seamless white muslin cloth. (Photo by Caters News)

The moon illuminates the snow-covered Concordia, the confluence of the Baltoro and Godwin-Austen glaciers, near the world's second highest mountain the K2 (8,000 meters) in the Karakoram mountain range in Pakistan September 6, 2014. While other parts of Pakistan and northern India were flooded, Concordia in the Karakoram mountain range was covered with a seasonally unusual amount of snow. Geographically, Pakistan is a climbers paradise. It rivals Nepal for the number of peaks over 7,000 meters and is home to the world's second tallest mountain, K2, as well as four of the world's 14 summits higher than 8,000 meters. (Photo by Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters)

The city of Meroë laid undiscovered for two millennia before British archaeologist John Garstang excavated it in the early 20th century. Garstang took the radical decision to document his discoveries with photography – and immortalised an ancient world. “Meroë: Africa’s Forgotten Empire” is being shown until 14 September at Garstang Museum of Archaeology, Liverpool. Here: A group visiting the excavations at Meroë, including (from left) Midwinter Bey, director of Sudan Railways; Lord Kitchener; General Sir Francis Reginald Wingate, Sirdar of the Egyptian Army; Professor Archibald Sayce; John Garstang; and Lady Catherine Wingate, 1911. (Photo by Garstang Museum of Archaeology)

A shooting star (L, top) is seen on the night sky during the perseid meteor shower in Jankowo, near Poznan, 11 August 2016. The first half of August is traditionally the best time to look out for meteors called “shooting stars”, or perseids which are the leftover dust particles of a comet tail associated with comet Swift-Tuttle. (Photo by Lukasz Ogrodowczyk/EPA)

Female activists perform a choreography originated in Chile, and inspired by the Chilean feminist group Las Tesis, to protest against gender violence and patriarchy in front of the Greek parliament at Athens' Syntagma Square on December 22, 2019. (Photo by Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP Photo)

A little girl holding her newborn sister waits for their turn in a queue during a vaccination campaign under the supervision of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) humanitarian nonprofit organization, in the besieged Syrian town of Douma, Syria, 23 May 2017. According to a statement from SARC, in the city of Douma some 12,809 children under the age of five were immunized in a vaccination campaign to prevent measles and poliomyelitis. The campaign was the first of its kind with the participation of 100 volunteers. SARC has been delivering vaccines to 17 health centers approved for vaccination campaigns in towns and villages in the Eastern Ghouta area. (Photo by Mohammed Badra/EPA)