American singer, actress, and television personality Nicole Scherzinger stunned in red for her latest photoshoot early January 2022. The star, 43, posed in a string of outfits for Basic magazine. (Photo by Steven Gomillion for Basic Magazine)

A highland cow grazing high above the River Tweed at Thormylee in the Scottish Borders strikes a formidable pose in the morning light on May 3, 2023. (Photo by Phil Wilkinson/The Times)

Vietnamese business students at Northampton University (L to R) Anh Nguyen, Phuong Nguyen, Tam Nguyen and Oanh Cao visit Hitchin Lavender farm in Arlesey, UK on July 9, 2017, to view and pick lavender. Currently in full bloom, the lavender attracts visitors from far and wide to this popular family run farm. (Photo by Stephen Chung/Alamy Live News)

A two-week-old hoglet finds an unusual spot to sit at the Happy Hedgehogs rescue centre in Nidderdale, North Yorkshire in the second decade of September 2023. (Photo by James Glossop/The Times)

American socialite Kylie Jenner shows off her summer bikini style with friends in the second decade of June 2024. (Photo by kyliejenner/Instagram)

A man carries his wife over an obstacle while competing in the Wife Carrying Championship to mark City Day in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia, June 25, 2016. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A walker has left a handprint on a snow- covered tree trunk on Grosser Feldberg mountain in the Taunus mountain range, Germany, 16 January 2017. (Photo by Frank Rumpenhorst/DPA)

With its huge eyes, comical name and diminutive size, Mark R. Smith’s image of a baby Hawaiian bobtail squid can’t help but raise a smile. A curiously endearing creature, the cephalopod is just 1.5cm across, its mantle cavity bearing more than a passing resemblance to a rather natty shower cap. But it is also a beautiful example of symbiosis – nature’s version of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” – for on the underside of the squid is a light organ which houses bioluminescent bacteria. The squid offers the bacteria protection and food, while the bacteria emit a glow – a handy trait that the squid uses to offset its silhouette, helping it to evade predators in the depths below. Mark R. Smith’s entry combines several images of a Hawaiian bobtail squid with different focus lengths to create a final picture with greater depth of field than normal. (Photo by Mark R. Smith/Wellcome Images/Macroscopic Solutions)