Lilith interacts with spectators in the streets of Toulouse. French street show creator Francois Delaroziere, director of the art company “La Machine”, creates a show in the streets of Toulouse. The new show displays giant characters: Asterion, the Minotaur; Lilith, the scorpion woman; and Ariane, the spider woman. Lilith is fond of the Minotaur and wants to take Asterion to hell with her. Ariane protects Asterion and tries everything to keep Asterion safe. The show is displayed over three days and is attended by dozens of people. During the three days, the giant characters appear in the streets of Toulouse. (Photo by Alain Pitton/NurPhoto)

A demonstrator wearing a The Martians from Sesame Street costume holds a placard depicting U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, U.S Vice President JD Vance, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson as people march down the National Mall to take part in a “No Kings” protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's policies, in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 18, 2025. (Photo by Leah Millis/Reuters)

Bikini-clad women ski as they are led by a car during a performance on the frozen Yenisei River outside Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia, March 20, 2016. The performance, entitled “Siberian Spring's Strings” and created with the participation of artist Vasily Slonov, marked the day of spring equinox (vernal equinox), according to organizers. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Members of the media document a damaged train carriage extracted from a tunnel after the deadly train derailment north of Hualien, Taiwan on April 6, 2021. (Photo by Ann Wang/Reuters)

A lizard wears a cowboy hat at Pet Expo Thailand on May 06, 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand. Dogs take part in a skateboarding competition at Pet Expo Thailand, a four day exhibition held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. Dogs were judged on form and agility and separated into novice and experienced categories. Placing first place in the novice category was Mui and first in the experienced category was Suradej. Both house pets and exotic animals were featured at the expo, with visitors and their pets able to interact with them. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

A boat, center, is surrounded by Japan Cost Guard's patrol boats after some activists descended from the boat on Uotsuri Island, one of the islands of Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, in East China Sea Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012. Regional tensions flared on the emotional anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender as activists from China and South Korea used Wednesday's occasion to press rival territorial claims, prompting 14 arrests by Japanese authorities. The 14 people had traveled by boat from Hong Kong to the disputed islands controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan. (Photo by Yomiuri Shimbun/Masataka Morita/AP Photo)

“Der Jen (Dezhen; 德珍繪館) has achieved fame in her homeland and that fame is now spreading to other parts of the world as more and more people become familiar with her beautiful paintings. This Taiwanese artist depicts these beautiful ladies in classic, traditional dress that would have been worn by members of the royal court or an empress herself. Traditional hair styles and jewelry depicted in her pieces are also considered authentic. Der Jens art can be found in Chinese advertising, childrens magazines, romance novels, tarot cards, and even on public transit tickets. Its also making its way to our pcs as desktop wallpaper”.

Photo: Der Jen (Dezhen; 德珍繪館) – “The beauty of Brocade” (please click to enlarge).

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)