Visitors pose for a picture next to a mallard duck on the cobblestones of St Peter's Square with St Peter's Basilica in the background at The Vatican, on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/AFP Photo)

Sudan cheetah cub Assama inspects a camera bag in its enclosure at the Landau Zoo, in Landau, Germany, 03 September 2025. Assama, born in July as the only cub to a cheetah cat, was rejected by its mother, and is now being bottle-fed by its caretakers. (Photo by Ronald Wittek/EPA)

In this May 31, 2016 photo, pieces of watermelon litter the trash area of the Coche public market in Caracas, Venezuela. Staples such as corn flour and cooking oil are subsidized, costing pennies at the strongest of two official exchange rates. But fruit and vegetables have become an unaffordable luxury for many Venezuelan families. (Photo by Fernando Llano/AP Photo)

A picture made available on 07 March 2016 shows visitors petting and holding a Fennec fox, native to the Sahara, in the petting room at the Little Zoo Cafe, a business built to capitalize on Thais' love for exotic animals, and food, on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, 05 March 2016. The cafe boasts Fennec foxes, Meerkat, native to parts of Africa, Silver Fox, Raccoon and Chinchillas, along with a menu of Thai food and Cheesecake, among other sweet deserts. Nature is a faraway fantasy in the bustling exhaust-filled cement city of Bangkok, fuelling a demand to own and be close to exotic pets. The trend to be near to a species that was once wild, in a city environment, far from the natural setting, has drawn criticism but continues to grow. (Photo by Barbara Walton/EPA)

“Microscope images forge an extraordinary bond between science and art, said Hidenao Tsuchiya, Olympus America's Vice President and General Manager for the Scientific Equipment Group. We founded this competition to focus on the fascinating stories coming out of today's life science research laboratories. The thousands of images that people have shared with the competition over the years reflect some of the most exciting work going on in research today – work that can help shed light on the living universe and ultimately save lives. We look at BioScapes and these beautiful images as sources of education and inspiration to us and the world”. – OlympusBioScapes

Photo: Pretarsus of the third leg of a female drone fly (Eristalis tenax), ventral view, by Dr. Jan Michels, Institute of Zoology, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany. (Photo by Olympus BioScapes)

“Masked gunmen publicly shot dead six suspected collaborators with Israel at a large Gaza City intersection Tuesday, witnesses said. An Associated Press reporter saw a mob surrounding five of the bloodied corpses shortly after the killing”. – Karin Laub via Associated Press

Photo: Palestinian gunmen ride motorcycles as they drag the body of a man, who was suspected of working for Israel, in Gaza City November 20, 2012. (Photo by Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

“The pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis) is a large mammal native to the forests and swamps of western Africa (the specific name liberiensis means “of Liberia”, as this is where the vast majority live). The pygmy hippo is reclusive and nocturnal. It is one of only two extant species in the Hippopotamidae family, the other being its much larger cousin the common hippopotamus”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Monifa, a one month old baby Pygmy Hippopotamus takes a morning bath at Taronga Zoo on November 7, 2008 in Sydney, Australia. Monifa is the first Pygmy Hippopotamus to be born at Taronga Zoo in the past twenty three years. (Photo by Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images)

Alpacas of Lisa Vella-Gatt (not pictured) graze at her farm near Benfeita, Portugal May 11, 2015. Lisa came to Portugal from England in 2009 to set up Monte Frio Alpacas, a project where she breeds alpacas, which produce wool. Lisa's 14 alpacas produce about 50 kilos (110 pounds) of wool annually. (Photo by Rafael Marchante/Reuters)