Maudy – Kalulushi, Zambia. Maudy was born in a hut in a small village close to Kalulushi, in Zambia. She grew up playing in the street with the other children in the village, who all attend the same school, where students ages 3 to 10 years old are in the same class. The village has no shops, restaurants or hotels, and just a few children are lucky enough to have toys. Maudy and her friends found a box full of sunglasses on the street, which quickly became their favorite toys. “Toy Stories” project. (Photo and caption by Gabriele Galimberti)

“Models decorated with glow-in-the-dark paint manage to stand out in a new series of pictures shot in the dark. Its well known that capturing beautiful photos without natural light is a tricky undertaking even for the most talented photographers but Hid Saib Neto has found a way to make the most of the darkness. The 26-year-old Brazilian photographer covered the group of models in neon paint before illuminating them with just a single ultra-violet light”. – Caters News. Photo: A model wearing the neon make up. (Photo by Hid Saib Neto/Caters News)

“A dazzling exhibition featuring jewelry made with the world’s largest diamond will be part of the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. The jewelry was made with a 3,106-carat diamond discovered in 1905 at the Cullinan Diamond Mine near Pretoria, the capital of South Africa. The diamond was so large that miners initially thought it was a worthless crystal and almost threw it away”... – Vidya Kauri via News.nationalpost.com

Photo: Caroline de Guitaut, Curator of Royal Collections, holds the Cullinan III and IV Broach and the Cullinan VII Delhi Durbar Necklace and Cullinan Pendant at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace on May 15, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid)

“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)

“Sidney D. Gamble (July 12, 1890 – 1968) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to David Berry and Mary Huggins Gamble; grandson of James Gamble, who, with William Procter, founded Procter & Gamble in 1837. in 1912 he graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Literature degree and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He visited China for four extended periods, 1908, 1917–1919, 1924–27, and 1931–1932, doing Christian social work for the Y.M.C.A and conducting social surveys. He is now best known for his remarkable and extensive photographs of Peking and North China.” – Wikipedia. (Photo by Sidney David Gamble via Duke University Libraries)

Photo: Hillcoat Riding Fu Tu. China, An Xian, 1917-1919. P.S. All photos are available in high resolution.

On August 31, 2012, a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the sun's atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. EDT. The coronal mass ejection, or CME, traveled at over 900 miles per second. The CME did not travel directly toward Earth, but did connect with Earth's magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, causing aurora to appear on the night of Monday, September 3. (Photo by NASA/GSFC/SDO via The Atlantic)

«Little Red Riding Hood». “The moment I pulled this sweater out of the drawer for Frankie I knew what I wanted for my picture today. I envisioned the look, the style, and the composition. When working with a 2 year old it is never easy to actually get the shot you want, especially when they decide to skip nap time. But I really like how this one turned out” – Rich. (Photo by Rich)