A view of the Sheikh Zayed highway in Dubai and some high rise buildings, November 8, 2007. (Photo by Steve Crisp/Reuters)

“The Spanish Civil War (The Crusade among Nationalists, Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans) was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939. An estimated total of 500,000 people lost their lives as a consequence of the War”. – Wikipedia. Photo: Actors take part in a re-enactment of the “Battle of Areces” that took place during the Spanish Civil War, in Grullos, north of Spain, September 14, 2013. The re-enactment of the historic 1937 battle was organised by the Frente del Nalon Association. (Photo by Eloy Alonso/Reuters)

From sandwich-saurus to a scary leprechaun the sometimes terrifying and often hilarious foodstuffs are the creation of New York artist Kasia Haupt. The 29-year-old advertising art director has even had her work commissioned as prints making her a real-life Salvador DELI. Photo: “Kasia Haupt's sandwich monsters: Love Bunnies”. (Photo by Kasia Haupt/Caters News)

An American inventor has built a unique upside-down racecar – and successfully taken it on a 24-hour spin around the LeMons track. Jeff Bloch – also known as SpeedyCop – built his upside down 1999 Chevrolet Camaro by combining it with a decrepit 1990 Ford Festiva. To enter the latest LeMons race the car had to cost less than $500, which Bloch achieved by picking a Festiva model with a worn-out 1.3-litre engine and more than 300,000 kilometres on the clock.

Capybaras bathe in the hot spring water at the Saitama Children's zoo in Higashi Matsuyama city, Saitama prefecture on December 25, 2013. 13 capybaras in the zoo, originally from South America, enjoyed the hot spring water. (Photo by Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP Photo)

I would like to tell you why many artists, who like me, have painted portraits and landscapes in oils on canvas, worked with acrylics, watercolors, and pen and ink drawings, have turned to the art of gourd carving.

“Hey! I'm Thomas Shahan, an artist and macrophotographer from Oklahoma. In my spare time over the past few years, I've been shooting portraiture of local arthropods. Why would I devote countless hours to tramping through forests, fields and the like searching for insects and spiders? Well, despite some common beliefs, arthropods (members of the phylum Arthropoda – insects, spiders, crustaceans...) represent an endlessly varied, wildly beautiful and fascinating bunch of animals with surprisingly personable faces and behavior. Often, all it takes is simply inspecting their lives on a closer level to turn repulsion to reverence”. – Thomas Shahan

Photo: Adult Male Jumping Spider at Sunset – Phidippus mystaceus. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

A competitor participates at the World Pole Dancing Championship 2012 held at the Volkshaus on November 10, 2012 in Zurich, Switzerland. The public's perception of pole dancing has recently changed to become a popular sport combining physical strength, technique and choreography. (Photo by Harold Cunningham)