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)

Thomas Thwaites of the United Kingdom accepts the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize in Biology for “creating prosthetic extensions of his limbs that allowed him to move in the manner of, and spend time roaming the hills in the company of, goats” during the 26th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. September 22, 2016. (Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)

A woman takes a photo of a mural by Berlin-based street artist Eme Freethinker featuring the likeness of US actor Will Smith (R) slapping US comedian Chris Rock during the Oscars ceremony, in Berlin on March 30, 2022. (Photo by John MacDougall/AFP Photo)

An Animal Liberation Victoria activist cries as she holds a dead animal at Federation Square on October 1, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia. Over 200 activists gathered with the bodies of deceased animals to publicly grieve their deaths. Animal Liberation Victoria is against the treatment of animals as “property” an promotes a vegan lifestyle. (Photo by Graham Denholm)

“We take rusty old junk and we put love into it”. The old Motor City has a unique style in bicycles these days: from fat wheels and fake fuel tanks to stretched cycles with powerful sound systems – and even a family-sized BBQ. “Detroit’s custom bike scene developed alongside Slow Roll, a weekly cycle ride started in 2010 by Jason Hall and Mike MacKool. Now upwards of 2,000 people turn up each Monday to cruise a different part of the city. The week I go the crowd seems evenly split between black and white, male and female, city and suburbs. It’s the most inclusive cycle event I’ve ever witnessed”. (Photo by Jason Walker/Slow Roll Monday Nights)

Friends and relatives mourn by the coffin during the wake for Florjohn Cruz, who was killed in a police drugs buy-bust operation, in Manila, Philippines late October 20, 2016. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

“This grey adult male seal enjoys a good grin while lying on the beach”. (Photo by Michael Hutch/SplashdownDirect via Rex USA)

Tigray refugees who fled the conflict in the Ethiopia's Tigray arrive with their donkey on the banks of the Tekeze River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in Hamdayet, eastern Sudan, Saturday, November 21, 2020. (Photo by Nariman El-Mofty/AP Photo)