A fuzzy caterpillar on a basil plant in west Bengal, India on December 25, 2023. The caterpillar’s defence system is its hair, which has microscopic barbs that break off easily in the skin of would-be predators. (Photo by Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Photographer Tyler Shields had become comfortable, a feeling he found “terrible” as an artist. He wanted to do something challenging, something that pushed the human boundaries. So he spent a year documenting heights, fear, energy and falling – a series he calls “Suspense”. Photo: “Balloon”. (Photo by Tyler Shields)

A woman surrounded by South Korean national flags set up to celebrate the 66th Independence Day on August 15, 2011 in Seoul, South Korea. Korea was liberated from Japan's 35-year colonial rule in 1945. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

A woman, her hands decorated with traditional henna, prays during Eid al-Fitr prayer at historical Badshahi mosque in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, May 24, 2020. (Photo by K.M. Chaudary/AP Photo)

France's Alice Finot celebrates next to the mascot winning silver in the Women's 3000m final at the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun on March 5, 2021. (Photo by Aleksandra Szmigiel/Reuters)

Tropical acrobatics by Adrià López Baucells in Manaus, Brazil. An unidentified South American marsupial, although the characteristic black markings on its face indicate it may be a mouse opossum. These small creatures are nocturnal and feed on bugs, fruit and bird eggs. (Photo by Adrià López Baucells/2019 Royal Society of Biology Photography Competition)

A woman carries a Persian cat during the “SuperCat Show 2017” on November 11, 2017 in Rome, Italy. Considered the Super Bowl for all things feline, the two-day exhibition features beauty contests, information sessions, shopping and interactive games. (Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/AFP Photo)

For the Torajan people of Indonesia, death is part of a spiritual journey: families keep the mummified remains of their deceased relatives in their homes for years – and traditionally invite them to join for lunch on a daily basis – before they are eventually buried. Here: Todeng died in 2009. A young relative of his, Sam, lights him a cigarette and changes his glasses. (Photo by Claudio Sieber Photography/The Guardian)