A child, from Municipal school Parana, poses during the project “Fencing School” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 30, 2016. Children in Rio de Janeiro lift their sights and their swords to new idols, as a round of fencing workshops takes to public schools. The International Fencing Federation, together with the Brazilian and state federations, will reach 40 public schools in March and April. The aim is to whip up a following for the Olympic sport, little known in the soccer-mad nation, as Rio sets the stage for the Summer Games in August. (Photo by Sergio Moraes/Reuters)

Sandrine Kerfante has had a fascination with “doubles” ever since meeting her mother’s twin as a child. In 2012, this lifelong captivation inspired her to create a blog called twin-niwt, which celebrates photographs of doubles in all their forms. “I’m fascinated by the idea of the duo, repetition, symmetry, reflection, mirror games and all the symbolism associated with it”, she says. “I think it’s a topic often present in photography, more or less consciously”. (Photo by Sandrine Kerfante/The Guardian)

“When I was 8 years old, my parents paid a smuggler to take me across the Himalayas, a weekslong walk over the mountains from Tibet to India. It was a trek that tens of thousands of other Tibetans have taken since the Dalai Lama fled a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. My parents must have had their reasons to send me here; they must have had the best of intentions. But 18 years later, I still don't know why they did it. They are not political people. They are small farmers who raise barley and a few yak in a rural area not far from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. I have not seen them since I left...”. – Tsering Topgyal via The Associated Press. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

Beautiful, strange and occasionally alarming pictures from the shortlist for this year’s Wellcome image awards – which celebrate the very best in science photography and imaging – from an x-ray of a bat to a micrograph of a kidney stone. The exhibition opens on 12 March at three science centres and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Photo: Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of an Arabidopsis thaliana flower, also commonly known as thale cress. Some of the anthers are open, revealing pollen grains ready for dispersal. Arabidopsis was the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced and is widely used as a model organism in molecular and plant biology. Horizontal width of image is 1200 microns. Magnification 100x. (Photo by Stefan Eberhard/Wellcome Images)

“Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986), better known as L. Ron Hubbard (and often referred to by his initials, LRH), was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology. After establishing a career as a writer, becoming best known for his science fiction and fantasy stories, he developed a self-help system called Dianetics which was first published in May 1950. He subsequently developed his ideas into a wide-ranging set of doctrines and rituals as part of a new religious movement that he called Scientology. His writings became the guiding texts for the Church of Scientology and a number of affiliated organizations that address such diverse topics as business administration, literacy and drug rehabilitation”. – Wikipedia

Photo: American science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, uses his Hubbard Electrometer (patent pending) to determine whether tomatoes experience pain, 1959. His work led him to the conclusion that tomatoes “scream when sliced”. (Photo by Scott Lauder/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The proliferation of marijuana edibles for both medical and recreational purposes is giving rise to a cottage industry of baked goods, candies, infused oils, cookbooks and classes that promises a slow burn as more states legalize the practice and awareness spreads about the best ways to deliver the drug. Edibles and infused products such as snack bars, olive oils and tinctures popular with medical marijuana users have flourished into a gourmet market of chocolate truffles, whoopie pies and hard candies as Colorado and Washington legalized the recreational use of marijuana in the past year. Photo: In this Thursday, July 10, 2014, photo, Mike Fitzgerald, right, teaches behind a sample display of cannabis-infused products during a cooking class at the New England Grass Roots Institute in Quincy, Mass. (Photo by Michael Dwyer/AP Photo)

The Rio de Janeiro Olympics kick off on August 5 for some two weeks of competitive games drawing athletes as well as audiences from around the world. As they prepare to cover the event, Reuters photographers look back on their favourite pictures from past Olympics where they captured the action on the ground as well as the participants' tears and joy that followed. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Ukrainians jump over a bonfire in Kiev, Ukraine, 06 July 2019, as they celebrate the traditional pagan holiday of Ivana Kupala. Ivana Kupala is celebrated, during the summer solstice, on the shortest night of the year, marking the beginning of summer and is celebrated in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and Russia. People sing and dance around bonfires, play games and perform traditional rituals. Young people jump over bonfires in order to test their bravery. Couples holding hands jump over the flames to test their love. If the couple does not succeed it is predicted to split up. Traditionally, children and young unmarried women wear wreaths of wild flowers on their heads to symbolize purity. (Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA/EFE)