A skater observes pancakes snow on the frozen Lake des Rousses in Les Rousses, central-eastern France, on January 1, 2025. This phenomenon forms when slushy ice in water clumps into round, pancake-like shapes due to waves or currents. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP Photo)

An aerial view taken with a drone shows people walking past dried lava (L) from a previous volcanic eruption as they make their way to a location closer to watch the fresh volcano eruption near Grindavik, Reykjanes, Iceland, 17 July 2025. According to the Icelandic Meteorological Office, a magma flow has begun at the Sundhnuk crater range on 16 July. (Photo by Jakob Vegerfors/EPA)

Janelle Monae (L) and Taraji P. Henson pose with the SAG Award for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture award for “Hidden Figures”, during the 23rd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles, California, USA, 29 January 2017. (Photo by Paul Buck/EPA)

“The Ainu (アイヌ?), also called Aynu, Aino (アイノ), and in historical texts Ezo (蝦夷), are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin. Most of those who identify themselves as Ainu still live in this same region, though the exact number of living Ainu is unknown. This is due to ethnic issues in Japan resulting in those with Ainu backgrounds hiding their identities and confusion over mixed heritages. In Japan, because of intermarriage over many years with Japanese, the concept of a 'pure Ainu' ethnic group is no longer feasible. Official estimates of the population are of around 25,000, while the unofficial number is upwards of 200,000 people”. – Wkipedia

Photo: A captive bear drinking from a large bottle held by an Ainu tribeswoman. (Photo by Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

People cross Flagstaff Hill as the snow starts to fall, in Schenley Park, on their way to the Carnegie Mellon University campus, Tuesday, March 20, 2018, in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. Yet another powerful storm bore down on the Northeast on Tuesday, with wind-whipped snow falling in parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey as people grumbled and complained about a first day of spring that looked an awful lot like the last weeks of winter. (Photo by Darrell Sapp/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP Photo)

Senior Buddhist monk Lobsang Tayang sits outside the Amarbayasgalant Monastery in the Baruunburen district, Selenge province, Mongolia, April 26, 2018. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

A couple sunbath on the beach in Ostrowo, northern Poland, July 20, 2015. Picture taken July 20, 2015. (Photo by Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) is seen in the sky in Ivalo of Lapland, Finland on September 27, 2019. (Photo by Alexander Kuznetsov/Reuters)