Soap Bubble Structures by Kym Cox. Bubbles optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This phenomenon makes them a useful tool in many areas of research, in particular, materials science and “packing” – how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom, which interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst. (Photo by Kym Cox/2019 Science Photographer of the Year/RPS)

A lightning strikes through smoke from fuel storage tanks that exploded near Cuba's supertanker port in Matanzas, Cuba on August 8, 2022. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

A Brazil soccer fan wearing contact lenses that mimic the Brazilian flag reacts as she watches her team play Germany in a World Cup semifinal game via live telecast inside the FIFA Fan Fest area on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, July 8, 2014. (Photo by Leo Correa/AP Photo)

A devotee smiles as she offers prayers during the Swasthani Brata Katha festival in Kathmandu, Nepal January 12, 2017. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Venezuela's food shortages, inflation and crumbling medical sector have become such a source of anguish that a growing number of young women are reluctantly opting for sterilizations rather than face the hardship of pregnancy and child-rearing. Traditional contraceptives like condoms or birth control pills have virtually vanished from store shelves, pushing women towards the hard-to-reverse surgery. While no recent national statistics on sterilizations are available, doctors and health workers say demand for the procedure is growing. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Peng Jing, 24, attends her wedding photography shoot after the lockdown was lifted in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province and China's epicentre of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, April 15, 2020. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

Villager search for a place for the roasted pigs in Dalem Temple at Timbrah Village on February 27, 2014 in Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia. Usaba Dalem is an annual ritual held by the people of Timbrah Village, during this ritual all the villagers will cook roasted pigs and carry them to Dalem Temple as an offering to God and an expression of gratitude for a successful harvest. (Photo by Putu Sayoga/Getty Images)

Actors perform as zombies during the “Train to Apocalypse: No Way Out” event at a Light Rail Transit (LRT) train station in Jakarta, Indonesia, 13 July 2024. The Indonesian capital's LRT operator modified train stations into zombie apocalypse settings to promote the use of public transportations and entertain the commuters. (Photo by Mast Irham/EPA/EFE)