An environmental activist adjusts his mask while taking part in “The Dead Sea Swim Challenge”, swimming from the Jordanian to Israeli shore, to draw attention to the ecological threats facing the Dead Sea, in Kibbutz Ein Gedi, Israel November 15, 2016. Swimmers from around the world plunged into the salty waters of the Dead Sea on Tuesday to attempt a seven-hour swim across the fabled lake in a bid to draw attention to its environmental degradation. Wearing protective masks and snorkels, 25 swimmers paddled through the muddy water to attempt the 9-mile (15-kilometer) swim from Jordan to Israel. (Photo by Nir Elias/Reuters)

A combination picture shows Aleppo's Umayyad mosque, Syria, before it was damaged on March 12, 2009 (top) and after it was damaged (bottom) December 13, 2016. (Photo by Omar Sanadiki/Reuters)

A dog is seen at the entrance of a house in the flooded residential area of Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, near Paris, France January 26, 2018. The Paris region has been deeply affected by the floods that hit the country over the past week, but in Paris, it was business as usual. (Photo by Christian Hartmann/Reuters)

Kea are the only true alpine parrots in the world and thrive as cunning opportunists in the freezing conditions of the Southern Alps. Kea are thought to have developed their wide array of food-finding strategies during the last great ice age, where they learned to adapt using their unusual powers of curiosity. (Photo by Tom Walker/BBC Pictures/The Guardian)

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)

An Afghan boy plays in the ruins of a house that at one point belonged to the 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic scholar and Sufi mystic Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi on the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif on November 25, 2015. (Photo by Farshad Usyan/AFP Photo)

Buddy Mae Walker (R), 4, looks at herself in the mirror while trying on a child respirator provided by the non-profit TeamRaccoonPDX on October 6, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. We told them their grandparents sent them space suits to keep them safe, Jessica Walker said of the respirators, which the family sought out after police used tear gas near their residential street. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

A police officer speaks to a driver shortly after midnight in Bucharest, Romania, Monday, November 9, 2020 informing him of the pandemic related night traffic restrictions that just came into effect. Romania introduces new restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of the COVID-19 infections following a week when it registered an all time high number of new infections. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)