Drastic inequality is by no means new in New York. Jacob A. Riis was called a muckraker after he chose to spotlight the city’s poverty at the turn of the 20th century by photographing it. Here: Sweatshop in Hester Street, 1889-1890. (Photo by Jacob A. Riis/Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Roger William Riis)

The Invasion. A quiet street in Macau. Modernization around is quickly changing the city, as documented by Paul Tsui. (Photo by Paul Tsui/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Best portfolio winner. Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea ajaja, by Petr Bambousek, Czech Republic. (Photo by Petr Bambousek/2018 Bird Photographer of the Year)

Workers pull apart a house in Khandyga, Russia, on February 2, 2018. The shifting ground caused by the uneven thawing of permafrost each summer causes buildings like this Soviet-era apartment house to sag and collapse. (Photo by Amos Chapple/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

A man stands by an installation depicting “2019” in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia on December 17, 2018. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Sharafkhaneh port and lake Urmia. Masoud Ghadiri (Iran). The summer Milky Way is very prominent in this photo. On the galaxy zone, Saturn is located besides the Lagoon nebula. On the right of the horizon, you can see the extreme light pollution of Urmia, which is caused by ever-increasing city development. (Photo by Masoud Ghadiri/National Maritime Museum)

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)

Fireworks illuminate the Ampera Bridge during a New Year's Eve celebrations in Palembang, Indonesia on January 1, 2020. (Photo by Muhammad Tohir/Sijori Images via ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstoc)