People walk behind the Medusa head in the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkey, 24 July 2022. The site has been restored by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and is now open for visitors again. The Byzantine structure was commissioned by Emperor Justinian and built in 532. The underground Basilica, also called Underground Cistern, is the largest well preserved cistern in Istanbul, which rests on a total of 336 columns. According to historical texts, more than 7,000 slaves were involved in the construction of the cistern. (Photo by Sedat Suna/EPA/EFE)

A worker roasts a row of pigs on bamboo poles at a roasting pit, in Manila, Philippines, December 21, 2020. (Photo by Lisa Marie David/Reuters)

A Palestinian man rides a donkey-drawn cart transporting an old car to a scrap yard, in Gaza City on March 15, 2020. (Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

A woman carrying a basket of papayas while walking through a vegetable market in Bangkok, Thailand November 11, 2011. (Photo by Kerek Wongsa/Reuters)

Firefighters pull a pig as they try to rescue it from a well at a pig farm in Huanghua township of Leqing, Zhejiang province, China, April 25, 2014. Seven local firefighters successfully rescued the 300 kg (661 lbs) pig, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

Kazakhstan, Belgium and Japan compete in the men’s 5000m relay final B during the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships at the Ahoy Arena on 17 March 2024 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/International Skating Union/Siena awards festival 2025)

Suat Demir, a 52-year-old parter, smokes a cigarette after finishing his work day in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, October 2, 2025. (Photo by Emrah Gurel/AP Photo)

Kieron Connolly’s new book of photographs of more than 100 once-busy and often elegant buildings gives an idea of how the world might look if humankind disappeared. Here: Bodie, Mono County, California. Gold was discovered at Bodie in 1859 (just after the initial California gold rush) and it went from mining camp to boomtown. Its decline began in 1880, when word spread of new boomtowns elsewhere. The Standard Consolidated Mine closed in 1913, and four years later the Bodie Railway was abandoned. By 1940 the population was down to 40. Today, Bodie is maintained in a state of arrested decay as a visitor attraction. (Photo by Alamy Stock Photo)