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)

Automated guided vehicle robot “Ray” lifts up an Audi car during a pilot project at the parking area of the Audi plant in Ingolstadt, Germany, May 13, 2015. The robot has been designed to help make work more efficient and more comfortable for employees, some whom walk up to eight kilometres a day, while coordinating the finished cars for the subsequent train transportation. “Robot Ray” technology, currently being used at Dusseldorf International Airport in Germany, claims to be able to park 60 per cent more vehicles in one area compared with a human driver. (Photo by Michaela Rehle/Reuters)

The photographer holds up a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet at the Samsung hall at the IFA 2011 consumer electonics and appliances fair the day before the fair's official opening on September 1, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The IFA 2011 will be open to the public from September 2-7. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A Panasonic Toughpad is displayed during a press event at The Venetian for the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) January 9, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs from January 10-13 and is expected to feature 2,700 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to about 140,000 attendees. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

An iCub robot built by the Italian Institute of Technology tracks a ball in the Robotville exhibition at the Science Museum on November 29, 2011 in London, England. The Science Museum's Robotville exhibition showcases 20 unique and cutting-edge robots from European research laboratories, it is free to enter and runs from December 1–4, 2011. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

A worker adds gunpowder into paper cylinders to make fireworks at a factory in Bocaue town, Bulacan province, Philippines, December 26, 2015. (Photo by Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)

Gurung girls wearing traditional costumes dance while taking part in a New Year parade in Kathmandu, Nepal December 30, 2015. Members of the Gurung community in Nepal celebrate their Tamu Lhosar or Losar (New Year) with a feast and various cultural programs to usher in the year of the Monkey. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)