In this picture taken on December 13, 2017, a woman commutes on a street on a cold day in Baoding. As temperatures dipped below freezing in a northern Chinese village, a group of parka-clad women tried to stay warm as they played mahjong around a small gas stove in a grocery store. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)

A girl poses at an entrance of her house next to a bomb dropped by the U.S. Air Force planes during the Vietnam War, in the village of Ban Napia in Xieng Khouang province, Laos September 3, 2016. From 1964 to 1973, U.S. warplanes dropped more than 270 million cluster munitions on Laos, one-third of which did not explode, according to the Lao National Regulatory Authority. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

A Filipino pet owner carries her dog as she prays before the animal blessing rites at the Our Lady of Remedies Parish Church in Malate district, Manila, Philippines on Sunday, October 5, 2014. Several Filipinos brought their pets to be blessed during the annual event which is also done to celebrate the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology. (Photo by Aaron Favila/AP Photo)

Professor Xie Yong works on an art installation of a beaver, which is made out of plastic and around 300,000 needles, in Shenyang, Liaoning province, July 23, 2013. The needles, according to Xie, represent the pain felt by animals when their fur is taken off to produce clothing. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.

Astronaut Donald R. Pettit would often rig an array of as many as six cameras in the cupola windows and set them all to fire continuously for events such as sunsets, which only last around seven seconds on the ISS. (Photo by Donald R. Pettit)

Indian ivory furniture legs in the shape of a goddess from the first century AD are displayed in the 'Afghanistan Crossroads of the Ancient World' exhibition at The British Museum on March 1, 2011 in London, England. Displaying treasures that were in great danger during the years of civil war and Taliban rule, these surviving artifacts reveal Afghanistan's ancient culture, its fragility and its remarkable place in world history. The exhibition opens to the public on March 3 and runs until July 3, 2011. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images). LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 01

Actress Julia Rose and American professional boxer Jake Paul leave little to imagination while frolicking in waterfall pool on Hawaii holiday in the last decade of November 2022. The couple are currently enjoying a mini-break in the US following Paul's win over Anderson Silva at the end of last month. (Photo by Instagram)