A woman runs through a sea foam, as a seasonal cold front moved over the Cape Peninsula, following a week of severe weather and flooding in Cape Town, South Africa on June 19, 2023. (Photo by Nic Bothma/Reuters)

Robert Springett, the Bishop of Tewkesbury, immerses Laura Raymond in cold water for her baptism in a paddling pool during the heatwave at St James Church in Quedgeley, Gloucestershire, UK on June 22, 2025. (Photo by Paul Nicholls Photography)

Leopard seal chasing a Gentoo penguin in Antarctica. This image wins the gold prize in the behaviour – mammals category, and the grand prize of World Nature Photographer of the Year. (Photo by Amos Nachoum/World Nature Photography Awards)

Water vapour cascades down the Gold Buddha Mountain after a rainfall, drawing large crowds of visitors, on May 13, 2024 in Chongqing, China. (Photo by Qu Mingbin/VCG via Getty Images)

Gold medallists of China perform Synchronised Swimming Free Combination routine at the Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Center during the 17th Asian Games in Incheon September 23, 2014. (Photo by Tim Wimborne/Reuters)

A man poses for a picture to show his rings of gold, silver and bronze on his fist in Zamfara, Nigeria April 21, 2016. (Photo by Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

Models of Cold War-era Allied (L) and Soviet Bloc weaponry face one another at the new Bundeswehr Military History Museum (Militaerhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr, or MHM) on October 11, 2011 in Dresden, Germany. The museum, redesigned by star architect Daniel Libeskind, traces Germany military history from 1300 to the present, including during the Nazi period and the Cold War, and also examines the influence of the military on popular culture. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

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)