Israeli designer HIlla Shamia has found a way to mix “oil and water” or aluminum and wood – two materials I’ve never seen fused together. The product designer has created a novel way to meld both poured aluminum with irregular wood chunks to create modern tables and benches with a warm industrial feel. Old world and new world in one.

The pugs dressed in Parka jackets in Sonoma County, California. (Photo by Phillip Lauer/Barcroft Media)

Giant panda Ji Lan enjoys an iced birthday cake at Nanning Zoo on June 27, 2022 in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China. Giant panda Ji Lan and her brother Ji Mei celebrated their sixth birthday on Monday in Nanning. (Photo by Yu Jing/China News Service via Getty Images)

Senior Buddhist monk Lobsang Tayang sits outside the Amarbayasgalant Monastery in the Baruunburen district, Selenge province, Mongolia, April 26, 2018. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

In this April 16, 2019 photo, people wait to be given empty water containers and water purification pills during the first aid shipment from the Red Cross in Caracas, Venezuela. In late March, the Red Cross federation announced it would soon begin delivering assistance to an estimated 650,000 people and vowed that it would not accept interference from either side of the polarized country. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

Andrew Parkinson, animal behaviour category winner: Crepuscular Contentment, Derbyshire. “In 15 years of working with badgers I’ve never seen a badger sit out in the open to have a scratch. I was sat concealed behind a tree and downwind so it was especially nice that the badger had his back to me, demonstrating just how inconspicuous and inconsequential my presence was”. (Photo by Andrew Parkinson/British Wildlife Photography Awards 2017)

The Forth Bridge is engulfed by mist on one of the coldest days of the year, on December 12, 2022, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Ken Jack/Getty Images)

Some are in it just for the money, others to help buy a meal. Then there are those who trade for fun or to spend time among friends. Millions of investors – pensioners, security guards, high-school students – dominate China's stock markets, conducting about 80 percent of all trades. Retirees gather in brokerage houses dotted around China also to enjoy some company and savour the air conditioning on hot days. Some start as young as 13, trading from home with an eye on future careers in finance. Winning isn't guaranteed. This year, among the most turbulent in China's financial history, its stock markets more than doubled in the six months to May, only to crash amid concerns that growth in the country, which makes everything from cars to steel, is slowing faster than previously thought. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)