Fabrice Monteiro travelled to the most polluted places in Africa and created terrifying characters who roamed their midst dressed in eerie debris. They are spirits, he says, on a mission to make humans change their ways. Informed by Africa’s environmental problems, Fabrice Monteiro’s photographs aim to highlight urgent ecological issues all over the world. His series “The Prophecy” is on show at Photo Basel 2017 until 18 June. (Photo by Fabrice Monteiro/Photo Basel 2017/Mariane Ibrahim Gallery/The Guardian)

Four hundred buyers from around the world join 260 diamond manufacturing and trading firms on International Diamond Week as some 1,500 people are expected to trade more than billion of polished diamonds this week in Ramat Gan, Israel on February 16, 2016. The Israel Diamond Exchange is considered the most secure in the world, covering an area of 100,000 square meters with 3,500 bourse members. (Photo by Nir Alon via ZUMA Wire)

During a jungle survival program February 20, 2013 taught by Royal Thai Special Forces in Sannapit, Thailand, U.S. Marines learned to catch cobras and drink their fresh blood, not to mention eat forest insects and pull the heads off of chicken. The training was part of Operation Cobra Gold 13, the 32nd edition of international military exercises hosted by the Thai. According to a U.S. Marines press release, Cobra Gold is the largest exercise of its kind in Asia and incorporates troops from five other nations in addition to the U.S. and Thailand. The Daily Mail reports that the Marines were invited to experience the local custom of drinking cobra blood after being taught to catch and kill cobras in the wild. As CNN notes, Cobra blood is believed to be a panacea and aphrodiasic in parts of Southeast Asia. In Jakarta, vendors can earn over $100 a night selling shots of cobra blood mixed with liquor. (Photo by Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP Photo)

“DC3 Wreck”. A capture of a US military DC3 plane wreck at the southern black beach in Iceland. Photo location: Iceland. (Photo and caption by Naian Feng/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Handout grab taken from YouTube of Commander Chris Hadfield who has said goodbye to life on the International Space Station by making a cover version of David Bowie's Space Oddity. Issue date: Monday May 13, 2013. (Photo by Commander Chris Hadfield/YouTube/PA Wire)

Erik Ravelo goes straight for the jugular in his series, Los Intocables (The Untouchables). Depicting children in one the most vulnerable poses of all time, Ravelo attempts to speak for those who cannot properly articulate their pain. The sick, twisted games that adults play can come at a cost to future generations and Ravelo’s series gives a voice to those children who get caught in the crossfire.

“Diver in Magic Kingdom”. Green Lake (Grüner See) is located Tragöss Austria. In spring snowmelt raises the lake level about 10 meters. This phenomenon, which lasts only a few weeks covering the hiking trails, meadows, trees. The result is magical to watch diving landscapes. Photo location: Grüner See at Tragöss, Austria. (Photo and caption by Marc Henauer/National Geographic Photo Contest)

In this November 28, 1966 file photo, one of the 10 beagles involved in the first test of the Veterans Administration Hospital in East Orange, N.J. smokes a cigarette through a machine linked to its windpipe by a plastic tube to test any link between smoking and emphysema. (Photo by AP Photo)