This handout photo taken and released on August 1, 2025 by Indonesia's Geological Agency shows Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki spewing lava and volcanic ash up to approximately 10 kilometres high during its eruption as observed from the monitoring post in East Flores, in East Nusa Tenggara province. A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted on August 1, belching an ash tower 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) into the sky, the country's volcanology agency said, weeks after another huge eruption triggered dozens of flight cancellations to and from Bali. (Photo by Indonesia's Geological Agency/AFP Photo)

Children dressed in festival costume sit on the huge paper doll of historical Japanese figure named Hashi-Benkeii on the carts during the Mikuini annual festival on May 20, 2014 in Sakai, Japan. The annual festival takes place from May 19-21 and is attended by thousands of visitors. During the festival people dressed in traditional Japanese costumes pull carts carrying 6 meter high dolls of Japanese historical figures through the narrow streets. The origins of the festival are unclear but its history can be traced back more than 250 years. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)

From Britain to China to Mali, new maps showing travel times to the nearest urban centre reveal huge differences between countries. Using Open Street Map and Google, a University of Oxford team have created a visual breakdown that suggests major inequalities when it comes to commuting. Here: China. The dataset used for China was unique as it relied solely on Open Street Map, due to restrictions on accessing Google data. The population is densely concentrated in the east and accessibility is increased, whereas rural provinces in the west remain remote. (Photo by Daniel Weiss/Jennifer Rozier/Malaria Atlas Project/University of Oxford)

Wang Zeyu, 4, a fee-paying enthusiast of kung fu, practises during a training class at a kung fu school near the Shaolin Temple April 10, 2005 in Dengfeng, Henan Province, China. Zeyu's father sent him to the school from his home in Jiangsu Province, thousands kilometres away from Dengfeng, when he was just 3 years old. And his father must pay 9,800 yuan (US$1195) for one year's tuition at the school, a huge amount for most Chinese. There are more than 80 kung fu schools that line the road from the city of Dengfeng to the Shaolin Temple with hundreds and thousands of young kung-fu lovers from all over the country and beyond studying here. All the schools use the Shaolin name to attract students as the Shaolin Temple is the birthplace of Chinese Kung Fu. (Photo by Cancan Chu/Getty Images)

It is amazing how much the humanity can change the face of the earth. Not only can it create huge craters, which look a lot like craters from meteors, they leave a big enough impact that it can be seen from space. Though this crater, caused by a massive explosion on 1 July 1916, looks large, being 90 feet deep and 300 feet across; it is nowhere big enough to be viewed for space. A common misconception is that the Great Wall of China can be seen from space. In reality, however, it is impossible. Not only is it of the same color as the earth near it, it is also not that wide. Deforestation, on the other hand, can be clearly seen from space. Also, at night, all the lights that the large cities produce are also very visible.

Undated handout photo of Buckbeak, a Hippogriff that lived with Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter series, has his feathers preened and replenished by featherologist Val Jones, as he will feature in the the Feathers and Flight event at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London. This is the first make-over Buckbeak has received since the hugely popular Harry Potter film series was made. His intricate coat is created from thousands of individually airbrushed chicken and goose feathers that Val will carefully clean and replenish in time for the start of Feathers and Flight. Val will lead an expert team to demonstrate the techniques that made winged wonders such as Buckbeak and Fawkes the Phoenix a reality on screen. (Photo by Tim Anderson/PA Wire)

In this Thursday, January 17, 2019, photo, an Indian tamer reacts as a bull charges towards him during a traditional bull-taming festival called Jallikattu, in the village of Allanganallur, near Madurai, Tamil Nadu state, India. Jallikattu involves releasing a bull into a crowd of people who are expected to hang on to the animal's hump for a stipulated distance or hold on to the hump for a minimum of three jumps made by the bull. The sport, performed during the four-day “Pongal” or winter harvest festival, is hugely popular in Tamil Nadu. (Photo by Aijaz Rahi/AP Photo)

Mount Cumbre Vieja erupts spewing a column of smoke and ash as seen from Los Llanos de Aridane on the Canary island of La Palma on September 19, 2021. The Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on Spain's Canary Islands today spewing out lava, ash and a huge column of smoke after days of increased seismic activity, sparking evacuations of people living nearby, authorities said. Cumbre Vieja straddles a ridge in the south of La Palma island and has erupted twice in the 20th century, first in 1949 then again in 1971. (Photo by Desiree Martin/AFP Photo)