Underwater photographer of the year – winner. Dancing Octopus by Gabriel Barathieu (France). Location: Island of Mayotte, off the coast of south-east Africa. “Balletic and malevolent”, one judge said of this octopus, hunting in a lagoon. Barathieu waited until spring tides when there was just 30cm of water on the flats and plenty of light in the shallows. (Photo by Gabriel Barathieu/UPY2017)

“Elat’ma, the Ryazan Oblast region of Russia. This small town is only 300 kilometers (186 miles) from modern Moscow but remains 60 years in the past, dominated by the spirit of socialism. The air of the communist ‘50s can be seen in the town’s architecture, celebrations and other occurrences. But neither its beauty nor its ties to a socialist past brought photographer Anastasia Rudenko to this village. Elat’ma is unique in that it functions as a town for mentally disabled people”. – Michelle Cohan via CNN. (Photo by Anastasia Rudenko)

“The scientists behind NASA's $2.5 billion Curiosity rover mission on Mars on Tuesday explained the nature of a tiny, gleaming "flower" embedded in Red Planet rock, and revealed where they'll be using the SUV-sized robot's drill for the first time”. – Alan Boyle via NBCNews.com

Photo: Scientists say that a “Martian flower”, seen here in an image from the Curiosity rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager, is a 2-millimeter-wide grain or pebble that's embedded in the surrounding rock. Another, darker-colored mineral grain can be seen above and to the left. (Photo by NASA)

In this photo taken on July 19, 2014, a man looks at an excavation as an A.R.M.H., Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory, volunteer digs on the search for the body of Perfecto de Dios, in a hidden grave in Chaherrero, Spain. Across Spain, volunteer teams of archeologists, anthropologists and forensic scientists head out every year on expeditions to dig for suspected mass graves – a legacy of Spain's fascist past during the time of General Francisco Franco. (Photo by Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP Photo)

In this undated photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un tries a weapon during his three-day inspection from Aug. 3 until August 5, 2023 at major munitions factories in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Photo by Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Photo)

This artist's rendering illustrates the evaporation of HD 189733b's atmosphere in response to a powerful eruption from its host star. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope detected the escaping gases and NASA's Swift satellite caught the stellar flare. (Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)

“Daredevil Nik Wallenda became the first person to walk on a tightrope across the Niagara Falls, taking steady, measured steps June 15, 2012 for 1,800 feet across the mist-fogged brink of the roaring falls separating the U.S. and Canada”. (Photo by John Moore/David Duprey/AP Photo)

Chinese archaeologists announced the discovery of 110 life-sized terracotta warriors, guarding the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor.

Photo: Archaeologists work on a terracotta warrior in the third excavation of pit one at the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum in Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi province Saturday, June 9, 2012. (Photo by AP)