Construction workers walk past a mural in Phnom Penh on September 6, 2022. (Photo by Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP Photo)

Primary school students write Chinese character “Ren”, meaning “human being”, during the First Writing Ceremony, a traditional education activity, on September 6, 2023 in Qingdao, Shandong Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

Locals light firecrackers on the occasion of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in Chennai, India on November 12, 2023. (Photo by Idrees Mohammed/EPA/EFE)

Winton Elementary fifth graders Juliana Ragan, from left, Chloe Windsor and Paisley Ganske wait backstage for their turn to perform as the Andrew Sisters during the Pearl Harbor/Veterans assembly at the school on Monday, December 7, 2015, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Dec. 7 is the 74th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. (Photo by Kathy Plonka/The Spokesman-Review via AP Photo)

A hot air balloon in the likeness of Yoda from Star Wars prepares for liftoff at the 21st Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Festival at the former Clark US Air Force base in Pampanga Province, Philippines on February 9, 2017. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Ranger trainees and trainee dogs simulate an ambush against rhino poachers at the Paramount Group Anti-Poaching training and K9 (canine) academy on November 26, 2014 in Magaliesberg, South Africa. One of the largest of its kind in Africa, the Academy will address the ever increasing need for training of Conservation Officers in anti poaching activities, wildlife contraband detection, specialist K9 solutions and Ranger K9 handler training – all of which have proven success rates in combatting and apprehending poachers and their activities. (Photo by Gianluigi Guercia/AFP Photo)

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)

Beautiful seascapes capture the “raw power” of waves rising and crashing in the Indian Ocean. The stunning photos were taken off the coast of Durban in South Africa, and show formations from above and below the surface. Surfer and photographer Marck Botha took the images between April and July, and has always had a passion for the ocean. Here: Marck captured this moment in time from the shore on July, 30, 2015, in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by Marck Botha/Barcroft Media)