This picture taken on October 20, 2016 shows students practising wushu at the Tagou martial arts school in Dengfeng. China is investing hugely in football training and has vowed to have 50 million school- age players by 2020, as the ruling Communist party eyes “football superpower” status by 2050. (Photo by Nicolas Asfouri/AFP Photo)

Is it a leaf? Is it tree bark? No, it’s the Satanic leaf-tailed gecko. Cleverly disguised as a rotting leaf, Madagascar’s camouflage king has red eyes, pointy horns and a taste for night hunting: it’s nature’s most devilish deceiver. The twisted body and veiny skin echo the detail of a dry leaf, which ensures the gecko blends in with its forest home. The mottled tail appears to have sections missing, as though it has withered over time. This mini-monster epitomises survival of the fittest, having adapted gradually to become today’s extraordinary leaf impersonator. (Photo by Thomas Marent/ARDEA)

In this Wednesday, July 23, 2014 file photo, Omaha photographer Lane Hickenbottom photographs the night sky in a pasture near Callaway, Neb. With no moon in the sky, the Milky Way was visible to the naked eye. More than one-third of the world’s population can no longer see the Milky Way because of man-made lights, according to a scientific paper by Light Pollution Science and Technology Institute's Fabio Falchi and his team members, published on Friday, June 10, 2016. (Photo by Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle via AP Photo)

The Milky Way rising above Durdle Door in Dorset, United Kingdom on Saturday night, March 18, 2023. The image consists of 19 two-minute exposures, ten of the foreground and nine of the sky which needed a motorised star tracker to ensure the Milky Way wasn't blurry. All the photos were merged together to reveal more detail than what the naked eye can see. (Photo by Nick Bull/Picture Exclusive)

The French graphic designer and photographer uses a method he calls “digital matte painting”, layering several photos on top of each other to create an incandescent composition that seems eerily familiar yet ultimately impossible. Filled with tumbling clouds and glowing focal points, the images possess a depth that stretches the two-dimensional canvases backward as violent skies seem to undulate before the viewers' eyes.

A 20-year-old Japanese macaque monkey named Monday scratches her eyes while suffering an allergy to pollen from the cedar tree at Awajishima Monkey Centre on March 17, 2013 in Sumoto, Japan. Many monkeys are suffering the effects of hay fever at this time of the year, with the typical symptoms being the same as with humans. According to Awajishima Monkey center this year hay fever is higher than last year, the pollen season is from February to April. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe)

These breathtaking images capture the hidden depths of one of the worlds largest caves, which is so big its home to a beach, a river and a jungle. At more than 130m high, and 150m across, the imposing cave is so big as high as the London Eye and wider than one-and-a-half football pitches. Here: The campers set up inside the cave on the beach. (Photo by Lars Krux/Caters News)

Sculptures entitled “The Rising Tide” by British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor are seen beside the River Thames in front of the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye ferris wheel in London, September 3, 2015. The representations of four horses and riders are fully visible at low tide but become immersed underwater twice a day as the Thames rises to reach full tide. The installation will be on display throughout September as part of the annual Totally Thames festival. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)