These images of abandoned hospitals across Italy are not for the faint-hearted. Both of the hospitals featured in the photographs are Italian asylums – known as manicomios – that were used as mental hospitals. Shut down by law in 1978, the derelict buildings are visibly overgrown and make for very eerie portraits. Photographer Thomas Windisch, 32, of Graz, Austria, said the asylums, located in top-secret spots, can get very creepy when there aren't many people there with him. Here: a hallway within an abandoned hospital. (Photo by Thomas Windisch/Caters News)

Some of the most powerful narratives of the past decade have been produced by a forward-thinking generation of women photojournalists as different as the places and the subjects they have covered. National Geographic's “Women of Vision” exhibit features the work of 11 photographers and is on display at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta until January 3, 2016. Here: Nujood Ali stunned the world in 2008 by obtaining a divorce at age 10 in Yemen, striking a blow against forced marriage. (Photo by Stephanie Sinclair/National Geographic)

American rappers Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B perform onstage during the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards at Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California and broadcast on March 14, 2021. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

Bikini Contest in Daytona Beach, Florida’s Atlantic coast, circa 1980s. (Photo by Evan Hurd/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)

People make their way on an algae-covered beach in Qingdao, Shandong province, China, July 19, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Australia's Jessica Lim competes in the women's nangun final during the 13th World Wushu Championship 2015 at Istora Senayan stadium in Jakarta, November 17, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Beawiharta)

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)

US actress, model and transgender activist Leyna Bloom poses during a photocall for the film “Port Authority” at the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 19, 2019. (Photo by Stephane Mahe/Reuters)