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)

Kiritimati is a far-flung outpost of the Republic of Kiribati. The world's largest coral atoll, Kiritimati has just one flight a week to either Fiji or Hawaii, four-and-a-half hours in either direction. Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati lies nearly 3,300 km (2,000 miles) to the west – about three weeks by boat. No lawyers are based on Kiritimati and the High Court only comes once or twice a year to clear a backlog of the most serious cases, bringing a public lawyer for defendants who can't afford their own. (Photo by Lincoln Feast/Reuters)

A moon light illuminates the sky through the clouds over a large line of grass between some home houses in the small village of Tafalla, northern Spain, Tuesday, May 1, 2018. (Photo by Alvaro Barrientos/AP Photo)

Iraqi teenagers swim in waste water from the nearby Tuweitha nuclear facility near Baghdad, Iraq on May 28, 2003. Iraqis are consuming contaminated water unaware of the dangerous pollutants that can cause severe ill health. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A long exposure image shows star trails from the abandoned submerged orthodox church of St. Nicholas without roof, submerged in the Mavrovo Lake, near Mavrovi Anovi, North Macedonia, 17 March 2019. Constructed in 1850 and submerged in 1952 due to the construction of the hydro system Mavrovo, the church St. Nicholas continues to attract the attention of almost every visitor as it peaks from the water. (Photo by Georgi Licovski/EPA/EFE)

The report, prepared by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Earth Institute at Columbia University, showed Syria, Afghanistan and eight sub-Saharan countries as the 10 least happy places on earth to live. The top 10 this year were Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, and Sweden. Denmark was in third place last year, behind Switzerland and Iceland. The bottom 10 were Madagascar, Tanzania, Liberia, Guinea, Rwanda, Benin, Afghanistan, Togo, Syria and Burundi. The United States came in at 13, the United Kingdom at 23, France at 32, and Italy at 50. Here: #8. NEW ZEALAND: A woman dives from a platform into a giant air bed at a park in Palmerston North September 29, 2011. (Photo by Marcos Brindicci/Reuters)

Lightning over Mow Cop Castle which is a folly at Mow Cop in the civil parish of Odd Rode, Cheshire, UK on August 13, 2020, as thunderstorms continue during the current heatwave. (Photo by Lee Scally/Bav Media)