“When I was 8 years old, my parents paid a smuggler to take me across the Himalayas, a weekslong walk over the mountains from Tibet to India. It was a trek that tens of thousands of other Tibetans have taken since the Dalai Lama fled a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. My parents must have had their reasons to send me here; they must have had the best of intentions. But 18 years later, I still don't know why they did it. They are not political people. They are small farmers who raise barley and a few yak in a rural area not far from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. I have not seen them since I left...”. – Tsering Topgyal via The Associated Press. (Photo by Tsering Topgyal/AP Photo)

A pro-Russian armed man secures crash site wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane (flight MH17) at the site of the plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region November 16, 2014. Local emergency services have begun collecting parts of the wreckage from its crash site in the middle of the conflict zone, Dutch air accident investigators said on Sunday. Dutch inspectors had hoped to collect the parts themselves, following the downing of the flight on July 17 that killed 298 people, two thirds of them Dutch citizens. But they remain concerned about the safety of their staff in the rebel-held conflict zone, and so have decided to work with local services following an initial focus on finding human remains and belongings. (Photo by Antonio Bronic/Reuters)

Life reconstruction of the new oviraptorosaurian dinosaur species Anzu wyliei in its 66 million-year-old environment in western North America as seen in an undated handout illustration by Mark A. Klinger, Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Some 18,000 species, great and small, were discovered in 2014, adding to the 2 million already known, scientists said on May 21, 2015 as they released a “Top 10” list that highlights the diversity of life. Anzu wyliei, one of the top 10, dubbed “the chicken from hell”, is extinct. The feathered dinosaur whose partial skeletons were unearthed in the Dakotas was a contemporary of T. rex and Triceratops. (Photo by Mark A. Klingler/Reuters/Carnegie Museum of Natural History)

Trees grow through the windshield of a 1937 Chrysler Imperial as it sits at Old Car City, the world's largest known classic car junkyard Thursday, July 16, 2015, in White, Ga. Over 4,000 classic cars decorate 32 acres of forest which have been turned into a junkyard museum by owner Walter Dean Lewis. The two grew up playing in the cars on the lot which started as a general store selling auto parts in 1931 by Lewis' parents. Lewis stopped selling parts about six years ago when he realized he could sustain the business more as a museum, charging $15 for visitors just looking, and $25 for photographers. Many of the cars have never moved in over 30 years and in some cases, trees now grow through them, even lifting some off the ground. (Photo by David Goldman/AP Photo)

“Lofoten Glow”. I was desperately searching a good sunrise spot this particular morning. Normally Storvatnet Lake is completely covered in snow, so you can only imagine my surprise when I saw these crazy ice formations almost being shot out of the frozen lake. I put my crampons on and took a big risk walking out. I could hear the ice cracking underneath my feet, and when you’re all alone in a fjord/canyon like this – the cracks are echoed and sound really frightening. Was it worth it? I sure think so! Photo location: Storvatnet, Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway. (Photo and caption by Stian Klo/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Two Brothers”. We found about 20 lions eating a buffalo. When the male leaved the group we anticipated him to take photos. It is 8AM, light is perfect and the position too. The lion stops and looks down from the hill, another lion is coming up, it stiffens, I think that will be a fight, i'm tense, the camera is OK, the shots previously made perfect. The two meet, looking directly into their eyes, they sniff, rub against their heads, the tension drops, they start walking with the same step as when they were puppies, they are two brothers. Photo location: Masai Mara, Kenya. (Photo and caption by Massimo Mei/National Geographic Photo Contest)

An employe of Russian Space Training Center hangs out to dry space suits of Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, NASA's U.S. flight engineer Kathleen Rubins, and Japanese space agency's flight engineer Takuya Onishi, right, after their undergoing training near in Noginsk, 60 km (38 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, July 2, 2014. The training was intended to simulate the capsule landing on water. Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, Japanese space agency's flight engineer Takuya Onishi, and NASA's U.S. flight engineer Kathleen Rubins are being trained for a future mission to the International Space Station. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

Carriers of the Great God Power brotherhood unload Virgen del Carmen statue after its journey on July 15, 2014 at Puerto de la Cruz dock on the Canary island of Tenerife, Spain. Since 1921, the statue of the Virgen del Carmen, patron saint of fishermen, has been carried with great fanfare annually as part of July Festivities to the Puerto de la Cruz dock where, at the end of its procession, it is hoisted aboard a decorated boat. Weather permitting, the boat carrying the statue, accompanied by a flotilla of other boats, makes a short journey along the island coast before returning to the harbour. In recent years, attendance at the event has numbered more than 35,000 people. (Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)