Iraqi children play with a ball on a street blocked with burning tyres, amid a general strike in the southern city of Basra, on November 25, 2019. The demonstrations rocking the capital and Shiite-majority south since October 1 are the biggest grassroots movement the country has seen in decades. Sparked by outrage over rampant government corruption, poor services and lack of jobs, they have since gone straight to the source: calling out the ruling system as inherently flawed and in need of a total overhaul. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)

The abandoned 77-metre (250-feet) cargo ship MV Alta is pictured stuck on rocks near the village of Ballycotton south-east of Cork in Southern Ireland on February 18, 2020. A “ghost ship” drifting without a crew for more than a year washed ashore on Ireland's south coast in high seas caused by Storm Dennis, the Republic's coast guard said. (Photo by Cathal Noonan/AFP Photo)

This April 30, 2016 image made available by NOAA shows a deep sea anglerfish living between pillow basalt rock formations, during a deepwater exploration of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument area in the Pacific Ocean near Guam and Saipan. The ambush predator waits for prey to be attracted by its lure, located between its eyes, and gulps it with its large mouth. (Photo by NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research via AP Photo)

Scientists trekking for days to the undisputed furthest north land point on the planet, in October 2024 were greeted by an unexpected welcoming party: a stoat, whom they named Randall. The team were heading to Kaffeklubben Island, also known as Inuit Qeqertaat, off the northern tip of Greenland, about 440 miles from the North Pole, when Randall emerged from a cairn of rocks, showing no fear as he went to investigate them. (Photo by Jeff Kerby/Magnus News)

The calm before storm Bert, with the sunrise on November 22, 2024 through Durdle Door in Dorset, UK, the sun beams through the famous rock arch on the Jurassic Coastline, a shot known as “Through the Keyhole”. It only happens from the end of November to early January and not that often as clear skies are needed on the horizon for the sun to shine through. (Photo by Steve Hogan/Picture Exclusive)

Two paddle boarders stop to watch the sunrise on a stormy morning in Sanibel, Fla., Thursday, August 15, 2019. (Photo by J. David Ake/AP Photo)

The cruise ship Costa Concordia lies stricken off the shore of the island of Giglio, on January 17, 2012 in Giglio Porto, Italy. More than four thousand people were on board when the ship hit a rock off the Tuscan coast. At least 11 people have been confirmed dead and another 24 missing. (Photo by Laura Lezza/Getty Images)

California-based glass artist Loren Stump specializes in a form of glasswork called murrine, where rods of glass are melted together and then sliced to reveal elaborate patterns and forms. While the murrina process appeared in the Mideast some 4,000 years ago, Stump has perfected his own technique over the past 35 years to the point where he can now layer entire portraits and paintings in glass before slicing them to see the final results. His most complex piece to date is a detailed interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks, which involved hundreds of glass components that were melted into a final piece.