Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)

When you think of the People's Liberation Army, you probably don't think of line dancing. But the Chinese military's latest online recruiting video makes a soldier's life look more fun than the macarena. The brief spot, posted last week on the website of the Ministry of National Defense and going viral, features tanks and fighter jets, as well as soldiers dancing in rows to a quirky hit tune by the Chopsticks Brothers called “Little Apple”. Its lyrics include, “You are my little dear little apple/I can never stop loving you”.

With the humpback calving season drawing to a close, here’s a look at some of Rita Kluge’s distinctive marine photos from the south Pacific. The Sydney-based photographer fell in love with whales after witnessing southern rights from the New South Wales coastline as they travelled to and from their feeding grounds in the Antarctic. She has since been to Tonga, where humpbacks breed and calf in winter months, to photograph them in the water. (Photo by Rita Kluge/The Guardian)

Images from my travels with John Paul Caponigro in the spring of 2011. During that week JP inspired me to create this body of work. This is my path, my pathways in arches.

If you are a big Batman fan with some extra frequent flier miles and cash to burn, you might want to consider staying in this amazing Batman themed hotel room! The bat cave themed hotel room goes for $50 per 3 hour stay. For that price, you not only get to stay in the coolest hotel room of all time, but you get lubrication, s*xy lingerie and other perks. Other than the price, the other downside is that you have to fly to Kaohsiung City in Taiwan to stay there. If I am ever in that part of the world, I will definitely be staying in that room, even if I am not a huge Batman fan.

“The Wii U is an upcoming home video game console by Nintendo, and the direct successor to the Wii. The system is expected to be released in 2012 and was unveiled during Nintendo's press conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 on June 7, 2011. The Wii U is the first Nintendo console to produce 1080p high-definition graphics, and features a new controller with an embedded touchscreen. The controller allows a player to continue a gaming session by displaying the game even when the television is off. The system will be fully backwards compatible with Wii, and Wii U games can support compatibility with Wii peripherals, such as the Wii Remote and Wii Balance Board”. – Wikipedia

Photo: The new Nintendo game console Wii U is displayed at the Nintendo booth during the Electronic Entertainment Expo on June 7, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. The Wii U will have HD graphics, a controller with a 6.2 inch touchscreen and be compatible with all other Wii accessories. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

A frog sits on a leaf and instead of seeing a reflection of itself in the water below, it sees a snail, attached to the bottom of the leaf, in a fish tank in Vietnam. (Photo by Duong Quoc Dinh/Solent Ne/SIPA Press)

The Cobra JoyRide car charger by Cobra Electronics is displayed during a press event at The Venetian for the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) January 8, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The JoyRide works with Android phones and can automatically trigger preset phone functions like enabling GPS or disabling Wi-Fi with the press of a single button. It will be available for USD 39 in the second quarter of 2012. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)