Cadets prepare to take part in a full dress rehearsal for the upcoming Republic Day parade, in Chennai on January 24, 2024. (Photo by R. Satish Babu/AFP Photo)

Meanwhile, over on Portobello beach, members of the Upsala circus take a stroll before their fringe debut, Ping-Pong Ball Effect in Edinburgh, England on August 1, 2017. (Photo by Murdo Macleod/The Guardian)

With its huge eyes, comical name and diminutive size, Mark R. Smith’s image of a baby Hawaiian bobtail squid can’t help but raise a smile. A curiously endearing creature, the cephalopod is just 1.5cm across, its mantle cavity bearing more than a passing resemblance to a rather natty shower cap. But it is also a beautiful example of symbiosis – nature’s version of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” – for on the underside of the squid is a light organ which houses bioluminescent bacteria. The squid offers the bacteria protection and food, while the bacteria emit a glow – a handy trait that the squid uses to offset its silhouette, helping it to evade predators in the depths below. Mark R. Smith’s entry combines several images of a Hawaiian bobtail squid with different focus lengths to create a final picture with greater depth of field than normal. (Photo by Mark R. Smith/Wellcome Images/Macroscopic Solutions)

During a break from the rain of Storm Aileen, the leaves of the Virginia creeper begin to take on their Autumn colour at the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont tea room on the banks of the River Conwy at Llanrwst in north Wales on September 13, 2017 in Llandudno, Wales. The cottage named Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) was built in 1480 and has become a magnet for phtographers and tourists from across the world during Autumn. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

(Top L-R) Playboy Playmates Anna Sophia Berglund, Kayla Rae Reid, Dominique Jane, Heather Rae Young, Alexandra Tyler, Val Keil, (bottom L-R) Audrey Aleen Allen, Ashley Doris, Hiromi Oshima, and Shanice Jordyn attend the Playboy Midsummer Night's Dream party at the Marquee Nightclub at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on August 27, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images for Playboy Enterprises)

A weeping South Vietnamese mother and her three children are shown on the deck of this amphibious command ship being plucked out of Saigon by U.S. Marine helicopters in Vietnam, April 29, 1975. (Photo by AP Photo)

Al-Shamiyah Front fighters inspect a new locally-made cannon named “Borkan” (Volcano) as it was being launched towards forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad located in Aleppo artillery school, March 7, 2015. The “Borkan” is made out of four tubes attached to a loader, which can fire four shells at a time, and have a range of three kilometers (1.86 miles). (Photo by Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters)

Iraqi forces launch a rocket in Mosul's eastern Al-Intisar neighbourhood on December 30, 2016, during an ongoing military operation against Islamic State (IS) group jihadists. Iraqi forces advanced on December 29 after declaring a new phase in their offensive on eastern Mosul, stepping up efforts to reclaim the Islamic State group's last major stronghold in the country. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)