Merit: A Night at Deadvlei. The night before returning to Windhoek, we spent several hours at Deadveli. The moon was bright enough to illuminate the sand dunes in the distance, but the skies were still dark enough to clearly see the milky way and magellanic clouds. Deadveli means “dead marsh. The camelthorn trees are believed to be about 900 years old, but have not decomposed because the environment is so dry. (Photo and caption by Beth McCarley/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

Pop singer and composer Shakira performs during her “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran”, or Women Don't Cry Anymore, world tour at the Metropolitano stadium in her hometown of Barranquilla, Colombia, Thursday, February 20, 2025. (Photo by Fernando Vergara/AP 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)

Two brown bears bathe in their enclosure at the Wildpark Poing in Poing, Germany, Wednesday, August 8, 2018. (Photo by Lino Mirgeler/Deutsche Presse-Agentur via AP Photo)

Shooting star by Tony Wu, US/Japan. Winner, underwater. The electrifying reproductive dance of a giant sea star. As the surrounding water filled with sperm and eggs from spawning sea stars, Wu faced several challenges. Stuck in a small, enclosed bay with only a macro lens for photographing small subjects, he backed up to squeeze the undulating sea star into his field of view. The dancing posture of spawning sea stars rising and swaying may help release eggs and sperm, or may help sweep the eggs and sperm into the currents where they fertilise together in the water. Kinko Bay, Japan. (Photo by Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States skate during the Ice Dance, Free Dance program of the 2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 29, 2025. (Photo by Geoff Robins/AFP Photo)

Participants compete in the Mud Day Race extreme run competition at El Goloso military base, outside Madrid, Spain, June 11, 2016. Thousands of athletes got covered in mud as they celebrated International Mud Day running a 13-kilometer obstacle course on a sunny Saturday with heatwave-like temperatures up to a 29 degrees Celcius (around 84 degrees Fahrenheit). (Photo by Juan Medina/Reuters)

A fellow officer comes to the aid of injured patrolman C.V. Satt, who was pelted with rocks and beer bottles during a clash between police and relief demonstrators in Denver September 23, 1935. (Photo by Henry G. Eisenhand/AP Photo)