A gallery assistant poses for a photograph with an artwork entitled “John Perreault, 1972” by US artist Alice Neel during a press preview of “Alice Neel: Hot Off The Griddle” at the Barbican Art Gallery in London on February 15, 2023. (Photo by Justin Tallis/AFP Photo)

Giant 65-foot-long Hot dog artwork by Brooklyn-based artist duo Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw stands on the middle of Times Square in New York City, NY, USA on April 30, 2024. (Photo by Guerin Charles/ABACA Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Tourists fly in hot air balloons over the west bank of the Nile River on January 9, 2025 in Luxor, Egypt. Luxor, which contains the historical city of Thebes, capital of ancient Egypt's pharaohs at the height of their power, is full of pharaonic monuments and other antiquities. (Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)

Swimmers in the Sky Pool, a transparent swimming pool suspended 35 meters above ground between two apartment buildings, during hot weather in Nine Elms, central London on Monday, August 12, 2024. (Photo by James Manning/PA Images via Getty Images)

“The Dragon and The Hopper”. Eyrean earless dragon (Tympanocryptis tetraporophora) standing tall on a very hot rock in western Queensland. For a short time it was joined by a hopper, who jumped off before becoming lunch. (Photo by Harrison Warne/Nature Conservancy Australia 2021 Photo Contest)

A woman runs through the early morning mist on Hampstead Heath on September 30, 2011 in London, England. Much of the UK is enjoying a spell of unseasonably hot weather which is expected to last into next week. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

American artists have drawn criticism after making stunning, intricate sculptures by pouring hot liquid aluminium into anthills.

Travel photographer Amos Chapple recently crossed into Turkmenistan on a three-day transit visa and was able to photograph many of the sights and monuments in Ashgabat, the capital and largest city. Turkmenistan is a single-party country, a former Soviet state, run by a president at the center of a cult of personality.

Photo: A young couple leave the Alem Entertainment Center in Ashgabat. The current president has a history of breaking obscure records. In 2012 the wheel atop this complex was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest enclosed Ferris wheel. The structure was built at a cost of $90m. (Photo by Amos Chapple via The Atlantic)