Scaffolding holding a remnant of the Soviet Union, the hammer and sickle, is seen on a rooftop of an abandoned building in the town of Pripyat on January 25, 2006 near Chernobyl, Ukraine. The town of Pripyat, deserted since the 1986 catastrophe, once housed 30,000 people, the majority of being workers from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Days after the catastrophe the inhabitants were relocated to other locations in the Soviet Union. The town of Pripyat has remained uninhabited since. Prypyat and the surrounding area will not be safe for human habitation for several centuries. Scientists estimate that the most dangerous radioactive elements will take up to 900 years to decay sufficiently to render the area safe.

An injured vulture is treated at the VulPro Vulture Rehabilitation Centre in Hartebeepoortdam in the Magalisburg region on September 15, 2015. Confined to southern Africa, just under 4,000 breeding pairs of Cape Vultures remain in the wild, mostly in South Africa, Lesotho and Botswana. Unless conservation efforts are successful, Africa's largest vulture species may be facing eventual extinction. (Photo by Mujahid Safodien/AFP Photo)

An Exmoor wild goat silhouetted in the sky over the Bristol Channel at the valley of the Rocks, North Devon, as the UK's heat wave continues on July 19, 2018. (Photo by Paul Silver/South West News Service)

The tail of a stranded whale is pictured on the beach of De Haan, Belgium on October 25, 2018. (Photo by Francois Lenoi/Reuters)

A man selling bags of water is seen at a taxi parking bay lined with campaign posters in the district of Lingwala in Kinshasa on December 18, 2018. Democratic Republic of Congo goes to the polls on December 23, 2018 in elections which could see the country emerge from 17 years of conflict-ridden rule under controversial President Joseph Kabila. (Photo by John Wessels/AFP Photo)

A golden pheasant and squirrels are seen in Lushan County of Pingdingshan City, central China's Henan Province, November 14, 2017. (Photo by Liu Xianguo/Xinhua/Barcroft Images)

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)

An Iraqi military vehicle passes displaced Iraqi boys returning to their homes in West Mosul's Oreibi neighbourhood after government forces retook control of the area from the Islamic State (IS) group during the ongoing offensive against the jihadists on May 21, 2017. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)