“The titan arum or Amorphophallus titanum (from Ancient Greek amorphos, “without form, misshapen” + phallos, “phallus”, and titan, “giant”) is a flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. The titan arum's inflorescence is not as large as that of the Talipot palm, Corypha umbraculifera, but the inflorescence of the Talipot palm is branched rather than unbranched”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Kew Gardens employee Lauren Bird Royal examines the flowering of the Titan Arum lily at the Botanical Gardens at Kew on September 30, 2005 in London, England. For the first time in horticultural history, the Titan Arum lily can be seen at all three active stages in its lifecycle – in flower, fruit and leaf.The flowering corm is nearly three metres tall and weighs 91kg and is very rarely seen outside of the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Ahead of May Day, AFP' s video and photo teams spoke to men and women around the globe whose jobs are becoming increasingly rare, particularly as technology transforms societies. Here: Mohammad Ashgar, 65, an Indian rickshaw puller, poses for a photograph next to his rickshaw in Kolkata on April 21, 2018. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP Photo)

“A small British company with a dream of building a re-usable space plane has won an important endorsement from the European Space Agency (ESA) after completing key tests on its novel engine technology. Reaction Engines Ltd believes its Sabre engine, which would operate like a jet engine in the atmosphere and a rocket in space, could displace rockets for space access and transform air travel by bringing any destination on Earth to no more than four hours away”. – Chris Wickham via Reuters. Photo: Artist's impression of Skylon. (Photo by Reaction Engines Ltd)

“You wouldn’t normally associate power stations with beautiful scenic shots but one photographer has traveled nearly 2000 to track down the ugliest energy plants and show them in a whole new light. Czech snapper, Radek Kalhous, uses Google Earth to find the perfect locations for his unique pictures and arrives at each site after sunset to create the atmospheric shots”. – Caters News. Photo: Nuclear power station Temelin, Czech Republic. (Photo by Radek Kalhous/Caters News)

This series of pictures shot by satellite, show the man-made world as astronauts see it. Artist Benjamin Grant uses Google Earth to find the most compelling satellite images of human civilization. The stunning pictures of sprawling metropolises and vast reservoirs are sometimes unidentifiable until zoomed in. In order to find an extraordinary picture in the practically endless supply of satellite data, Benjamin focuses on the themes of current events or environmental issues. Here: Industrial Sector, Tokai, Japan. (Photo by Benjamin Grant/Digital Globe/Caters News)

Underwater photographer Alexander Semenovs has snapped some of the most stunning, fragile life forms anywhere on planet Earth. Shot in deep, dark conditions, the images continue to provide an insight into what lies beneath, with glowing creatures appearing a lot like aliens in the pitch-black water. Semenovs has shot the likes of bioluminescent jellyfish, aggressive-looking worms and many species that leave a lot to the imagination. The 30-year-old from Moscow does the majority of his work in the White Sea, near the Arctic Circle. Here: A Comb jelly – Beroe cucumis. (Photo by Alexander Semenovs/Caters News)

“Felix Baumgartner (born 20 April 1969 in Salzburg, Austria) is a skydiver and a BASE jumper. He is renowned for the particularly dangerous nature of the stunts he has performed during his career. Baumgartner spent time in the Austrian military where he practiced parachute jumping, including training to land on small target zones”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austria is seen before his jump during the first manned test flight for Red Bull Stratos on March 15, 2012 in Roswell, New Mexico. In this test he reach the altitude 21800 meters (71500 ft) and landed safely near Roswell. Red Bull Stratos is a mission to the edge of the earths atmosphere, where upon reaching altitude of 120,000 feet by helium baloon, pilot and basejumper Felix Baumgartner will then freefall to the ground in an attempt to break the speed of sound. (Photo by Jay Nemeth/Red Bull via Getty Images)

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn's north pole. In high-resolution pictures and video, scientists see the hurricane's eye is about 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) wide, 20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth. Thin, bright clouds at the outer edge of the hurricane are traveling 330 mph(150 meters per second). The hurricane swirls inside a large, mysterious, six-sided weather pattern known as the hexagon. Photo: The spinning vortex of Saturn's north polar storm resembles a deep red rose of giant proportions surrounded by green foliage in this false-color image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI)