An offering of a dried baby llama and fake U.S. burn in honor of Pachamama, or Mother Earth, during a New Year ritual on Turriturrini Mountain on the outskirts of Huarina, Bolivia, Friday, June 21, 2024. Aymara Indigenous communities are celebrating the Andean New Year 5,532 or “Willka Kuti” which translates to “Return of the sun” in Aymara. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

An artist carries a clay statue of Lord Vishwakarma to the market for sale before the Vishwakarma Puja festival in Nepal, Kathmandu on September 16, 2025. The festival, celebrated on September 17 this year, honors Lord Vishwakarma, regarded as the divine engineer and craftsman, and involves prayers for creativity, prosperity, and protection of tools and workplaces. (Photo by Safal Prakash Shrestha/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

The Dinagyang is a religious and cultural festival in Iloilo City, Philippines held on the fourth Sunday of January, or right after the Sinulog In Cebu and the Ati-Atihan in Aklan. It is held both to honor the Santo Niño and to celebrate the arrival on Panay of Malay settlers and the subsequent selling of the island to them by the Atis. wiki

The Tribute in Light is seen behind the Empire State Building on September 10, 2011 in New York City. The Tribute in Light is an art installation honoring those who perished in the 9/11 attacks. New York City and the nation are preparing for the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on lower Manhattan which resulted in the deaths of 2,753 people at the World Trade Center. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Realistic impressionist whose art, prints and posters express his love of nature and a man gifted with a rare talent. Having studied with some of the great Italian masters of fine art, he has developed a brilliant and commanding style. Born in Castelluccio, Italy, in 1954, Egidio Antonaccio graduated from the Institute of Fine Art in Castrovillari, Italy, in 1973. Then in 1978, he graduated with honors from the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy.

A Chinese tourist wears protective gloves as she holds a baby Siberian tiger as they pose for pictures at the Heilongjiang Siberian Tiger Park on August 16, 2017 in Harbin, northern China. The center is one of two Siberian tiger parks in the Chinese province of Heilongjiang, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the border with Russia. It is considered the world's largest for breeding the Siberian, or Amur, tiger which is listed as endangered by the World Wildlife Federation. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Most people know Nikon as a purveyor of pro and consumer-grade digital cameras. But the company's expertise with optics bleeds over into related markets – it's one of the science community's major suppliers of microscopes. And each year the company asks the community to send it some of their favorite images of tiny objects. A panel of scientists and journalists have chosen the best of this past year's submissions, which Nikon has placed on its Small World site.

Photo: Honorable Mention. “Snow crystal, illuminated with colored lights (5x)”. (Photo by Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Department of Physics, Pasadena, California, USA)

A Hindu devotee girl stands after getting her tongue pierced with a metal rod during the Thaipusam festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, February 3, 2015. Thaipusam, which is celebrated in honor of Hindu god Lord Murugan, is an annual procession by Hindu devotees seeking blessings, fulfilling vows and offering thanks. (Photo by Joshua Paul/AP Photo)