Soap Bubble Structures by Kym Cox. Bubbles optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This phenomenon makes them a useful tool in many areas of research, in particular, materials science and “packing” – how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom, which interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst. (Photo by Kym Cox/2019 Science Photographer of the Year/RPS)

Winner. “I took this vertical image in the Quarry Bay district of Hong Kong during the dusk ‘blue hour’, when there was a perfect balance between the ambient light in the sky and the artificial lights of the high-rise residential buildings”. (Photo by Jatinder Heer/The Guardian)

Super-cell thunderstorms, whirling tornados and lightning bolts illuminating the sky – these photos capture the terrifying brilliance of American storms. (Photo by Brandon Goforth/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Artist Jeff Koons sculpture Balloon Monkey (Magenta), 2006-13, with an estimate of £6,000,000-10,000,000 on display in St James's Square, London, before being sold by Christie's to raise funds for humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Picture date: Tuesday June 14, 2022. (Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)

People look at a skeleton couple kissing installation dubbed “Till Death Do Us Part” during a Valentine's Day event in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, February 13, 2024. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

The Last Bell (we mean the bell that informs the pupils about the beginning or the ending of the lessons) is the traditional feast of the Russian pupils who leave the school. The Last School Bell feast occurs in the end of May, when the school year has already finished, but the final examinations have not begun yet. (Read more...)

A three-seater Toyota Kikai concept car is displayed during the 2016 CES trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada January 8, 2016. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Reuters)