Indian Army Jawan (soldiers) of the “ASC Tornadoes” daredevil bike team perform during Independence Day celebrations in Bangalore, India, 15 August 2024. India celebrated its 78th Independence Day on 15 August. (Photo by Jagadeesh N.V./EPA)

A woman looks at The Empire State Building and the New York Skyline during a preview of SUMMIT One Vanderbilt observation deck, which is spread across the top four floors of the new One Vanderbilt tower in Midtown Manhattan, in New York City, New York, U.S., October 18, 2021. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Diver Sven, still in disguise, cleans the aquarium glass after a Santa Claus visit to the fish at Sea Life Berlin on December 6, 2021. (Photo by Christoph Soeder/dpa)

An art wall painting representing performance artist Marina Abramovic by Italian artist Maurizio Cattellan to publicize his upcoming exhibition The Artist is Present, in Shanghai, China, is displayed on a facade of a building, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Photo by Luca Bruno/AP Photo)

A parakeets lands on a woman's head at St James' Park in London, United Kingdom on February 9, 2021. London has been experiencing snow as the Storm Darcy hits the city. (Photo by Brett Cove/SOPA Images/Sipa USA)

“In 1967, Zhang Yaxin was 34 and working as a photojournalist at China’s state-controlled Xinhua News Agency when he was assigned to a top-secret government project. He was to be the official photographer of a new arts program led by Chairman Mao and his wife – the Model Operas. Though he was not to know it then, Zhang would spend the next seven years documenting the evolution of one of the most dramatic and elaborate attempts to redefine artistic sensibilities in modern art history”. – Chengcheng Jiang via TIME. Photo: Raid on the White Tiger Regiment, 1971. (Photo by Zhang Yaxin/Courtesy See+ Gallery, Beijing)

The dapper beasts are the creation of Barcelona-based artist and photographer Yago Partal, 31, whose work has achieved a cult following online. In his latest project he has merged photographs and illustrations to create a set of quirky animal portraits. Photo: “Hare wearing a v-neck jumper and shirt”. (Photo by Yago Partal/Barcroft Media)

See also: Zoo Portraits By Yago Partal. Part 1

Beautiful, strange and occasionally alarming pictures from the shortlist for this year’s Wellcome image awards – which celebrate the very best in science photography and imaging – from an x-ray of a bat to a micrograph of a kidney stone. The exhibition opens on 12 March at three science centres and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Photo: Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of an Arabidopsis thaliana flower, also commonly known as thale cress. Some of the anthers are open, revealing pollen grains ready for dispersal. Arabidopsis was the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced and is widely used as a model organism in molecular and plant biology. Horizontal width of image is 1200 microns. Magnification 100x. (Photo by Stefan Eberhard/Wellcome Images)