The official name for this tiny speck of land – the size of 12 football pitches – is Hashima, but few call it that. In English, its most commonly used name means “Battleship Island” and, viewed from a certain angle offshore, its silhouette is uncannily dreadnought in nature. It was a mining facility until 1974, when it was abandoned to the elements, before partially reopening as a tourist attraction in 2009. Photo: A decades-old television. (Photo by Mark C. O'Flaherty)

Growing cities, overuse of fertilizers and factory wastewater have degraded China's water supplies to the extent that half the nation's rivers and lakes are severely polluted. China aims to spend $850 billion to improve filthy water supplies over the next decade, but even such huge outlays may do little to reverse damage caused by decades of pollution and overuse in Beijing's push for rapid economic growth. Photo: Fishermen row a boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, June 19, 2009. (Photo by Jianan Yu/Reuters)

The knitted sculpture “William Tell” by Patricia Waller sits in the “Broken Heroes” exhibition at the Deschler Gallery on April 26, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. The exhibition of hand-crocheted comic, puppet and cartoon figures shows icons of pop culture in various unfortunate states. (Photo by Adam Berry)

This artist's scoreboard displays a fictional game between Mars and Earth, with Mars in the lead. It refers to the success rate of sending missions to Mars, both as orbiters and landers. Of the previous 39 missions targeted for Mars from around the world, 15 have been successes and 24 failures. For baseball fans, that's a batting average of .385. The United States has had 13 successes out of 18 attempts, or a “batting average” of .722. NASA's Curiosity rover, set to land on the Red Planet the evening of Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT), will mark the United States' 19th attempt to tackle the challenge of Mars, and the world's 40th attempt. (Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Juri Mitomi, 20, holds a cigarette after a Coming of Age Day celebration ceremony at an amusement park in Tokyo January 12, 2015. According to a government announcement, more than 1.2 million men and women who were born in 1994 marked the coming of age this year, an increase of approximately 50,000 from last year. The increase is also the first since 1995. (Photo by Yuya Shino/Reuters)

Dark clouds bearing down on the city on April 17, 2011 in Foshan, Guangdong Province of China. According to flood control authorities on Monday, gales as strong as 45.5 meters per second, accompanied by hailstorm, cloudburst and strong wind battered cities including Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhaoqing and Dongguan of south China's Guangdong Province on Sunday, has killed at least 17 people and injured 118. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)

Judy, a black collie whose owner was killed by a train when trying to retrieve her after she slipped her lead. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images). 17th December 1976