“Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914, Larvik, Norway – April 18, 2002, Colla Micheri, Italy) was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a background in zoology and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed 8,000 km (4,300 miles) by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands. All his expeditions are shown in the Kon-Tiki Museum, Oslo”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl with a model of the balsa raft “Kon-Tiki” on which he drifted 4,300 miles from Peru to the Tuamotu Islands, proving his theory that Polynesia could originally have been populated by South Americans. (Photo by Express/Express/Getty Images). 1950

“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)

This year's Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention both saw passionate delegates in outrageous costumes – but that's where the similarities mostly end. Reuters photographer Jim Young gives a look at what it's like to be on the convention floor and talks to the delegates who make the conventions memorable. (Photo by Jim Young/Reuters)

These stunning images look to highlight the amazing natural beauty that can be found across the United States. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) recently released their Best of 2015 list, featuring a variety of animals, weather conditions and landmarks. Included in the list are gleaming auroras, adorable groups of otters and owls, and breath-taking shots across the likes of the Grand Canyon and national parks. Each of the spectacular shots, all of which were taken during 2015, featured on the Department of the Interiors Instagram account throughout the year, taken by both members of staff and members of the public. Here: Arches, National Park. (Photo by Caters News)

Associated Press photographer Wong Maye-E tries to get her North Korean subjects to open up as much as is possible in an authoritarian country with no tolerance for dissent and great distrust of foreigners. She has taken dozens of portraits of North Koreans over the past three years, often after breaking the ice by taking photos with an instant camera and sharing them. Her question for everyone she photographs: What is your motto? Their answers reflect both their varied lives and the government that looms incessantly over all of them. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)

Brazilian navy soldiers watch a woman as they patrol the area at the Copacabana Beach before carnival festivities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil February 14, 2017. (Photo by Sergio Moraes/Reuters)

Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best.

epaselect epa05234254 A model presents a creation from the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology Emerging Design Collection at the “BIFT ELLASSAY” Scholarship Awarding Ceremony during the Mercedes-Benz China Fashion Week at the Beijing Hotel, in Beijing, China, 29 March 2016. (Photo by Wu Hong/EPA)