Chocolate is the greatest gift the Earth has given us. The dessert table would be a sad sight without it. It’s so beloved, so appreciated, that the Swedish scientist who named the cocoa plant that gives us chocolate called it Theobroma cacao, which means “food of the gods”. Here: Farmer holding a freshly cut cocoa bean pod, revealing the pulp and seed inside on a rainforest farm. (Photo by Doug McKinlay/Getty Images)

Sandrine Kerfante has had a fascination with “doubles” ever since meeting her mother’s twin as a child. In 2012, this lifelong captivation inspired her to create a blog called twin-niwt, which celebrates photographs of doubles in all their forms. “I’m fascinated by the idea of the duo, repetition, symmetry, reflection, mirror games and all the symbolism associated with it”, she says. “I think it’s a topic often present in photography, more or less consciously”. (Photo by Sandrine Kerfante/The Guardian)

Τhe hovering car without wheels, also called the hovercar, is a constant fixture in science fiction films, video games and comic books, and a long-standing dream for car lovers and technology fans alike. This dream is also shared by French photographer Renaud Marion, who creates images depicting hovering cars in everyday urban settings. In his ongoing photographic project titled ‘‘Air Drive’’, Marion combines retro car designs with futuristic technology, a project driven by his childhood visions of how the world was going to look like in the future. (Photo by Renaud Marion)

Situated in the Pacific Ocean some 620 miles (1,000 km) from the South American continent, these 19 islands and the surrounding marine reserve have been called a unique “living museum and showcase of evolution”. Photo: “Close-up. We had a juvenile Red-Footed Booby come visit us on the sun deck. I got some closeups with my ultrawide 11-16mm Tokina”. (Photo by Carl Fredrickson)

Brian Skerry can be called many things – explorer, journalist, conservation advocate – but he is first and foremost a photographer. His journeys to capture amazing underwater photographs have taken him across the world’s oceans. Photo: This Bahamian oceanic whitetip shark, known for the distinctive coloring on its white-tipped, rounded extremities, is part of a globally threatened species due to overfishing demands, primarily for its fins. (Photo by Brian Skerry)

The Smilovichi Felting Factory in Belarus was founded in 1928, when Smilovichi was a small Jewish settlement of craftsmen. Five of those craftsmen organized a small artel (a cooperative association of craftsmen who all live and work together), which produced warm boots called “valenki” for cold weather. Photo: Belarusian workers works at a felt boot factory in Smilovichi, some 35km from Minsk, Belarus, 16 January 2012. (Photo by Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA)

In the desert near Joshua Tree, California, there stands a 70-year-old homestead cabin that isn’t all there. The ethereal cabin is part of an outdoor art installation by artist Phillip K. Smith III called Lucid Homestead. To give the cabin its striking appearance, the artist replaced strips of the wall with mirrors and the windows with mirrored panels that light up at night. The building reflects the desert sun and environment around it, making it seem like an airy and transparent space

Hailey Hanestad thinks nothing about nuzzling up to the animal, called Wiley, and even dozes off with him on her bed. Wiley has been a treasured member of the family since being rescued by Hailey's dad, Rick, three years ago. Today he's thought to be just one of two coyotes in the US that have become domesticated after being born in the wild. Photo: Coyote Wiley sniffs Hailey, 8, at their home. (Photo by Barcroft Media)