Kieron Connolly’s new book of photographs of more than 100 once-busy and often elegant buildings gives an idea of how the world might look if humankind disappeared. Here: Bodie, Mono County, California. Gold was discovered at Bodie in 1859 (just after the initial California gold rush) and it went from mining camp to boomtown. Its decline began in 1880, when word spread of new boomtowns elsewhere. The Standard Consolidated Mine closed in 1913, and four years later the Bodie Railway was abandoned. By 1940 the population was down to 40. Today, Bodie is maintained in a state of arrested decay as a visitor attraction. (Photo by Alamy Stock Photo)

Chahad, 16, gets groomed at a beauty Salon in Kalak before her wedding party, Iraq February 16, 2017. It's the second marriage to take place in the IDP camps east of the city where tens of thousands are living, having fled the fighting in Mosul. (Photo by Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

In this photo provided by the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), smokes and flames billow from vehicles in Hpruso township, Kayah state, Myanmar, Friday, December 24, 2021. Myanmar government troops rounded up villagers, some believed to be women and children, fatally shot more than 30 and set the bodies on fire, a witness and other reports said Saturday. (Photo by KNDF via AP Photo)

A Ukrainian gunner sits in his 2S1 Gvozdika (122-mm self-propelled howitzer) on the front line in Southern Ukraine on October 8, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP Photo)

A woman whose family members are trapped under rubble wails after a landslide washed away houses in Raigad district, western Maharashtra state, India, Thursday, July 20, 2023. While some people are reported dead many others feared trapped under piles of debris. (Photo by Rafiq Maqbool/AP Photo)

The scene in Star Lane, Dunmow, Essex, after a steam traction engine from Sussex on its way to the Saffron Walden Crank Up weekend steam show, crashed into a private dwelling on Friday, April 21, 2023. (Photo by Nicholas.T.Ansell/PA Images via Getty Images)

Russian actress and blogger Polina Pushkareva arrives for the screening of the film “L'Amour Ouf” (Beating Hearts) at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 23, 2024. (Photo by Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters)

A robot takes part in what is billed as the world's first robot half marathon during the Humanoid Robot Half-Marathon held in Beijing on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)