A “creuseur”, or digger, a plastic lantern on his head, readies to enter a copper and cobalt mine in Kawama, Democratic Republic of Congo on June 8, 2016. Cobalt is used in the batteries for electric cars and mobile phones. Working conditions are dangerous, often with no safety equipment or structural support for the tunnels. The diggers say they are paid on average US$2-3/day. (Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

Students learn how to use an airsoft gun from Taiwanese military instructors at Kaohsiung Municipal Sanmin Senior High School in Kaohsiung on January 11, 2024. Kaohsiung City launched a national defence education program using digital technology for all its high school students. The program also promotes drug prevention in cooperation with the Taiwan defense ministry. (Photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP Photo)

US Army Parachute Team Golden Knights perform a precision drop to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, above West Potomac Park in Washington, DC, USA, 11 May 2023. The performance is one of many activites being held on the National Mall over three days to honor Vietnam War veterans and their families and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of when the last US combat troops left South Vietnam in 1973. (Photo by Michael Reynolds/EPA/EFE)

A love story with two log choppers. “In 1993, I was working on a project about life in the Olomouc region of Czechoslovakia. One day, I came to the village of Dlouhá Loučka-Křivá and went into a courtyard where I saw two old people, a husband and wife, sawing firewood for winter. They were working quietly, concentrating. I watched them fetch a beam from a wrecked barn, but they didn’t discuss how they planned to carry it to the saw. The woman faced one way, the man the other. When they realised, the woman eventually turned and followed her husband. The picture I took is the picture of many relationships – when each partner wants something different, but they have to come to an agreement, pull together eventually”. (Photo by Jindrich Streit)

Tech. Sgt. Milo Hinson, 3rd Combat Camera Squadron, uses a flashlight while shooting a Berretta 9mm during the night-fire portion of Advance Weapons, Tactics and Techniques training in San Antonio. During night-fire training, airmen learn how to tactically illuminate targets with flashlights and practice using night vision goggles. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Jonathan Snyder/U.S. Air Force). 2011

“Show us our butts! Mucawana tribe – Angola. In Soba village, the Muhacaona (Mucawana) tribe, perhaps the best place i have visited. They use cow dung and fat to make this so nice haircut, and love the beads. They asked me to make pictures of their backs... and butts to see on the camera screen if everything was perfect!”. (Photo and comments by Eric Lafforgue)

“A fter the former Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear test in August 1949, the US reevaluated its postwar defense policies. With the US monopoly on atomic weapons broken, military and political leaders chose to diversify the American stockpile by developing thermonuclear and tactical nuclear weapons. One of the more interesting concepts to come out of this period was atomic artillery, which was successfully tested at the Nevada Proving Grounds (now the Nevada Test Site) in May 1953”. – Alan Carr. Photo: Atomic Annie at work during the Upshot-Knothole test series, 1953. (Photo by Los Alamos National Laboratory/US Army)

“An electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette, is an electrical device that simulates the act of tobacco smoking by producing an inhaled mist bearing the physical sensation, appearance, and often the flavor and nicotine content of inhaled tobacco smoke; though without its odor, and intended to omit its health risks. The device uses heat (or in some cases, ultrasonics) to vaporize a propylene glycol- or glycerin-based liquid solution into an aerosol mist, similar to the way a nebulizer or humidifier vaporizes solutions for inhalation”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Owner of a shop that sells electronic cigarettes demonstrates how to use one on March 1, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. The German government has announced that it classifies the liquids used in electronic cigarettes as pharmaceuticals because the liquids contain nicotine, and that sale of the liquids requires certification. (Photo Illustration by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)