California-based glass artist Loren Stump specializes in a form of glasswork called murrine, where rods of glass are melted together and then sliced to reveal elaborate patterns and forms. While the murrina process appeared in the Mideast some 4,000 years ago, Stump has perfected his own technique over the past 35 years to the point where he can now layer entire portraits and paintings in glass before slicing them to see the final results. His most complex piece to date is a detailed interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks, which involved hundreds of glass components that were melted into a final piece.

Belly dancer Nagwa Fouad sailing on the river Nile, 1972. Egypt is one of 23 countries represented at the Dubai Photo Exhibition, showing off photography that dates to the 1920s. Dubai Photo Exhibition is in various venues of Dubai’s design district from 16-19 March. (Photo by Farouk Ibrahim)

In this Monday, March 10, 2014 photo, a 9,000 year-old mask is on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The exhibition called “Face To Face” shows eleven stone masks, said to have been discovered in the Judean desert and hills near Jerusalem, which date back 9,000 years and offer a rare glimpse at some of civilization's first communal rituals. (Photo by Tsafrir Abayov/AP Photo)

Alan Wilson, Director of James Ritchie & Son clockmakers, founded in 1809, adjusts a clock face at the Cannongate Tobooth to British Summer Time on March 21, 2012 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Tolbooth, built in 1591, was where tolls and public dues were collected. The clock face dates back to 1820 and replaced an earlier clock from the 17th Century. Clocks will be put forward by one hour on Sunday March 25, 2012 at 1.00am and British Summer Time (BST) will officially start. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

Charlotte Roirdan from Lyon & Turnbull views a letter written by Mary Queen of Scots on March 8, 2012 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The 450 year old letter, unearthed in Blair Castle in Ayrshire, has been verified as the hand writing of Mary Queen of Scotts and has been valued at 3,000 GBP. The letter, dated March 20, 1554, relieves the then laird of Blair from his duties due to gout and will be put up for sale next week at an auction in Edinburgh. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

Fossil records indicate that this early lizard, Megalania (Megalania prisca or Varanus priscus), was a whopping seven metres in length. They were part of a megafaunal assemblage that inhabited southern Australia during the Pleistocene. The youngest fossil remains date to around 50,000 years ago. The first aboriginal settlers of Australia might have encountered them and been a factor in their extinction. (Photo by Sky TV/The Guardian)

Hugh Hefner spanks playboy models Izabella Kasprzyk and Bridget Marquardt during their birthday dinner party at Joya restaurant on September 25, 2002 in Beverly Hills, California. Playboy founder and sеxual revolution symbol Hugh Hefner has died at age 91. The magazine released a statement saying Hefner died at his home in Los Angeles of natural causes on Wednesday night, September 27, 2017, surrounded by family. (Photo by David Klein/Getty Images)

Japanese researchers have sparked hopes of finding a cure for human baldness after successfully growing hair on hairless mice by implanting follicles created from stem cells, Agence France Presse reports. A picture taken on April 13, 2012 and released by the Tsuji Lab Research Institute for Science and Technology of the Tokyo University of Science shows a hairless mouse with black hair on its back at the laboratory in Noda, Chiba Prefecture. (Photo by Tokyo University of Science via AFP)