Skeleton involves a person riding a small sled down a frozen track while lying face down. The sport is a more intense form of luge because skeleton competitors leap onto the sled and slide downhill head first. Skeleton athletes can reach up to 80 mph on straightaways, causing forces up to 5g, so the helmet is a critical component for attitude as well as safety.

A mass pillow fight in Trafalgar Square in central London on April 5, 2014 on International Pillow Fight Day. (Photo by Jane Scanlan)

The competition, which is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich in association with BBC Sky at Night Magazine, is now in its sixth year and has received over 2,500 entries. Photo: Centre of the Heart Nebula by Ivan Eder (Hungary). Situated 7500 light years away in the “W”-shaped constellation of Cassiopeia, the Heart Nebula is a vast region of glowing gas, energized by a cluster of young stars at its centre. The image depicts the central region, where dust clouds are being eroded and moulded into rugged shapes by the searing cosmic radiation. (Photo by Ivan Eder)

Punks gather in Blackpool for the annual Rebellion Punk Rock Festival on August 8, 2014 in Blackpool, England. This weekend a clash of musical cultures hits the famous seaside town as pogoing punks attending the annual Rebellion Festival at The Winter Gardens come shoulder to shoulder with traditional holidaymakers and seasiders. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

From rural life in India to a chick growing inside its embryo and a sea turtle eating a purple jellyfish, the Society of Biology has released their stunning photography competition shortlist. Here: “Spectral Tarsier”. Tangkoko, Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia: Spectral tarsier by Wolfgang Weinhardt. (Photo and caption by Wolfgang Weinhardt/UK Society of Biology Photography Award 2014)

A cat is examined by the jury during the first day of the Super Cat Show 2014, on November 8, 2014 in Rome, Italy. The Super Cat Show 2014, which takes place on the 8th and 9th of November, involves the participation of 800 cats of different breeds from all over the world. (Photo by Giorgio Cosulich/Getty Images)

A woman poses next to a giant mining truck at the entrance of the Dakar Rally camp in Calama, Chile. The truck operates in copper mines near the city. (Photo by Victor R. Caivano/Associated Press)

It wasn’t exactly the Westminster Dog Show, but it was serious stuff. Photo: five-month-old Carly LeRolls Gottesman, at Pooch Prom at Downtown at the Gardens on Saturday, April 26, 2014. Carly was crowned the 2014 Pooch Prom queen. (Photo by Thomas Cordy/The Palm Beach Post)