Each year Nikon Small World recognizes the excellence of photography taken under the microscope. The contest showcases the beauty and complexity of life. Anyone interested in microscopy and photography can enter the contest and in its 42nd year, Nikon Small World received 2,000 entries from 70 countries. Here: 11th Place; Scales of a butterfly wing underside (Vanessa atalanta). (Photo by Francis Sneyers/Nikon's Small World 2016)

Japan's Self-Defence Forces' women's personnel march during the annual SDF ceremony at Asaka Base, Japan, October 23, 2016. Some 40,00 troops, 280 military tanks and vehicles participated in the annual Japan's Self-Defense Forces parade. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Reflected in an ornament, a reporter takes a photo of the White House Christmas Tree in the Blue Room during a media preview of the holiday decor at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 29, 2016. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Palestinians walk on a road during a power cut in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip January 11, 2017. (Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

In this January 11, 2017 photo, Erika Martins uses black electrical tape to create a customer's bikini, in order to attain crisp tan lines, on her rooftop Erika Bronze salon in the suburb of Realengo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Martins wears a microphone connected to an open speaker system in order to direct her assistants to clients who need more tanning lotion or a sprinkling of water on their skin. (Photo by Renata Brito/AP Photo)

In this photo taken on February 21, 2017, shooting instructor Kim Su- Ryon poses for a portrait at the Meari Shooting Range in Pyongyang Kim is holding a “Paektusan” target pistol, gifted by late North Korean leader Kim Il- Sung. Visitors to the range can pay 10 USD to shoot ten rounds. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

Ralph Mirebs, an urban explorer and photographer in Russia, has revealed extraordinary photos of Soviet space shuttle prototypes gathering dust in an abandoned hangar. The abandoned hangar is located at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which is still in operation today (with the close of NASA’s shuttle program, Russian Soyuz shuttles are the only way for astronauts to reach the International Space Station). The Buran prototype shuttles found by Mirebs, however, are from an earlier era – they are the last remnants of a space program that began in 1974 and was finally shuttered in 1993. (Photo by Ralph Mirebs/Exclusivepix Media)

Senji Nakajima sleeps with his Love Doll “Saori” at Love Hotel on June 4, 2016 in Nagano, Japan. Senji Nakajima, 61 years old, lives with his life-size “love doll” named “Saori” in his apartment in Tokyo, Japan. Nakajima, married with two children, who lives away from home for work, first started his life with Saori six years ago. (Photo by Taro Karibe/Getty Images)