Soap Bubble Structures by Kym Cox. Bubbles optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This phenomenon makes them a useful tool in many areas of research, in particular, materials science and “packing” – how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom, which interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst. (Photo by Kym Cox/2019 Science Photographer of the Year/RPS)

A huge colony of Pacific Walrus on Arakamchechen Island in the Northern Bering Sea. (Photo by Francois Gohier/Ardea/Caters News)

2016 Rio Olympics, Swimming, Preliminary, Men's 100m Backstroke, Heats, Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 7 2016. Christopher Reid (RSA) of South Africa competes. (Photo by Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)

Kayla Amara sprays down their home as the Hughes Fire burns in Castaic, California, U.S. January 22, 2025. (Photo by Joel Angel Juarez/Reuters)

A woman talks on her cellphone as she walks around Tajrish commercial district without wearing the mandatory Islamic headscarf in northern Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 29, 2023. More women are choosing not to wear the mandatory headscarf, or the hijab, publicly in Iran. Such open defiance of the law follows months of protests over the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the country's morality police, for wearing her hijab too loosely. (Photo by Vahid Salemi/AP Photo)

English actress Florence Pugh attends the EE British Academy Film Awards 2022 at Royal Albert Hall on March 13, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

A hungry pelican is shown in a high-speed aerial pursuit of a rival's fish dinner. Having caught the fish, the osprey had to fend off competition from the much bigger bird. These stunning pictures were captured by Hanping Xiao in Sebastian Inlet State Park, Florida, USA in February 2023. (Photo by Hanping Xiao/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Greece's Apostolos Angelis (L) and Austria's Felix Leitner compete during the men's 20 km individual event of the IBU Biathlon World Championships in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic on February 14, 2024. (Photo by Joe Klamar/AFP Photo)