“This grey adult male seal enjoys a good grin while lying on the beach”. (Photo by Michael Hutch/SplashdownDirect via Rex USA)

These beautiful shots may look like works of modern art – but they are actually close-ups of chemical reactions. The works were snapped with the help of a group of scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in Anhui, China. Here: Zinc reacting with lead nitrate in a soft gel to form lead crystals. (Photo by Yan Liang/Caters News)

Shortlisted images in the running to be crowned Photobox Instagram photograph of the year range from furry friends to the Holi festival to the meaning of love. Judges, including the Guardian’s former picture editor Eamonn McCabe, have whittled down 180,000 submissions to unearth a shortlist that celebrates the best of social media. Winners will be announced October 3, 2018. Here: Najac, France. Travel shortlist. (Photo by Aaron Jenkin/@aaronjenkin)

In this May 24, 2017, photo, DriveTanks.com customers drive on a tank course at Ox Ranch in Uvalde, Texas. The ranch is a free-roaming range filled with exotic animals, some to hunt, and home to DriveTanks.com, where tourists pay to transport themselves into another era and another life. (Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle via AP Photo)

This strange coral-looking specimen is actually a mushroom. The photo, “Beautiful Destroyer”, was taken in the Panamanian tropical rainforest where the mushroom produces nitrogen, an element vital to soil health. (Photo by Sarah A. Batterman)

Bull Rider Dalton Kasel rides The Good Stuff during the second round of the PBR Unleash The Beast Monster Energy Buckoff at Madison Square Garden in New York, January 8, 2022. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)

Florida delegates dance on Day 2 of the RNC in Milwaukee on July 16, 2024. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Penitentiary system guards carry an inmate with symptoms related to the novel coronavirus at the COVID-19 unit of San Juan de Dios hospital in Guatemala City on July 13, 2020. (Photo by Johan Ordonez/AFP Photo)