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)

In this image provided by the Pairi Daiza park, giant panda Hao Hao holds her newborn baby in her mouth at the park in Brugelette, Belgium, on Thursday, June 2, 2016. With the help of the Chinese government Hao Hao and her mate Xing Hui arrived in Belgium two years ago and Pairi Daiza adapted its park to build a bamboo forest for them. (Photo by Benoit Bouchez/Pairi Daiza via AP Photo)

Grey seal pup “Nikolaus” licks a window at the seal enclosure in Friedrichskoog, Germany, 19 December 2014. The pup was abandoned by his mother and would not have a chance at survival without human help. Nikolaus will be fed at the enclosure for two to three months until he has reached the minimum weight of 45 kilograms for being released. (Photo by Daniel Reinhardt/EPA)

A brown bear is checked by foreign veterinaries and local staff members at the Four Paws Bear Sanctuary in Pristina, on May 9, 2014. (Photo by Hazir Reka/Reuters)

Eugloss dilemma, male, Florida, Biscayne National Monument. (Photo and caption by Sam Droege/USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab)

A flock of sheep huddles together while snow spindrift is whipped up by strong winds in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, UK on March 17, 2017. (Photo by Paul Kingston/NNP North News & Pictures Ltd)

A wild leopard runs on the stairs as it tries to escape from a compound of a house in Kathmandu, Nepal June 1, 2016. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Wildlife photographer Danté Fenolio has headed into areas untouched by sunlight – deep seas, caves and underground – and found creatures that are exploding with colour. Here: The golden harlequin toad has vanished from the wild, and only a small number live on in captivity. A fungus caused them, and many other amphibians, to die out in their home in Central America. (Photo by Danté Fenolio/The Guardian/Johns Hopkins University Press)