Nela Fidalgo

Factors including temperature and crystallization time can affect the images, such as this one of phthalic acid.

Staying cool is vital in the Anti Atlas mountains of southern Morocco, where it’s so hot that even the crops require shade.

Children hold red lanterns during a New Year celebration at a kindergarten in southwest China's Sichuan Province on December 31, 2021. For those who celebrate Lunar New Year, the color red denotes prosperity and good luck.

A young lynx is photographed by camera trap at an abandoned farm. In 2002 fewer than a hundred of these animals survived in the wild. Since then, the population has grown tenfold, with at least 1,100 animals scattered across Spain and Portugal. Juveniles eight to 23 months old establish their own territory, with males often traveling nearly 20 miles away from their birthplace. (From “How this golden-eyed feline became the biggest comeback in cat conservation,” June 2022.)

In a series of analog missions known as D-RATS, NASA tested how astronauts would operate a pressurized rover on the surface of the moon or Mars. This 3.3-ton concept rover can drive in any direction.

Australia’s HMAS Sydney II takes to the water for the first time in this archival photo from 1934.