FROM ICE bubbles to boiling lava, these photographs highlight the stunning shapes and patterns found in nature. The series of extraordinary images were taken by German software engineer Thorsten Scheuermann after he decided to examine his surroundings. A trip to the city of Kalapana in Hawaii, home to the Kilauea Volcano, provided Thorsten with the setting for his lava picture, while a visit to the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon offered him the opportunity to photograph ice bubbles up-close. The 37-year-old, now of Washington, USA, said: 'These are sights that can gain greater significance and have their beauty exposed when excluding everything else around them.'
Sam Notaro built his own flood defences to protect his four-bedroom home in Moorland, Somerset Flooding is likely to get worse around Somerset as groundwater levels continue to rise .
SURROUNDED by a snowstorm, these young polar bears battle the elements - as well as each other .
Going for long rides through vast fields together, this twosome share an unbreakable bond .
FROM a Kung-Fu professional to a mini incredible hulk, these are the babies you wouldn't want to mess with .
BURSTING colours of reds, pinks and purples give the illusion of a collection of stunning flowers .
STARING intently into the camera, a polar bear appears to be lost in thought while relaxing in the snow .
VIBRANT bursts of colour fill the screen as beautiful flowers blossom in these time-lapse videos .
Exploding out of the water, a great white shark performs a backflip during a hunt for seals .
WELCOME to what could be the world's tallest TOTALLY wooden construction .
An Italian photographer travelled to Chile where he visited several star-gazing sites, home to some of the world's most advanced telescopes, located in the spectacular setting of the Atacama desert .
A northern potoo shows it is a master of disguise as it perches on a tree stump and blends into the bark .
AN ADORABLE one-eyed kitten has been dubbed the 'pirate cat' because of his pirate-like facial expressions .