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.'
A BIKINI swim with jellyfish sounds like the most painful past-time on the planet .
Full of tired and busy commuters, these underground stations are rarely admired for their architecture or beauty .
A PENSIONER was left with a fractured jaw after being beaten and robbed outside his home in Birmingham last weekend .
From vivid greens to glowing pinks, the colours of the aurora borealis fill the night sky above a snow covered Lapland .
BURSTING colours of reds, pinks and purples give the illusion of a collection of stunning flowers .
Surveying its surroundings, a tiny harvest mouse climbs the stem of a dandelion .
A NINJA red squirrel cuts a dashing figure as the little fella jumps up to ten-feet between treetops in the Yorkshire Dales .
A mischievous fox cub demonstrates his playful side by biting his sibling’s tail .
FINALLY catching a meal, a pair of great white egrets fight over their dinner .
WELCOME to what could be the world's tallest TOTALLY wooden construction .
Kevin Silva, 52 from Indiana in the USA, has spent an estimated £65K ($100K) on Batman trinkets over the years, and even keeps his 2,500-item haul in his very own basement 'Bat Cave' .
Playing, splashing and generally messing around, these polar bears show they certainly have a soft spot for the water, and not just each other .