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.'
FROM MRS Patmore to Lady Sybil, these barking mad illustrations show the WOOF-er side of some of our most loved Downton characters .
A mother-of-one has told how she nearly died after contracting toxic shock syndrome from a tampon .
BALANCING on top of a tree, this bear cub puts her climbing skills to the test .
An owl swoops through the air before making an unorthodox landing - right on top of an unsuspecting man's head .
A dog whose forehead skin was so heavy that he was going blind has finally seen his owner again after undergoing a £1K FACELIFT .
Ashlee, 20, has always known that she was supposed to be a girl .
This cheeky chappie is getting into all kinds of monkey business as he enjoys cooling off on a scorching hot day .
A mum from Gloucestershire has accepted her four-year-old twin son’s decision to live full time as a girl - and is now letting him wear a skirt to school .
STAR-TI-LING: 40,000 STARLINGS MIMIC HITCHCOCK'S THE BIRDS- This could be the fearsome scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds as a flock of 40,000 starlings bask in the heat of a wonderful British sunset .
Growing up, Jasmine Price, now four, loved watching her older sister, Mia Price, now 10, compete in beauty pageants .
AN Irish woman has become the first adult in the world to receive a revolutionary REMOTE CONTROLLED 'ROBO SPINE', which uses magnets to combat the effects of scoliosis .