Boxed penguins, blazes in L.A., a ball of "lightning," and a big shipwreck are captured in some of the week's best news photos.

A beetle dances on a pin, nanotubes glow like a microscopic sun, drugs yield crystal rainbows, and more in the top ten micro-photos of the year.

Believing dogs have easy pregnancies and births, pregnant Japanese women pray at shrines on the Day of the Dog in hopes of having "canine" birth experiences.

A Russian rocket carries an American space tourist, the Hubble Space Telescope discovers a "Cosmic Eye," and more in our weekly update of space photos.

A small town in Brazil's Amazon region uses Asian water buffaloes instead of trucks to collect rubbish.

A family in India chooses to opt out of surgery to correct a congenital condition known as syndactyly, in which one or more digits are fused together.

The discovery at a Virginia aquarium marks the second time scientists have used DNA testing to verify what would have been a "virgin birth"—if the pups hadn't died.

The Western Wall, the Queen Elizabeth 2, Iceland's financial meltdown, and more are featured in our picks of the week's news photos.

The world's first complete double arm transplant was performed successfully in Germany. The recipient, a farmer who lost his own arms in an accident, is doing well.

An orphaned white rhino has bonded with a Kenya park ranger, who looks after the animal to protect him from poachers and predators.

Hundreds of hot air balloons prepare for flight, firecrackers explode at a vegetarian festival in Phuket, and more in our weekly update of culture photos.

Some bald eagles are turning to seabirds as their main food, and in a roundabout way, the new diet is traceable to a 1990s otter collapse, researchers say.

A bear wandered into a Subway sandwich shop in Canada, startling an employee, and sampling some food before letting itself out.

The annual Ig Nobel Prizes are given to scientists whose work made readers both laugh and think. This year's honors went to research on everything from puzzling placebos to spermicidal soda.

A lion mounts a horse, a skull is knifed, China celebrates its first space walk, and more in our picks of the week's news photos.