Cmdr. Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station, shows off the lighter side of life in zero gravity with a floating water bubble in January.

A paleoartist uses science, art and imagination to reconstruct the most famous Australopithecus, Lucy, in December.

Visitors take pictures of giant tidal waves crashing against the shore in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, in September.

A hot air balloon shaped like Darth Vader's head floats over Canberra in March.

A woman who has duplicated part of her own face in makeup stands among the crowd at a costume party to celebrate Halloween in Wuhan, Hubei province, in China, on Oct. 31.

A girl walks past a gigantic cat mural at the 21st Athens International Cat Show in January.

Kennel owner Gabor Korozs walks one of his Komondors, a traditional Hungarian guard dog, in Bodony, some 130 km northeast of Budapest, in September.

A Hindu devotee peers out from a cloud of coloured powder during the Lathmar Holi festival in the village of Barsana in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in March.

A man runs up the gostra, a pole covered in grease, during the religious feast of St. Julian, the patron of the town of St. Julian's, outside Valletta, Malta, in August.

A scissors dancer puts her foot in her mouth during the national scissors dance competition held on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, in December.

A man eats a part of an Uromastyx lizard, also known as a dabb lizard, near Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, in April.

A person in a Tyrannosaurus rex costume runs on the field during an exhibition soccer match between MLS teams the Los Angeles Galaxy and Seattle Sounders FC in Carson, Calif., in May.

Soccer player Saido Berahino, who plays for West Bromwich Albion, is challenged by Manchester City's Fernandinho during their English Premier League soccer match at The Hawthorns in West Bromwich, in central England, in December.

Alice is a huge installation by Spanish artist Cristina Lucas, on display in April at the Andalusian Centre of Contemporary Art in Seville, southern Spain.

The Rubber Duck by Dutch conceptual artist Florentijn Hofman floats in Kaohsiung Harbour in southern Taiwan, in September. The giant rubber duck, which is 18 metres high and weighs 1,000 kilograms, made its first public appearance in Taiwan before being set up in cities around the world.

Clad in zombie makeup, artists Kamila Wysocka and Alexis Jackson, from Florida, enjoy a spot of people watching over dinner at ComicCon in New York, in October.

A radio-controlled Superman, flown by designer Otto Dieffenbach. The model, passing in front of the moon during a test flight in San Diego, is one of several superhero-shaped aircraft Dieffenbach has created.

Dan McManus and his service dog Shadow hang-glide together outside Salt Lake City, Utah, in July.

U.S. President Barack Obama makes light of his wife's bangs with a mock picture of himself sporting the same hairdo in this humorous photo created by the White House and shown at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner in April.

A Bedouin man jumps over camels during the Sanaa Summer Festival in Sanaa. The two-week festival aims to stimulate domestic tourism and reassure local and international tourists of Yemen's stability.