In his lab, biohacker Andrew Pelling has grown “living” ears made from apples and human cells, proving that it’s possible to create replacement body parts from plant-derived materials.

In her project Single Mothers, documentary photographer Kiana Hayeri takes a rare, intimate look at the lives of families in Afghanistan. Here, two children hang a portrait of their father on the wall.

Psychiatrist Essam Daod's organization Humanity Crew provides psychological aid to refugees and recently displaced populations.

Glaciologist Michele Koppes travels to some of the coldest places on Earth to measure how ice and landscapes are changing in response to warming climate and oceans, as well as how these changes affect natural hazards and water resources.

In Birth of a Nation, artist Paul Rucker recasts Ku Klux Klan robes in vibrant, contemporary fabrics like spandex, kente cloth, camouflage and white satin -- a reminder that the horrors of slavery and the Jim Crow South still define the countours of American Life today.

A scene from Samuel Bazawule’s The Burial of Kojo, a film about taut family relations and the ravages of illegal mining in Ghana, told through the eyes of Esi, a young girl.

Astrobiologist Armando Azua-Bustos studies the Atacama Desert. The desert’s extreme aridity, high salinity and high UV radiation levels make it the closest analog to Mars on Earth.

Chulalongkorn Centennial Park in Bangkok, Thailand. The park, designed by landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom, helps fortify the city against climate change. Its unique inclined structure drains runoff water through a series of green roofs, rain gardens and constructed wetlands into a retention pond.

Filmmaker and composer Kayla Briët performs live with her keyboard, guitar, loop pedal and Chinese guzheng zither.

Photographer Kitra Cahana captures the Northern Lights in Nunavut, Canada.

This image was taken during a 2,500-kilometer research expedition down the Okavango River from its source in the Angolan highlands to its end in the Kalahari Desert, led by conservationist and explorer Steve Boyes.

As part of the European Space Agency’s proposed Moon Village — a concept for an inclusive human outpost on the moon — artist Jorge Mañes Rubio imagines a temple to celebrate the moon as a powerful symbol of unity for humankind. Pictured here, the Moon Temple and its main entrance are located on the rim of Shackleton Crater on the south pole of the moon.

Prumsodun Ok heals, empowers and advocates using the ancient art of Khmer classical dance. Prumsodun is the founding artistic director of Cambodia’s first gay dance company.

Harbor seal patient Bogey gets a checkup at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California. Veterinarian Claire Simeone studies marine mammals like harbor seals to understand how the health of animals, humans and our oceans are interrelated.

A still from Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu’s Pumzi, an award-winning sci-fi short about a dystopian future where water is so scarce that Earth is uninhabitable – and a young woman whose secret could save humankind.