The best science and technology pictures of the week

The most impressive pictures from the last seven days, including out-of-this-world shots of launches and robots of all shapes and sizes.

You can see more launch photographs from Ben Cooper here

More stunning image galleries:

Yosemite fires and an eclipse from Mars

Augmented reality in the operating room

Worm burgers and beetle robots

Baby lobsters and the most sophisticated robot of its time

Clouds from space, illegal animal trade, and an eyeball-shaped camera

Lightning strikes and a popsicle-licking polar bear

Supersonic planes, migrating whales and hair washing in space

Space ventures, extreme Earth, and hot elephants

Flying aces, challenging swims and confused robots

Supermoon, Tesla coils and medical clowns

World’s biggest solar-powered boat and forest fires

Astronaut photography, a tiny helicopter and a hovering bike

Rocket launch, a superfast train, and a tooth shark

Fire-fighting from the skies and an animatronic King Kong

Dancing robots, a pair of MiGs and a topsy-turvy tiger

A drone at sea, a curious lemur and a dramatic landing from space

Tiny robots, printable guns and a sunken German bomber

Dramatic storms, face transplants and a pensive gorilla

Space, bionic limbs and robot protests

Rubber wastelands, a trip to a taxidermist and hurricane testing labs

Flu scares, robot surgery and the untouched planet

Cars in flight, active volcanoes and an enormous tarantula

Giant eggs, natural born killers and a musical use for gun parts

The universe’s earliest light, zero gravity and a macaque with hayfever

Comets, the world’s largest astronomical project and a lagoon of death

Biblical swarms, reaching out into space, and jumping rats

Deep sea beauty, giant drilling machines and hypnotic space telescopes

Stunning views of Earth and up close and personal with a human parasite

Russian meteor, extreme weather and a turtle with artificial fins

Cosmic storms, the first bionic man and how to clean a oil-covered bird

Birth of stars, life at sub-zero temperatures and micro-living in the city

Pollution from space, active volcanoes and a robot restaurant

Amazing Lego sculptures, freakish weather… and Big Bird

Gruesome tools, environmental disasters and intimate views from space.

Christmas treats and the end of the world

Bathing snow monkeys, a tweeting pope and elephant dung coffee.

Architectural giants and a new way of seeing the Moon

Red pandas, Saturn and Nature’s unstoppable forces

The world's largest bloom, the world's largest aquarium and the world's fastest sailing boat

Venice under water, a total eclipse and a pedestrian-avoiding car

Space shuttle, Baumgartner and Hurricane Sandy

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