Atila, a trained therapeutic greyhound used to treat patients with mental-health issues and learning difficulties, falls asleep as it is caressed by three patients at Benito Menni health facility in Elizondo, Spain, on February 13, 2017. #

Close to 2,000 people take part in the "I Meditate" Africa Month Program in Richmond, South Africa, on May 27, 2017. "I Meditate" is a volunteer-based nonprofit organization devoted to teaching meditation as part of self discipline and peace building, especially in prisons, schools, educational and social institutions, and in highly stressful environments. The town of Richmond was once a hotbed of political violence between the African National Congress and the United Democratic Movement. The Art Of Living Foundation conducted the program in 25 African countries, reaching over a million people. #

People who were stranded and rescued by a helicopter following heavy rain in southwestern Japan arrive in the city of Asakura, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, on July 7, 2017. #

A firefighter kisses one of the three puppies that were found alive in the rubble of the avalanche-hit Hotel Rigopiano, near Farindola, Italy, on January 22, 2017. Emergency crews digging into an avalanche-slammed hotel were cheered by the discovery of three puppies who had survived for days under tons of snow. #

Angel Peng, 8, who injured her hand in a scalding accident when she was nine months old, poses for a photograph wearing a 3D-printed prosthetic hand designed and built by engineer Chang Hsien-Liang, in Taoyuan, Taiwan, on April 6, 2017. After losing his own right forearm in a factory accident, Chang tried several artificial limbs but he was never satisfied. The arms he could afford were too basic and the robotic hand he wanted was too expensive. So the 46-year-old engineer set out to design and build his own prosthetic arm using 3D printing technology. Now, Chang wants to help others, and is designing and building a prosthetic hand for Angel Peng. #

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, dances with Paddington Bear on platform 1 at Paddington Station as she meets the cast and crew from the forthcoming film Paddington 2 on October 16, 2017. #

Palestinian and Israeli Jewish girls take a group photo together at the "Creativity for Peace" camp on July 30, 2017, which every year brings up to 20 girls—half Jewish Israelis and half Palestinians from Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza—to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The girls share their experiences of the Arab-Israeli conflict as part of a total of 40 hours of dialogue founded on the notion that "an enemy is a person whose story you haven't heard." Using English as their common language, they go shopping, visit the movies, divvy up chores, share bedrooms, and attend art therapy classes together. #

The Indian Space Research Organization communication satellite GSAT-19, carried aboard the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, launches at Sriharikota on June 5, 2017. India's most powerful homegrown rocket to date launched on June 5, another milestone for its indigenous space program that one day hopes to put a man into orbit. #

Venus Williams celebrates her victory against Coco Vandeweghe during the women's singles semi-final match on Day 11 of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2017. #

This picture taken on February 11, 2017, shows pilot whales being guided out to deeper water after a mass stranding at Farewell Spit. Most of the more than 200 whales who became stranded on New Zealand's notorious Farewell Spit on the weekend were able to refloat themselves, conservation officials said on February 12. #

Visitors form the word "love" with their hands in front of a cherry blossom tree in Gucun Park in Shanghai, China, on March 4, 2017. Every year the cherry blossoms in this park attract hundreds of thousands of visitors. #

A woman prays while touching the fingers of a Buddha statue during the annual Makha Bucha Day—which celebrates Buddha's teachings—in Ang Thong, Thailand, on February 11, 2017. #

Stephen Donnellan from Galway (right) proposes to his girlfriend Julee Range, from the U.S., on a windy Silverstrand Beach, in Galway, Ireland, on December 23, 2016. The couple, who have been together for five years and live and work in China, arrived back in Donnellan's hometown on Friday, where he subsequently proposed. His proposal of marriage was accepted. #

Six month-old baby elephant "Clear Sky" rests her head on the shoulder of one of her guardians during a short break in a hydrotherapy session at a local clinic in Chonburi province on January 5, 2017. After losing part of her left foot in a snare in Thailand, Clear Sky is now learning to walk again—in water. The six-month-old is the first elephant to receive hydrotherapy at an animal hospital in Chonburi province, a few hours from Bangkok. The goal is to strengthen the withered muscles in her front leg, which was wounded three months ago in an animal trap laid by villagers to protect their crops. #

Sima Azimi, a trainer at the Shaolin Wushu club, poses with her students after an exercise on a hilltop in Kabul, Afghanistan, on January 29, 2017. Azimi, the 20-year-old leading the practice session, says Wushu teaches self-defense, but just as important, "it's really effective for body and soul." She learned the sport in Iran, where she won both a gold and bronze medal in competition. She has been teaching in Kabul for about a year, encouraged by her father, with whom she trains at the club's gym. "I am working with Afghan girls to strengthen their abilities and I love to see Afghan girls improve the way other girls have improved in the world," Shima said. “My ambition is to see my students take part in international matches and win medals for their country." #

Bettina Billups, right, helps Brentley Lashum, 2, touch Superman's hand during superhero window-washing day at Children's of Alabama, as part of the hospital's Superhero Month celebrations, on October 11, 2017, in Birmingham, Alabama. #

People from the Holy Blossom Temple Synagogue and the Fairlawn United Church form a "Ring of Peace" outside The Imdadul Islamic Centre, during prayers, to show solidarity in condemning the deadly January 29 shooting at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on February 3, 2017. #

A group of kindergarten children and their teachers hike in a forest kindergarten on July 31, 2017 in Wessling, Bavaria, Germany. The forest kindergarten is a preschool education which is held almost exclusively outdoors. Children between the ages of three and six are encouraged to play, explore, and learn in a forest or natural environment. The adult supervision is meant to assist rather than lead. #

Thumekile Mthiyane, 90, who is known as "Gogo Mthiyane," looks after her 2-week-old great-grandson Lubanzi while his mother is at university, at their family home in KwaNdengezi, South Africa, on May 18, 2017. "Gogo" means grandmother in Zulu. Reuters has a longer story with more photos about Mthiyane, who is a grandmother to 18 and great-grandmother to 14, and her extended family here. #

Clay Heighten, right, and Debra Caudy, left, embrace their autistic 19-year-old son Jon Heighten, as they pose for a photo at their home in the Dallas area town of University Park, Texas. Jon Heighten's parents are helping lead a 29-acre housing development and community for autistic adults that will break ground in the coming months. The couple formed a nonprofit called 29 acres and they have raised more than $1 million in donations so far. #

Engineers pose with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, after it emerged from Chamber A, a huge thermal vacuum testing chamber, after about 100 days of cryogenic testing, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on December 1, 2017. The telescope is seen as the successor to the Hubble Space telescope, and is currently scheduled to launch in the Spring of 2019. — Maybe my favorite tweet from 2017 came from NASA engineer Bobak Ferdowsi. He was talking to his father about being happy with his work at NASA, and his father said "The world is ending. I’m sure the band enjoyed playing on the Titanic as it sank." Bobak's tweet: "Working on space requires the constant optimism that the world will still exist when you launch in the 2020s." #