<p>Antarctica's only deep-sea vents gave up some secrets this week, revealing amazing creatures (not to mention stunning photos). That's not all, from a cosmic pink heart and jaw-dropping northern lights to some of the cutest baby monkeys ever, here's a look at this week's best science photos. </p>
<p>They look like ordinary baby rhesus macaques, but Hex, Roku and Chimero (Roku and Hex shown here) are the world's first chimeric monkeys, each with cells from the genomes of as many as six rhesus monkeys. Scientists announced this week they had created the world's first chimeric monkeys, essentially gluing together cells from individual rhesus monkey embryos and then implanting these mixed embryos into mama monkeys. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/17771-chimera-monkeys-genomes.html">Read full story</a>]</p>
<p>The night sky puts on a colorful show like no other in this compressed wide-angle view of the aurora over Norway in late 2011. The gyrating colors are caused by charged particles hitting atoms in the high atmosphere. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/1-image-day.html">See more amazing images of the day</a>]</p>
<p>A new film captures a circular game of copycat: a fish that mimics an octopus that mimics fish. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/17745-fish-mimics-octopus.html">Read full story</a>]</p>
<p>The chilly waters of the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans are enough to slow anyone down. But octopi that have relocated to these areas play tricks with their genetic material to keep moving. Shown here, Octopus vulgaris on a Puerto Rico Reef. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/17767-octopi-adapt-chilly-waters.html">Read full story</a>]</p>
<p>Hawaii's ever-erupting Kilauea volcano celebrated the 29th anniversary of its current eruption this week. The volume of erupted material from Kilauea covering the land there is enough to pave a road across the world three times, making it one of the most active volcanoes on the planet. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/17746-kilauea-volcano-eruption-29-anniversary.html">Read full story</a>]</p>
<p>The spectacular pink and red core of a lively nebula takes center stage in a new photo that exposes the stellar nursery's eye-catching clouds of gas, dust and newborn stars.</p><p>Shown here, the Omega Nebula (Messier 17), captured by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. It shows the dusty, rosy central parts of the famous star-forming region in fine detail. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/17725-omega-nebula-pink-core-photo.html">Read full story</a>]</p>
<p>A failed Russian Mars probe is expected to come crashing back to Earth mid-January, according to news reports. The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft was stranded in Earth orbit shortly after its Nov. 8 launch, and it's been circling lower and lower ever since. Shown here, an artist's concept shows fuel burning from a ruptured fuel tank as the spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/17761-doomed-mars-probe-phobos-grunt-crash-january-15.html">Read full story</a>]</p>
<p>A team of researchers has transformed terabytes of data into a striking time-evolving animation of the 36-hour period when hurricane Katrina was gaining energy over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and heading for New Orleans. In this image, dawn once again comes to the Gulf, while Hurricane Katrina continues to swirl and gain strength.</p><p>The Katrina visualization is part of a new planetarium dome show called "Dynamic Earth" which will use visualizations based on satellite monitoring data and advanced supercomputer simulations to explore the workings of Earth's climate. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/17735-hurricane-katrina-simulation-nsf-ria.html">Read full story</a>]</p>
<p>Scientists doing their first exploring of deep-sea vents in the Antarctic have uncovered a world unlike anything found around other hydrothermal vents, one populated by new species of anemones, predatory sea stars, and piles of hairy-chested yeti crabs. Shown here, A new species of yeti crab piles around the hydrothermal vents in Antarctica. The vents may be a safe haven for crabs, which typically can't tolerate cold waters. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/17715-yeti-crabs-antarctic-vents.html">Read full story</a>]</p>
<p>A ghostly pale octopus caught on camera near the Antarctic deep-sea vents. The octopuses seemed curious, or at least drawn in by the ROV lights, and often came right up to the submersible. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/17716-gallery-life-antarctic-deep-sea-vents.html">See more images from the Antarctic vents</a>]</p>
