Beautiful, strange and occasionally alarming pictures from the shortlist for this year’s Wellcome image awards – which celebrate the very best in science photography and imaging – from an x-ray of a bat to a micrograph of a kidney stone. The exhibition opens on 12 March at three science centres and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. Photo: Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of an Arabidopsis thaliana flower, also commonly known as thale cress. Some of the anthers are open, revealing pollen grains ready for dispersal. Arabidopsis was the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced and is widely used as a model organism in molecular and plant biology. Horizontal width of image is 1200 microns. Magnification 100x. (Photo by Stefan Eberhard/Wellcome Images)

A homeless man wearing face masks to protect against coronavirus, waits to receive basic medial help from members of a group of volunteer doctors of the Dom Druzei (Home of Friends) NGO in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, April 1, 2020. As Moscow goes into lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of homeless people have trouble receiving food, water and shelter as Russia's capital closes non-essential businesses, cafes and parks. (Photo by Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo)

An Iowa State Patrol trooper works the scene of an overturned semi truck along the westbound shoulder of Interstate 80 near Anita, Iowa, on Wednesday, December 15, 2021, after a band of intense weather crossed through the area. A powerful storm system is blowing through the Great Plains and Midwest, combining with unusually warm temperatures to close highways and prompt numerous tornado warnings. (Photo by Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register via AP Photo)

Visitors to West Midlands Safari Park in Bewdley, UK on October 17, 2023 are enjoying the bright October sunshine ahead of the storms to come. A curious giraffe meets eye to eye with a car full of happy visitors while licking the car windscreen with his long tongue. (Photo by Lee Hudson/Alamy Live News)

The first load of passengers queuing for the Bennie Railplane in Glasgow; the inventor George Bennie is third in the queue. The streamlined cars are self propelled, driven by air screws in front and behind, and hang from a steel girder. (Photo by J. A. Hampton/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). 4th July 1930

Two one-year old baby mountain gorillas play together in the forest of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda on Saturday, April 3, 2021. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)

(L-R) Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden attend the Britain's Got Talent 2020 photocall at London Palladium on January 19, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Doug Peters/EMPICS)

Nico Martin with a Mini Electric wrapped in thousands of Christmas fairy lights, at Greenfield Farm in Christmas Common, Oxfordshire on November 9, 2021. Nico, from Bracknell in Berkshire, has wrapped his own Mini in lights for the last two years, raising money for the MS Trust and for Duchenne UK. This year Mini are supporting Nico, providing him with a Mini Electric wrapped in thousands of Christmas lights ready for him to take out on the road. (Photo by Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images)