University students wearing Guy Fawkes masks pose for a photoshoot of a graduation ceremony to support anti-government protests at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, in Hong Kong, China on October 30, 2019. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Rowdy Alexander watches from atop his horse as a hillside burns on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Wednesday, August 11, 2021, near Lame Deer, Mont. The Richard Spring fire was threatening hundreds of homes as it burned across the reservation. (Photo by Matthew Brown/AP Photo)

Palestinians walk at the site of Israeli strikes on houses, in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on November 21, 2023. (Photo by Abed Sabah/Reuters)

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)

People wearing mushroom hats stand in front of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 14, 2021. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

A family rides a bike amid rain in Lahore on October 16, 2023. (Photo by Arif Ali/AFP Photo)

Cuban actor Ana de Armas seen attending Bond: No Time To Die – world film premiere afterparties on September 28, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Backgrid USA)

A stunt rider performs on the wooden wall during a fair in Bogra, Bangladesh, February 10, 2021. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)