This photo taken on July 19, 2020 shows a person taking photos while water is released from the Three Gorges Dam, a gigantic hydropower project on the Yangtze river, to relieve flood pressure in Yichang, central China's Hubei province. Rising waters across central and eastern China have left over 140 people dead or missing, and floods have affected almost 24 million since the start of July, according to the ministry of emergency management. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

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)

Adventurer Sam Cossman movies towards the huge lava lake wearing a custom built industrial proximity heat suit on December 20, 2014 in Ambrym, Vanuatu. (Photo by Conor Toumarkine/Barcroft Media)

Ardent fisherman Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox appears to have hooked Frances Flajnik, Tempe queen of Anglers World Series, March 15, 1960. (Photo by AP Photo)

People take home sacrificial animals after purchasing it at a cattle market ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha in Karachi on July 19, 2021. (Photo by Asif Hassan/AFP Photo)

Indian army training cadets perform “Kalaripayattu”, an ancient martial art from Kerala, during a combined display ahead of their graduation ceremony, at the Officers Training Academy (OTA), in Chennai, India on September 8, 2023. A combined display of training proficiency was organized at the OTA as a prelude to a passing-out parade of cadets. The combined display marks the culmination of the adventure training and showcases the skills and expertise of armed forces display teams. (Photo by Idrees Mohammed/EPA/EFE)

Syrian refugee and Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini is pictured during a training session in a pool at the Olympic park in Berlin, Germany on April 26, 2018. (Photo by Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

Artificially colored chicks crowd together in a cage for sale along a street in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, October 4, 2023. (Photo by Hassan Ammar/AP Photo)