An illuminated Christmas tree leans against the window of a damaged house in Mayschoss in the Ahrtal valley, southern Germany, Tuesday, December 14, 2021. The region was hit by floodings exactly five months ago, causing the death of about 180 people. Amid the mud and debris still clogging the streets from last summer's devastating floods, residents of the Ahr Valley in western Germany are trying to spark some festive cheer with Christmas trees. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Russian cadets march during the annual cadet schools get-together in Moscow, Russia on March 30, 2018. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

Cars are piled up as flooding affects the area after heavy rains in Ensival, Verviers, Belgium, 15 July 2021. Heavy rains have caused widespread damage and flooding in parts of Belgium. (Photo by Stephanie Lecocq/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A Border Security Force (BSF) trooper performs a stunt on his motorcycle during a road show to celebrate 75 years of India's Independence, in Ahmedabad, India, August 25, 2021. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

An Afghan evacuee plays at a holding centre run by the Italian Red Cross, where she carries out a quarantine with others, in Avezzano, Italy, August 30, 2021. (Photo by Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters)

An art wall painting representing performance artist Marina Abramovic by Italian artist Maurizio Cattellan to publicize his upcoming exhibition The Artist is Present, in Shanghai, China, is displayed on a facade of a building, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, September 19, 2018. (Photo by Luca Bruno/AP Photo)

A brown capuchin monkey holds a fruit in the Botanic Garden of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 5, 2013. (Photo by Pablo Porciuncula/AFP Photo)

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)