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)

Lightning illuminates a thundercloud as a storm front hits the North Sea region near Westerhever, northern Germany, on August 11, 2014. (Photo by Daniel Reinhardt/AFP Photo/DPA)

An animal rights activist washes herself with red dye to mimic blood during a protest against the testing of shampoo on animals in Barcelona. April 24, 2012. (Photo by Raul Albaledo/AFP Photo)

South Korea's Lee Dae-ho is hit by a pitch off Taiwan's pitcher Pan Wei-lun during the second inning of their first round game of the World Baseball Classic at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 9, 2017. (Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

A baby elephant eats in a swamp in Amboseli national park, Kenya, March 19, 2017. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

A rabbit fails to jump over an obstacle during a rabbit track and field competition on the sidelines of a hunting exhibition in Kromeriz, about 60 km east of Prague, on April 1, 2017. Circa 100 rabbits took part in the competition, including disciplines as long jump, high jump and running on a flat track. (Photo by Radek Mica/AFP Photo)

A baby Black-crowned Night Heron squawks in its incubator while being cared for at City Wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center in Washington, DC on May 31, 2017. The heron is one of several that have been brought to CW by the staff at The National Zoo over the past few years. (Photo Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

This handout picture taken on December 13, 2016 and released on December 14, 2016 by the Tiergarten Schoenbrunn zoo in Vienna, Austria, shows a baby sloth eating some salad as it hangs on it's mother's belly in their enclosure. The baby was born already on November 18, 2016, but according to the zoo it could be picured for the first time only now as it usually hides in it's mother's soft coat. (Photo by Daniel Zupanc/AFP Photo)