A fan of Colombia cheers prior to a qualifying soccer match between for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Colombia and Chile in Barranquilla, Colombia, Friday, September 10, 2021. (Photo by Fernando Vergara/AP Photo)

In this August 26, 2019 photo, children of the Nambikwara Sarare tribe climb trees as they play in their indigenous reserve in the southwestern Amazon, near Conquista D'Oeste, in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. About 98% of all Brazil’s indigenous lands lie within the Amazon. (Photo by Andre Penner/AP 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)

A devotee of the Jor Soo Gong Naka shrine with skewers pierced through her cheeks takes part in a procession during the annual Vegetarian Festival in Phuket on September 27, 2022. The festival, back after two years of hiatus because of the Covid-19 pandemic, features religious devotees who slash themselves with swords, pierce their cheeks with sharp objects and commit other painful acts to purify themselves, taking on the sins of the community. (Photo by Manan Vatsyayana/AFP Photo)

The body of an unidentified man lies on a road barrier near a village recently retaken by Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. Ukraine's second-largest city, has been under sustained Russian attack since the beginning of the war in late February. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

A little girl takes a picture of a lion in the zoo in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, September 13, 2016. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

A devotee takes a holy bath at the Balaju Baise Dhara (22 water spouts) during the Baishak Asnan festival in Kathmandu April 4, 2015. Devotees believe that the water from these stone spouts, which is collected from the catchment area of the Nagarjun forest behind the spouts, will cure pains and skin diseases. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Hotel staff practice self-defence skills after a training session given by team member of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, April 7, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)