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)

Forest guards chase away a rhino that strayed into a residential area after floods forced animals to escape the Kaziranga National park in Nagaon district, in the northeastern state of Assam, August 15, 2017. (Photo by Anuwar Hazarika/Reuters)

An observer watches the Perseid meteor shower at Mount Hamilton in California, United States on August 13, 2023. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Miranda Kerr going back to her hotel during Paris fashion week Paris,France on October 04th 2016. (Photo by KCS Presse/Splash News and Pictures)

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)

Young devotees carry oil lamps in the early morning of the tenth day celebrations of Hindu Nepali festival “Dashain” at a temple in Bhaktapur on the outskirts of Kathmandu on October 24, 2023. (Photo by Prakash Mathema/AFP Photo)

Ratana Das, 40, a female vendor, carries sacks full of clothes at a second-hand clothing market early morning in Kolkata, India, March 10, 2016. Das said she was born and brought up in Kolkata and feels proud being a resident of the city that gives her he opportunity to be financially independent. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

Mulan Jamilah, a 6-year-old Bengal tiger and Abdullah Sholeh, 33, play in the garden beside their home on January 20, 2014 in Malang, Indonesia. Abdullah Sholeh of Malang, Indonesia is an Islamic student who has become best friend and a full-time nanny to the tiger.