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)

Senior Buddhist monk Lobsang Tayang sits outside the Amarbayasgalant Monastery in the Baruunburen district, Selenge province, Mongolia, April 26, 2018. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Iraqi forces gather during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq, October 21, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Gypsies gather at Appleby in Cumbria, United Kingdom on August 12, 2021, for the biggest horse fair of its kind in Europe, which lasts till Sunday. Typically the fair takes place in June, although COVID has pushed it back to August in 2021. In the region of 30,000 people are expected to attend. (Photo by Chris Strickland/Alamy Live News)

A fisherman throws his net beside a half-submerged M/V Palawan Pearl after it collided with a Cyprus-flagged BKM 104 dredger in Manila bay, Philippines on Thursday, July 8, 2021. A Philippine cargo vessel and a Cyprus-flagged dredger collided in a Manila Bay anchorage area early Thursday, resulting in no injuries but causing the cargo vessel to list and lie half-submerged in the busy waters. (Photo by Aaron Favila/AP Photo)

An employee stands on the step of The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express at Istanbul Station in Istanbul, on August 31, 2022. The Venice Simplon Orient-Express luxury train arrives in Istanbul, completing its annual voyage along a mythical route that takes it across Europe from Paris. (Photo by Yasin Akgul/AFP Photo)

Sri Lankan military personnel march during the country's 66th Independence Day celebrations in the central town of Kegalle, about 40 kms from the capital Colombo on February 4, 2014. Sri Lanka cemmemorates its independence from British rule on February 4, 1948. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

A “colacho” (a person dressed up as a devil) chases people during “El salto del Colacho”, the baby jumping festival in the village of Castrillo de Murcia, near Burgos on June 3, 2018. (Photo by Cesar Manso/AFP Photo)