Young female Ibex on the fork of Disteis (2,200 m), near the top of the Jof di Montasio (Friuli, Italy). (Photo by Stefano Zocca)

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)

U.S. Rep Steve Southerland grins after winning an auctioned possum during the Wausau Possum Festival on Saturday, August 2, 2014, in Wausau, Fla. What is usually a must-attend event for statewide candidates was notably lacking of them this year, perhaps because candidates who now raise tens of millions of dollars focus more on television ads than making personal contact. But not attending is a missed opportunity, said Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida political science professor who drove more than 350 miles for the festival. (Photo by Heather Leiphart/AP Photo/The News Herald)

Demonstrators argue in front of the Louisville Metro Hall on September 5, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. Ahead of the Kentucky Derby, demonstrators clashed over recent looting and destruction in the area and the death of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by Louisville Metro police officers during a no-knock raid at her apartment on March 13, 2020. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

People pose for pictures on the banks of Yangtze River on New Year's Eve in Wuhan, in China’s central Hubei province on December 31, 2020. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)

The Soyuz 2.1b rocket with a Fregat-M booster and meteorology and emergency communications satellite Arktika-M No 1 launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan on February 28, 2021. Arktika-M No 1 is the first of ten Arktika satellites to be launched by Roscosmos into orbit. (Photo by Roscomos/TASS)

A woman dressed in traditional costumes jumps over a bonfire to commemorate the day of Santa Agueda in Andavias, Spain, on February 6, 2022. In the province of Zamora it is quite a tradition, the women take over the city and the towns to gain control in the province, the councils give them the batons as a sign of authority, they celebrate around 7 days of festivity where they dance, eat, live the festival and honor Santa Agueda. (Photo by Manuel Balles/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A recently hatched baby Egret bird seen in a nest at the Gatorland Bird Rookery in Kissimmee, Florida on March 17, 2022. Gatorland is known as The Alligator Capital of the World and has a 10 acre natural bird rookery. (Photo by Ronen Tivony/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)