A pupil arrives on the first day of school at Yas American Academy in Abu Dhabi in the last decade of August 2025. (Photo by Victor Besa/The National)

Engine driver Josef Kowatsch (top L) steers a train through the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel during a media visit near the town of Erstfeld August 24, 2015. Crossing the Alps, the world's longest train tunnel should become operational at the end of 2016, consisting of two parallel single track tunnels, each of a length of 57 km (35 miles). (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

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)

“Kopi luwak (Malay pronunciation), or civet coffee, is one of the world's most expensive and low-production coffee. It is made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract. ...

“Pivo”, Nissan's concept car is introduced at Nissan's Gallery on September 30, 2005 in Tokyo, Japan. “Pivo” is an electric car in which the direction of the cabin moves 180 degrees, therefore, when making a turn in a different direction, it simply needs to move the cabin without moving the car. (Photo by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)

Lady Gaga left her hotel to party in the east end of london for the night on September 10, 2016. She was wearing shiny hot pants and a little crop top showing off some under boob. But had sticky tape covering her nipples. Lady Gaga and Mark Ronson performed her new single “Perfect Illusion” at the General Browning Club in Hackney. Afterwards she went with a few friends to Metropolis strip club in Hackney. Lady Gaga left at 4am and returned to her Hotel. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

A man carries a woman across a river at Petit Goave where a bridge collapsed during the rains of the Hurricane Matthew, southwest of Port-au-Prince, October 5, 2016. (Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP Photo)

Women take a selfie next to a police officer as they take part in New Year's Eve celebrations in the Bund, in Shanghai, China December 31, 2016. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)