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)

Swan Uppers try to capture a swan and it's Cygnets on the River Thames near Windsor, England, during Swan Upping, with Windsor Castle in background, Tuesday July 20, 2021. The ancient tradition of Swan Upping is the annual census to gauge the numbers and health of the swan population on the River Thames. (Photo by Steve Parsons/PA Wire via AP Photo)

Enthusiasts gathered at Cad East in Snowdonia National Park, England to take pictures of F-15 Eagle fighters as they completed the Mach Loop, November 2017. (Photo by Caters News Agency)

The Nebraska Cornhuskers huddle before Wednesday’s match against the Omaha Mavericks at Memorial Stadium on August 30, 2023 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Dylan Widger/USA Today Sports)

Syrian refugee girl Nur El-Huda, 9, shows a drawing of her home in Syria, in her classroom in Yayladagi refugee camp in Hatay province near the Turkish-Syrian border, Turkey, December 16, 2015. Syria's conflict has left hundreds of thousands dead, pushed millions more into exile, and had a profound effect on children who lost their homes or got caught up in the bloodletting. The drawings of young refugees living in Turkey show their memories of home and hopes for its future. The pictures also point to the mental scars borne by 2.3 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey, more than half of them children. (Photo by Umit Bektas/Reuters)

A female pitch invader is caught by a steward during Day Two of the Fourth Test between South Africa and England at Wanderers on January 25, 2020 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Passengers wear protective masks while riding a subway train on April 21, 2020 in Shanghai, China. Health authorities of China said the country has passed the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic on March 12. As of today, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has spread to many countries across the world, claiming over 171,000 lives and infecting over 2.4 million people. (Photo by Yves Dean/Getty Images)

Fruit vendors chew qat, a mild stimulant, amid concerns of the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a fruit market in Sanaa, Yemen on June 1, 2020. (Photo by Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)