The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) is seen in the sky in Ivalo of Lapland, Finland on September 27, 2019. (Photo by Alexander Kuznetsov/Reuters)

These Arab recruits line up in a barracks square in the British Mandate of Palestine, on December 28, 1940, for their first drill under a British solider. Some 6,000 Palestinian Arabs signed up with the British Army during the course of World War II. (AP Photo)

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)

People react as a Canadian man wearing only a pair of shorts orders a drink from a fast food outlet in Gangneung Curling Centre on day 10 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games on February 19, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

English television presenter Maya Jama attends The Fashion Awards 2022 at the Royal Albert Hall on December 05, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Backgrid UK)

Children run next to a paraglider wearing Santa Claus costume landing to deliver gifts to refugee children from Karabakh region, near the village of Akunk, outside Yerevan, on December 26, 2023, as part of “ParaSanta”, an event organised by the Armenian Paragliding Club. (Photo by Karen Minasyan/AFP Photo)

A Hindu pilgrim takes a holy dip at Sangam, the confluence of Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj on February 5, 2025. (Photo by Idrees Mohammed/AFP Photo)