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)

“Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. Nicknamed the “Bronze Venus”, the “Black Pearl”, and even the “Créole Goddess” in anglophone nations.

Baker was the first African American female to star in a major motion picture and to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States (she was offered the unofficial leadership of the movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 following Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, but turned it down), for assisting the French Resistance during World War II and for being the first American-born woman to receive the French military honor, the Croix de guerre”.

Photo: American entertainer Josephine Baker in costume for her famous “banana dance”. Baker was an overnight sensation when she arrived in Paris in the mid-1920s. (Photo by Walery/Getty Images)

The shadow of a cross is pictured as Catholic faithful arrive to attend a reenactment of the “Via Crucis” (way of the Cross) during Holy Week in Abobote, an area of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on April 18, 2025. (Photo by Luc Gnago/Reuters)

“Former Harry Potter star Emma Watson has shed her squeak-clean image by parading the streets in a bra and hot pants for her role in Sofia Coppola's latest movie. The actress has signed up for a leading role in The Bling Ring, playing one of the real-life teens who stole from the homes of stars including Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Orlando Bloom in 2008 and 2009. A series of images from the Los Angeles film set are set to shock the Brit's younger fans as she has been photographed strutting in tiny shorts, a bra-style top, leather jacket and towering high heels”. (Photo by PR Photos/Gaz Shirley/KVS/PacificCoastNews.com)

Revellers in Leeds, United Kingdom were excited to be out and about again on July 18, 2021. At a minute past midnight, England dropped most of its remaining Covid-19 social restrictions, such as those requiring indoor mask-wearing and limits on group gatherings. These changes come despite rising infections, pitting the country's vaccination programme against the virus's more contagious Delta variant. (Photo by Ioannis Alexopoulos/PA Wire Press Association via Getty Images)

“Kimberly Noel “Kim” Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American socialite, television personality, actress, model, and recording artist. She is the daughter of late attorney Robert Kardashian, and is known for a s*x tape with her former boyfriend Ray J as well as her E! reality series which she shares with her family, Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Kardashian's prominence has increased as of January 2011 with the premiere of Kourtney and Kim Take New York, the second spin-off of Keeping Up with the Kardashians (the first being Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami), debuting on E!, with the series following Kim and sister Kourtney Kardashian as they leave Los Angeles to open a third D-A-S-H store in New York City.

Kardashian has launched multiple fragrances, guest starred on numerous shows, competed on ABC's Dancing with the Stars, and has had roles in movies such as Disaster Movie and Deep in the Valley. In 2010, Kardashian, along with her sisters Kourtney and Khloe, released an autobiography, Kardashian Konfidential, and plan to launch their own fashion line”.

Photo: Socialite Kim Kardashian blows out her birthday cake candles at her birthday party at Les Deux on October 21, 2007 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Noel Vasquez/Getty Images). LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 21

Presenters Jennifer Lopez and Cameron Diaz speak onstage during the 84th Annual Academy Awards held at the Hollywood & Highland Center on February 26, 2012 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Presenter Sofia Vergara arrives at the 88th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California February 28, 2016. (Photo by Adrees Latif/Reuters)