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)

Spectators react as a competitor races past in the annual donkey festival in Salcedo, Ecuador, Saturday, September 10, 2022. (Photo by Dolores Ochoa/AP Photo)

Members of the Funky Uptown Krewe parade as Twelfth Night kicks off Carnival season, in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. January 6, 2025. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Participants wearing superhero costumes attend the World DC Comics Super Heroes event in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, near Madrid, April 18, 2015. To celebrate the anniversary of the publication of the very first Superman story, DC Comics are asking fans to help set a new world record for the largest global gathering of people dressed as DC Comics Super Heroes. (Photo by Andrea Comas/Reuters)

Flames from the Jerusalem Fire erupt in Lake County, California August 12, 2015. The wildfire running rampant through drought-parched vegetation in northern California grew by several thousand acres overnight into Wednesday, as firefighters worked to stop the flames from spreading toward communities. (Photo by Robert Galbraith/Reuters)

General view of a herbal store in Cairo, Egypt January 10, 2017. In an economic crisis that has led to a shortage of medicines, Egyptians are skipping trips to drug stores and instead turning to herbal remedies to treat every-day illnesses. (Photo by Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)

In this Monday, January 30, 2017 photo, wildfires straddle Chile's Dichato community. Strong winds are continuing to stoke the flames of raging wildfires in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 800 families in the coastal town of Dichato. (Photo by Esteban Felix/AP Photo)

A boy reaches for a ball on a creek clogged with plastic waste on April 15, 2023 in Caloocan, Metro Manila, Philippines. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)