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)

A woman uses the Aurasma app on an iPad which displays a virtual 3D animation of a Thundercat character which her colleague pretends to fight at the 2012 London Toy Fair at Olympia Exhibition Centre on January 24, 2012 in London, England. The annual fair, which is organised by the British Toy and Hobby Association, brings together toy manufacturers with retailers from around the world. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Electric cars sit charging in a parking garage at the University of California, Irvine January 26, 2015. “The Irvine Smart Grid Demonstration”, a $79 million project funded half by federal stimulus money and half by Edison and partners like UC Irvine, was launched in 2010. The $12 billion utility's research team Southern California Edison is testing everything from charging electronic vehicles via cell phone to devices that smooth out the power created by rooftop solar panels. Those are some of the roughly 60 projects in the works at Edison's Advanced Technology division. It has a small $19 million annual budget, but its influence far exceeds that. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

June 21: “World War Z”. Brad Pitt battles zombie apocalypse in $170 million film by “Quantum of Solace” director Marc Forster. This publicity photo released by Paramount Pictures shows, center, Brad Pitt as Gerald Lane in a scene from the film, “World War Z”, from Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions in association with Hemisphere Media Capital and GK Films. (Photo by Jaap Buitendijk/AP Photo/Paramount Pictures)

Pickles the cat was once abandoned and had a hard time finding a home because of his size until he met a couple who have a heart and home big enough to take him in.

Actress Oh In-Hae and director Ahn Sang-Su arrives for the opening ceremony of the 16th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) during the press conference at the Busan Cinema Center on October 6, 2011 in Busan, South Korea. The biggest film festival in Asia showcases 307 films from 70 countries and runs from October 6-14. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)