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 man carrying a woman wades through a flooded road following heavy rainfall in Zhengzhou, Henan province, July 21, 2021. At least 25 people have died in China's flood-stricken central province of Henan, a dozen of them in a subway line in its capital that was drenched by what weather officials called the heaviest rains for 1,000 years. (Photo by China Daily via Reuters)

“Custer” the smallest car in the US. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). 1920

A motorcyclist performs the superman stunt on a highway in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 14, 2014. Crowds of small motorbikes ridden by racers – or “Mat Rempit”, as they are known in Malaysian slang – face off in impromptu races in the Malaysian capital after dark. The decades-old culture is widely frowned upon by largely conservative Malaysians, who fear its potential to encourage gambling, drug abuse, snatch thefts and sexual promiscuity. (Photo by Olivia Harris/Reuters)

A dead body is seen on the ground after violence erupted in the Independence Square in Kiev February 20, 2014. Ukrainian protesters seized back Kiev's Independence Square in fresh clashes with riot police on Thursday that left several injured and possibly two demonstrators dead. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)

As an American in 1990s Cuba, Tria Giovan risked being branded a traitor. But the photographer continued to visit and, from the dance hall to the hair salon, she captured the resilient spirit of the Cuban people. The 120 images in Tria Giovan’s “The Cuba Archive” are from the period in the 90s when, as an American, travel to Cuba could have seen her branded a traitor, as the country was subject to a US trade embargo. Her trip required lots of planning – and patience. (Photo by Tria Giovan/The Guardian)

Musafir, a pet monkey, eats sweets on a pavement in Kolkata, India, June 9, 2016. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

The First U.S. Spacewalk – Gemini 4 Ed White made the United States' first spacewalk on June 3, 1965 during the Gemini 4 mission. The extra-vehicular activity (EVA) started at 19:45 UT (3:45 p.m. EDT) on the third orbit when White opened his hatch and used the hand-held manuevering oxygen-jet gun to push himself out of the capsule. (Photo by NASA)