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 member of p*ssy Riot performs in the nationwide Women's March, held after Texas rolled out a near-total ban on abortion procedures and access to abortion-inducing medications, in Austin, Texas, U.S., October 2, 2021. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Bikini-clad students pack out the beaches in Florida on March 15, 2022. Thousands students have hit the sandy stretches of Miami to soak up the warm weather as American universities break up for half-term. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

Just Dance 2017 performance at Ubisoft E3 2016 – Day 2 at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Dan Steinberg/Invision for Ubisoft/AP Images)

Polish boys and girls throw water over each other on “Smigus-dyngus” (or Wet Monday) during the Easter Monday in Szczecin, northwestern Poland, 18 April 2022. Smigus-dyngus is a Roman Catholic celebration held on Easter Monday in Poland. Traditionally, boys throw water over girls, this is accompanied by a number of other rituals, such as making verse declarations and holding door-to-door processions. (Photo by Marcin Bielecki/EPA/EFE)

Performers debut in the first decade of May 2024 the new Cirque du Soleil Spirit production at the Macallan Estate in Speyside, Scotland, created specially to commemorate the whisky brand’s 200th anniversary. (Photo by Cirque du Soleil 2024)

People dressed in traditional costumes sing Christmas carols as they gather to celebrate Orthodox Christmas at a compound of the National Architecture museum in Kyiv, Ukraine on January 7, 2022. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

A shopper gets caught in a heavy downpour of rain on Oxford Street, London on June 27, 2020, as sunshine and showers are forecast for much of England and Wales on Saturday, with temperatures expected to hover around 22°C (71.6F). (Photo by Dominic Lipinski/PA Images via Getty Images)