Girls make a heart sign as the sun sets over the Mediterranean Sea coastline in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, July 14, 2023. (Photo by Hassan Ammar/AP Photo)

Vladimir Putin shows a hold to a young judo wrestler at the Regional Judo Center at the Arena Sports Complex in the Siberian city of Kemerovo on January 24, 2012, during his visit to the region. Putin is known for his passion for judo, in which he has a black belt. (Photo by AFP Photo/STR)

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)

An alpaca chewing a leaf is pictured on November 18, 2014 in the zoo of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Frank Rumpenhorst/AFP Photo/DPA)

Rioters scuffle with police on a street in Mongkok district of Hong Kong, Tuesday, February 9, 2016. Rioters clashed with police overnight and into the early hours of Tuesday in a crowded area of Kowloon. The unrest started when local authorities tried to prevent street food sellers from operating on Monday night. Activists who are dissatisfied with Hong Kong's administration took part in the clashes, local media reports said. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

A picture made available on 20 June 2016 shows people praying as they wait to break the fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Karachi, Pakistan, 19 June 2016. Muslims around the world celebrate the holy month of Ramadan by praying during the night time and abstaining from eating and drinking during the period between sunrise and sunset. Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and it is believed that the Koran's first verse was revealed during its last 10 nights. (Photo by Shahzaib Akber/EPA)

Workers clean empty cooking oil containers at a roadside recycling workshop in Kolkata, India, July 13, 2016. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

A keeper feeds a four-week-old jaguar while presenting it to the media, at a zoo in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, October 14, 2015. (Photo by Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)