Palestinian couples participate in a mass wedding ceremony in Hamad City in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, December 2, 2025. (Photo by Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo)

Portuguese police detains a woman that was protesting against the demonstration against “uncontrolled immigration” called by Portuguese far-right party Chega in Lisbon on September 29, 2024. (Photo by Patrícia de Melo Moreira/AFP Photo)

A protester blows bubbles at police during protests at the Land Forces 2024 arms fair in Melbourne on September 12, 2024. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

A fishing boat arrives at the port in Plobannalec-Lesconil, western France, October 22, 2025, as huge waves and strong winds hit the coast at the passage of the storm Benjamin. (Photo by Fred Tanneau/AFP Photo)

A person dressed up as a rabbit exits the subway to attend the Zombie Walk, to mark the Day of the Death in Sao Paulo, Brazil on November 2, 2024. (Photo by Maira Erlich/Reuters)

Canadian singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez performs during the Corona Capital music festival in Mexico City, Saturday, November 16, 2024. (Photo by Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo)

A man waves a flare during a celebratory demonstration following the first Friday prayers since Bashar Assad's ouster, in the central square of Damascus, Syria, December 13, 2024. (Photo by Leo Correa/AP Photo)

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)