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 worker walks through a salt pan on the eve of May Day or Labour Day on the outskirts of the southern Indian city of Chennai April 30, 2014. India is the third largest salt producing country in the world after China and U.S. with global annual production about 230 million tonnes, according to government data. (Photo by Reuters/Babu)

Members of an American landing party assist troops whose landing craft was sunk by enemy fire off Omaha beach, near Colleville sur Mer, France, June 6, 1944. REUTERS/Weintraub/US National Archives

American soldiers leaping from an armoured personnel carrier during exercises in Korea, 17th March 1954. (Photo by Three Lions)

Peru, Iquitos. Restaurant in Bellavista, an area by the Amazon on April 2005. (Photo by Jean-Claude Coutausse)

A man standing on the first cables during the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge with the Presidio and San Francisco in the background, San Francisco, California, 1935. (Photo by Underwood Archives/Getty Images)

A woman takes a dip in a font on the eve of the Orthodox Epiphany in central Moscow, Russia, January 18, 2016. Orthodox believers mark Epiphany on January 19 by immersing themselves in icy waters regardless of the weather. (Photo by Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

An Indian worker paints the hand of a huge clay model of a tribal woman on the Indian state of Karnataka's tableau for Republic Day parade, in New Delhi, India, Friday, January 22, 2016. Security has been tightened around the Indian capital as well as across the country ahead of Republic Day celebrations, held each year on Jan. 26. (Photo by Manish Swarup/AP Photo)