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)

This image released by Disney shows Mena Massoud as Aladdin, left, and Will Smith as Genie in Disney's live-action adaptation of the 1992 animated classic “Aladdin”. (Photo by Daniel Smith/Disney via AP Photo)

Singer Dua Lipa and her fiancé, Callum Turner, soak up the sun and unwind together during their lively vacation in Ibiza, Spain on August 14, 2025. (Photo by Gtres/Backgrid UK)

Anne Leanzo, of Virginia, plays Ash from the Evil Dead movie and her daughter Gina, 15, plays Lilith from the Borderlands video game during Comic-Con 2017 in San Diego, California, July 22, 2017. (Photo by Bill Wechter/AFP Photo)

Human canvases modelling world famous artworks including Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Edvard Munch's The Scream take to the streets of London in a bid to mend Britain's disconnect with art on September 25, 2017. Award winning body paint artist Sarah Attwell was commissioned by online art platform Rise Art to show that great art is for everybody, following research that revealed 1 in 6 Brits have never set foot in an art gallery. (Photo by Imagewise Ltd/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Participants of the annual “SlutWalk” march through the Israeli Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv on May 4, 2018 to protest against rape culture, including sexual assault and harassment directed at women. The campaign, which has gained international notoriety, was inspired by group of Canadian women who launched the protest in 2011 in response to a policeman' s comment that if women want to avoid being attacked they should not dress like sl*ts. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP Photo)

In this Saturday, August 16, 2014 photo, Mandy Stokes stands with her daughter Molly Kate Stokes next to a large alligator weighing 1011.5 pounds measuring 15-feet long is pictured in Thomaston, Ala. The alligator was caught in the Alabama River near Camden, Ala., by Mandy Stokes and family. (Photo by Sharon Steinmann/AP Photo/Al.com)