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 Nepalese woman sits inside her house in an alley of Bhaktapur, 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) east of Kathmandu, Monday, May 25, 2015, one month after the deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal. Two powerful earthquakes devastated Nepal on April 25 and May 12, killing nearly 8,700 people and injuring 16,800 others. The quakes and aftershocks also triggered many landslides in the Himalayan nation, which boasts eight of the world's highest mountains gets about half a million tourists every year, with many coming to trek the Himalayan nation's scenic mountain trails. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

Wellcome trust employee Zoe Middleton poses behind an artwork entitled “My Soul” by Katharine Dowson, which consists of a laser etched lead chrystal glass formation in the shape of a brain, and was created using the artists own MRI Scan, at Wellcome Collection on March 27, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

These Arab recruits line up in a barracks square in the British Mandate of Palestine, on December 28, 1940, for their first drill under a British solider. Some 6,000 Palestinian Arabs signed up with the British Army during the course of World War II. (AP Photo)

An employee in a bookshop adjusts packaged cigarettes which have to be sold in identical olive-brown packets bearing the same typeface and largely covered with graphic health warnings, with the same style of writing so the only identifier of a brand will be the name on the packet, in Sydney on December 1, 2012. A new world-first law forcing tobacco companies to sell cigarettes in identical packets came into effect Saturday in Australia in an effort to strip any glamour from smoking and prevent young people from taking up the habit. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

Revelers march in the Lower Ninth Ward during a second line parade marking the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

2021 Miss Universe Harnaaz Sandhu from India struggles to keep her crown on in the wind, as she arrives on the observation level of the Empire State Building in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S. January 12, 2022. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

A light installation called “Run Beyond” by Angelo Bonello is seen on the launch day of the Light Festival at Battersea Power station on January 13, 2022 in London, England. Running from January 13 to February 27, the curated collection of installations includes work by six artists, with two displays making their UK exhibition debut. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)