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 colorful sky at sunset over the snowy mountains in Immenstadt, Bavaria, Germany, 20 November 2014. Cloudy weather is forecast in the region on 21 November. (Photo by Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/EPA)

Folk artists perform at an local opera ahead of Lantern Festival to celebrate Lunar New Year, in Tianshui, Gansu province, China, February 10, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A man carries his dog as he prays during Vesak Day, an annual celebration of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death, at Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon temple in Ayutthaya, Thailand, May 10, 2017. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

A picture made available 26 April 2016 shows a tiger playing in the water with a trainer nicknamed “Super Tiger Man” at the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi province, Thailand, 24 April 2016. The site known in Thai as “Wat Pa Luangta Maha Bua Yannasampanno” has been the focus of a dispute with the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) after the DNP asked in 2015 that the temple hands over its 147 tigers since it was not licensed to keep them. The temple has requested for a zoo license according to its managing director. (Photo by Diego Azubel/EPA)

Men carry a dog, wearing a costume and seated on a stool, as a form of respect as they believe that dogs found water for their ancestors, during a local festival for the Miao ethnic minority in Jianhe county, Guizhou Province, China, August 14, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

Brides display their hands decorated with henna around a bride as she poses for her own photographer during a mass marriage ceremony in which, according to its organizers, 70 Muslim couples took their wedding vows, in Ahmedabad, India, February 11, 2018. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

Most Russians intending to vote for Vladimir Putin in Sunday's election say stability is at the root of their faith in their candidate – though many young voters believe it's time for a change of leader. Putin, 65, is expected to win a fourth term in office with 69 percent of the vote, according to the latest survey by a state-run pollster. Reuters correspondents and photographers who travelled around the country talking to voters ahead of the March 18 election found nothing to contradict expectation of an emphatic Putin victory. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)