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)

Cottbus Aviation Museum specialists prepare a Soviet Tupolev 134 A passenger plane for dismantlement in Gruenz, Germany, 10 July 2017. The team is preparing the 29 ton plane for transport from a garden in Gruenz to the Aviation Museum in Cottbus. The plane' s owner acquired it in 1991 and transported it with nine tractors and numerous helpers to his vegetable garden where he planned to open a cafe. The plane, formerly used by the East German Stasi for anti- terror operations training, is 30 metres long. (Photo by Jens Büttner/Zentralbild/DPA)

A spot-billed pelican sits on a street light in Colombo on March 16, 2021. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

Dressed in ancient Chinese clothes, children at a local kindergarten dance and make traditional perfumed medicine bag to celebrate the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival, Ganyu district, Lianyungang city, east China's Jiangsu province, 19 June 2020. (Photo by Imaginechina via AP Images)

A man looks inside an overturned truck after an accident along the road between Nouahibou and Nouakchott, Mauritania December 3, 2009. (Photo by Rafael Marchante/Reuters)

Canadian fashion model Winnie Harlow and American rapper Doja Cat attend Darren Dzienciol & Richie Akiva's Oscar Party 2021 on April 25, 2021 in Bel Air, California. (Photo by Rochelle Brodin/Getty Images for Darren Dzienciol)

Jean-Pierre Giagnoli walks through a crowded area of vendors hawking cat related goods at CatCon LA in Los Angeles, on Sunday, June 26, 2016. (Photo by Richard Vogel/AP Photo)

Australian professional boxer Ebanie Bridges at the weigh-in ahead of their IBF World Bantamweight Title fight against Shannon O'Connell during the weigh in at Aspire, Leeds, United Kingdom on Friday, December 9, 2022. (Photo by Andrew Couldridge/Action Images via Reuters)