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 youth poses while holding two fishes before his face in Iraq's southern port city of al-Faw, 90 kilometres south of Basra near the Shatt al-Arab and the Gulf, on May 18, 2020. In Iraq, a national lockdown to halt the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has found some unexpected fans: local businesses who no longer have to compete with Turkish, Iranian or Chinese imports. Those countries, as well as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait, typically flood Iraqi markets with inexpensive products at prices local producers can't compete with. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)

Tsewang Dolma, 33, a farmer and housewife poses for a photograph in Matho, a village nestled high in the Indian Himalayas, India September 29, 2016. When asked how living in the world's fastest growing major economy had affected life, Dolma replied: “Our culture is spoiled now. We don't wear our traditional dress”. (Photo by Cathal McNaughton/Reuters)

A relative, right, breaks down as rescuers carry the body of a victim after 14 coaches of an overnight passenger train rolled off the track near Pukhrayan village Kanpur Dehat district, Uttar Pradesh state, India, Sunday, November 20, 2016. Dozens were killed and dozens more were injured in the accident. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

An elephant is used to demolish a house during an eviction drive inside Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Gauhati, Assam, India, Monday, November 27, 2017. Indian police on Monday took the unusual step of using elephants in an attempt to evict hundreds of people living illegally in the protected forest area in the country's remote northeast. Police used bulldozers and the elephants in a show of force, and the forest dwellers responded by hurling rocks. (Photo by Anupam Nath/AP Photo)

An Indian nomadic Gujjar girl hangs on to a horse cart after collecting bricks from debris on the outskirts of Jammu, India, Tuesday, March 7, 2017. The Gujjar tribal communities are considered by some to be economically and socially backward and the lack of care by the state government has led to resentment amongst the community. The tribe moves to the plains from the hills to escape the cold winters. (Photo by Channi Anand/AP Photo)

Tiharu Ram, 70, a follower of Ramnami Samaj, who has tattooed the name of the Hindu god Ram on his face, poses for a picture outside his house in the village of Chandlidi, in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh, India, November 16, 2015. Denied entry to temples and forced to use separate wells, low-caste Hindus in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh first tattooed their bodies and faces more than 100 years ago as an act of defiance and devotion. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

A bride gets her make-up done before the start of a mass marriage ceremony in Kolkata, India, February 14, 2016. A total of 150 tribal Hindu, Muslim and Christian couples from various villages across the state took their wedding vows on Sunday during the day-long mass marriage ceremony organised by a social organisation, the organisers said. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)