A chicken seller carries his chickens on his head in the market in Peshawar, Pakistan, August 20, 2015. (Photo by Khuram Parvez/Reuters)

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)

An employee operates a machine while attaching a lock to a silver chain at the jewelry department of the Krastsvetmet non-ferrous metals plant, one of the world's largest producers in the precious metals industry, in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, December 14, 2016. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Serge Huguenin of the Blondeau foundry takes the newly melted bell out of the mould in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland January 21, 2016. At this year's Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, no matter how elaborate the opening ceremony or how sophisticated the live broadcasts, the final lap of athletics races will be announced the traditional way by ringing an old-fashioned bell. Omega, the official timekeeper of the event, has ordered 21 bells, forged almost entirely by hand by Blondeau's Bell Foundry in the Jura Mountains in Switzerland. Each last-lap bell is branded with the RIO 2016 logo and circled with the words “2016 GAMES OF THE XXXI OLYMPIAD”. (Photo by Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

Peter Carberry riding Gabbys Cross falls off during the Randox Grand National Chase during day three of the Randox Grand National Festival at Aintree Racecourse on April 15, 2023 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Dark clouds hang over the Great Belt Bridge connecting Nyborg and Halsskov, Denmark, on June 26, 2023. (Photo by Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AFP Photo)

The burning Polaris of Jose Antonio Blangino of Argentina sits in the sand dunes during stage one of the 2012 Dakar Rally from Mar Del Plata to Santa Rosa de la Pampa on January 1, 2012 in Santa Rosa de la Pampa, Argentina. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)