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)

American soldiers leaping from an armoured personnel carrier during exercises in Korea, 17th March 1954. (Photo by Three Lions)

A wounded Syrian girl looks on at a make shift hospital in the rebel-held area of Douma, east of the capital Damascus, following shelling and air raids by Syrian government forces on August 22, 2015. At least 20 civilians and wounded or trapped 200 in Douma, a monitoring group said, just six days after regime air strikes killed more than 100 people and sparked international condemnation of one of the bloodiest government attacks in Syria's war. (Photo by Abd Doumany/AFP Photo)

Fans dressed up in costume await the cast members on the red carpet at the world premiere of the film "The Avengers: Endgame" in Los Angeles, California, April 22, 2019. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

A child carrying a small broom walks by a line of National Guard members deployed to Bellevue Square as community members clean up after looting and vandalism that occurred Sunday at Bellevue Square in downtown Bellevue, Washington, U.S. June 1, 2020. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Reuters)

Sеx worker Moira Mona wears a mask at her studio where she creates videos near Amsterdam, Netherlands on June 30, 2020. (Photo by Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)

At a beauty contest to select the nation's Queen of Height during the first national convention of Tall People's Clubs in New York on July 29, 1949, little Charlie Young, only three feet, eleven inches tall, acting as judge, had a tough time making up his mind for the choice. The national minimum height requirement for women members is 5 feet 10 inches, and for men, 6 feet. (Photo by Robert Kradin/AP Photo)

A Boeing 777-300 from Swiss International Airlines lands on a foggy morning at Zurich Airport, on Friday, October 13, 2017, in Zurich, Switzerland. The high humidity renders the air vortex visible. (Photo by Christian Merz/Keystone via AP Photo)