Gloria Lincoln-Thompson carries her 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol in her waistband during a rally in support of the Michigan Open Carry gun law in Romulus, Michigan, in this April 27, 2014 file photo. (Photo by Rebecca Cook/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)

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

People attend the New Year's eve gala of youth and students at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea Sunday, December 31, 2023. (Photo by Jon Chol Jin/AP Photo)

People jump over the fire wearing traditional Russian village-style clothes as they celebrate the summer solstice with a bonfire in the village of Okunevo, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of the Siberian city of Omsk, Russia, in Okunevo, Russia, late Thursday, June 20, 2024. (Photo by Evgeniy Sofiychuk/AP Photo)

A reveller falls over into the road in Newcastle, Britain, July 4, 2020 on the day pubs and restaurants were finally allowed to reopen. (Photo by North News and Pictures)

Yi Arias, a CORE crew member in an upbeat mood at COVID-19 mass-vaccination of healthcare workers taking place at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 15, 2021 (Photo by Irfan Khan/Pool via Reuters)

A woman gets a throat swab during a public COVID testing outside a shopping mall on Sunday, May 22, 2022, in Beijing. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)