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 groundskeeper uses a bamboo broom at Kasumigaike Pond at Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa, Japan on January 12, 2016. The japanese garden, located next to Kanazawa Castle, encompasses over 28 acres in downtown Kanazawa. With two ponds, rolling hills with streams and bridges, is considered a strolling-style landscape garden. It's regarded as one of the top three most beautiful gardens in Japan. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)

Female of pygmy hippopotamus called Malaya from Netherlands in zoo in Dvur Kralove nad Labem, Czech Republic, February 22, 2016. (Photo by David Tanecek/CTK via ZUMA Press)

An African giant pouched rat sniffs for traces of landmine explosives at APOPO's training facility in Morogoro on June 17, 2016. APOPO trains the rats to detect both tuberculosis and landmines at its facility. Every year landmines kill or maim thousands of people worldwide. The trained rats sniff for explosive and so are able to detect the presence of landmines far faster than conventional methods which involve metal detection. (Photo by Carl De Souza/AFP Photo)

A keeper feeds a four-week-old jaguar while presenting it to the media, at a zoo in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, October 14, 2015. (Photo by Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)

In this July 20, 2018 photo, Joshep Balta, a clown named “Cachupito”, peers through the tent curtain to see how many people are waiting for the show, put on by the International Circus, set up in the shanty town of Puente Piedra on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. Balta, a 12-year old clown whose parents work at the circus setting up and breaking down the encampment, was discovered by the circus two years ago when he was performing as a clown at street corners. (Photo by Martin Mejia/AP Photo)

A tamed hawk sits on a chair next to a participant during a traditional hunting contest in Almaty, Kazakhstan on December 1, 2018. (Photo by Pavel Mikheyev/Reuters)

Mave Grace, 11, who had part of her arm chopped off by militiamen when they attacked the village of Tchee, stands with her sister Racahele-Ngabausi, aged two, in an Internally Displaced Camp in Bunia, Ituri province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, April 12, 2018. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)