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)

In this Friday, January 24, 2014 photo, Afghan refugee girl, Robina Haseeb, 5, poses for a picture, while playing with other children in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. (Photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP Photo)

Jesinta Campbell arrives at “Bridesmaids” Celebrity Girls Night Out to celebrate the Australian premiere at Event Cinemas George Street on June 14, 2011 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams)

A woman and a girl in a school uniform run past a barricade of burning tires during a demonstration against high prices and fuel shortages, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on October 21, 2021. (Photo by Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters)

Girls in floral crowns jump across the bonfire while holding hands during the Kupala Night celebration at the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life in Pyrohiv, Kyiv, capital of Ukraine. (Photo by Ukrinform/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A girl covers her face as she is daubed in colours during the religious festival of Holi inside a temple in Nandgaon village, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, March 5, 2020. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

A man throws water on a girl playing in a pool, during a hot weather, amid concerns over the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Sidon, southern Lebanon on May 21, 2020. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Reuters)

A girl looks out of a car at a checkpoint set up by Venezuelan security forces in Taguanes, Venezuela, February 21, 2019. (Photo by Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters)