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)

Children play on top of a cargo ship that was swept during the onslaught of Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban city in central Philippines November 2, 2015, ahead of the second anniversary of a devastating typhoon that killed more than 6,000 people in central Philippines. The front part of the ship was retained in the area and made into a memorial and will be inaugurated on November 8 to commemorate the second anniversary of Typhoon Haiyan. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

A fledgling solar system containing deep within it enough water vapor to fill all the oceans on Earth five times, located in our Milky Way galaxy about 1,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Perseus. (Photo by Reuters/NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen walks the ramp to showcase the creation of designer Sunita Shanker during Lakme fashion week winter 2018 in Mumbai, India, Thursday, August 23, 2018. (Photo by Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo)

Morocco player Yassine Bounou's son, Isaac, plays on the pitch after the country's World Cup win against Portugal at Al Thumama Stadium in Doha, Qatar on December 10, 2022. (Photo by Carl Recine/Reuters)

A man shows his tattoos at the 7th Hong Kong China International Tattoo Convention in Hong Kong on August 25, 2023. (Photo by Isaac Lawrence/AFP Photo)

Dogs and humans dressed in all manner of costume participate in the 32nd Annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade inside Tompkins Square Park on October 22, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew Schwartz/Splash News and Pictures)

English television presenter Maya Jama attends The Fashion Awards 2022 at the Royal Albert Hall on December 05, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Backgrid UK)