Adventurer Sam Cossman movies towards the huge lava lake wearing a custom built industrial proximity heat suit on December 20, 2014 in Ambrym, Vanuatu. (Photo by Conor Toumarkine/Barcroft Media)

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 member of a feminist group performs during a rally to celebrate International Women's Day in Santiago, Chile, March 8, 2021. (Photo by Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

Participants take part in a high-wheel bicycle race in the Frederick county, in Maryland, United States on July 15, 2023. (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A worker stands next to a Southern Two-toed Sloth at the Sloth and Friends Studio inside Hong Kong Ocean Park on August 3, 2023 in Hong Kong, China. (Photo by Vernon Yuen/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

In this handout image provided by Red Bull, Jessica Macaulay of Canada dives from the 22 metre platform during the final competition day of the sixth stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series on September 11, 2022 at Sisikon, Switzerland. (Photo by Romina Amato/Red Bull via Getty Images)

A woman walks through flood water during heavy downpour at a street in Genoa, Italy, 10 October 2014. At least one person died due to flooding after heavy rains caused the Bisagno river, which runs through Genoa city to overflow. Part of the city was in black-out with flooded streets and parked cars dragged away by the water's force. (Photo by Luca Zennaro/EPA)

A child sitting in a washbowl filled with water cools himself as civilians struggle with protecting themselves from the dangers of extreme heat at the refugee camp, in Idlib, Syria on July 13, 2023. The civilians, who fled from the attacks of the Syrian Army, live under harsh conditions without infrastructure and electricity while the temperature reaches 47 Celsius in the region. (Photo by Izzeddin Kasim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)