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 February 19, 2017 photo, a couple dances during the “If you don't give me....then you lend me” Carnival street party on Ipanema beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The typical view of Carnival in Brazil is anything goes, with no headdress too big, no outfit too small, no song too ribald, but this year some organizers of the world's best known party are drawing the line at lyrics that are sexist, homophobic or racist. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

An air raid drill at Seattle College caught students William Bates, left, and Edna Mae Farrell, right, while they were eating their lunch in the school café, but they simply took shelter under the table and continued eating in Seattle, Washington, March 17, 1942. Air raid wardens said 350 students left their classrooms and assembled in shelters within one minute in first at the college. (Photo by AP Photo)

A woman yawns as she sits outside a hospital on a cold winter morning in Srinagar January 3, 2019. (Photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters)

Even upside down, a stereophonic turntable continues to play and hold the interest of Helen Sorowitz, a visitor to the New York High Fidelity Show in New York, September 9, 1960. (Photo by Ruben Goldberg/AP Photo)

Most Russians intending to vote for Vladimir Putin in Sunday's election say stability is at the root of their faith in their candidate – though many young voters believe it's time for a change of leader. Putin, 65, is expected to win a fourth term in office with 69 percent of the vote, according to the latest survey by a state-run pollster. Reuters correspondents and photographers who travelled around the country talking to voters ahead of the March 18 election found nothing to contradict expectation of an emphatic Putin victory. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)

Two Girls who managed to evade the police walk away as police on foot and horseback push back to te curd at Park Row, In New York on April 26, 1960, A milling throng of more than 1,000 High students who storned city hall in a Demonstration supporting teachers wage demands. (Photo by AP Photo)

A handout TV grab made available by the Demiroren News Agency (DHA) on September 12, 2020, shows a freak sandstorm sweeping over Polatli, in Ankara, on September 12, 2020. A freak sandstorm hit Ankara on September 12, 2020, the Turkish capital's mayor said, as officials said six people were injured after strong winds. (Photo by Handout/DHA via AFP Photo)