Patients from Rady Children's Hospital hug a bottlenose dolphin after being invited to swim and interact with dolphins at Sea World in San Diego, California August 27, 2015. Sea World has hosted Dolphin Interaction Program for seven years. It was started by dolphin trainer Joy Soto who battled and overcame non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)

Vendors selling candied haws wait for customers at the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin, China, January 4, 2016. The festival is open from Jan. 5 till Feb. 5, 2016, and is aimed at attracting both foreign and local visitors to experience the beauty of the ice and snow. (Photo by Wang Zhao/AFP Photo)

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 seagull who turned bright orange after he plunged into a vat of chicken tikka masala in Beckford, England on June 9, 2016. The bird fell into a container of the food while trying to scavenge a piece of meat from a food factory bin in Wales. (Photo by Vale Wildlife Hospital/PA Wire)

Elise Graham takes part in the World Bog Snorkelling Championships 2017 with a rubber duck on her back on August 27, 2017 in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales. The competition draws competitors from all over the world and is now in its 32nd year. (Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)

Daredevil motorcycle rider Captain Shivam Singh (C) from the “Tornadoes” motorcycle acrobatic team of the Indian Armed Forces comes out ablaze after catching fire while riding his bike through a tunnel of fire during an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records in Bangalore on November 10, 2020. Shivam Singh broke the Guinness Book of World Records passing 127 m and escaped with minor injuries. (Photo by Manjunath Kiran/AFP Photo)

Switzerland's cyclist Marlen Reusser reacts after placing second in the women' elite time trial race of the UCI World Championships Road Cycling Flanders 2021, in Bruges, on September 20, 2021. UCI World Championships Road Cycling Flanders 2021 takes place from September 19 until September 26, 2021, in several cities in the Belgian region of Flanders. (Photo by Simon Wilkinson/BELGA via AFP Photo)

Annabelle, 13, and her sister Estelle, 10, both artistic gymnasts from Borna, hang from the rings during their training, ahead of the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023, the world's largest sports movement for people with intellectual disabilities, at the Federal base for competitive gymnastic artistics in Chemnitz, Germany on May 6, 2023. (Photo by Annegret Hilse/Reuters)