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)

Tourists visit the Corral Canyon Cave in Malibu, Calif., Friday, May, 6, 2016. The cave, better known by the misleading moniker “Jim Morrison Cave” is now closed to the public until further notice. Large crowds have shown up on a daily basis to see the often vandalized cave and in some cases add to the vandalism with graffiti of their own. (Photo by Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)

A handout picture provided by the press service of MORTON Group of Companies, show the balloon of Russian adventurer Fedor Konyukhov in the sky during his solo round-the-world balloon flight just after taking off from a spot near Northam, 96 kilometres north-east of Perth in Western Australia, 12 July 2016. Fedor Konyukhov took off from Northam on 12 July 2016 in attempt to beat the record of 13 days of American aviator Steve Fossett. (Photo by EPA/Morton Press Service)

Crew members work to secure a hot-air balloon after landing at the city of Luxor, south of Cairo, Egypt December 13, 2016. (Photo by Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

As the official airline of Middle-earth, Air New Zealand has gone all out to celebrate the third and final film in The Hobbit Trilogy – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Starring Elijah Wood and Sir Peter Jackson; we're thrilled to unveil The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made

A hot air-balloon flies during the International Lorraine Mondial Air Balloons Festival, in Chambley-Bussieres, eastern France, Friday, July 26, 2013. (Photo by Mathieu Cugnot/AP Photo)

National Geographic has created “Air, Land & Sea: the 50 greatest wildlife photographs” exhibition. Here: CT4 Crocodile cave on the Salamat river. Set up with Nathan Williamson last chip rain came while we were with the nomads. (Photo by Michael Nichols/National Geographic)

Željava Air Base, situated on the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina under Plješevica Mountain, near the city of Bihać, Bosnia, was the largest underground airport and military air base in the former Yugoslavia, and one of the largest in Europe. (Photo by Thomas Windisch/Exclusivepix Media)