A gilrl plays games in a shopping mall in Beijing, China, 24 November 2021. Demographers in China have called for more efficient implementation of supportive measures to encourage births to address the country's dwindling population growth as country's birthrate last year was 8.52 births per thousand people, the lowest level since 1978, according China Statistical Yearbook 2021. (Photo by Wu Hong/EPA/EFE)

In this image released on November 2, model Alva Claire is seen during Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 4 presented by Prime Video in Simi Valley, California; and broadcast on November 9, 2022. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 4 presented by Prime Video)

England fans react as their team scores during the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 Semi Final match between England and Australia, at Boxpark Wembley on August 16, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

An Afghan burqa-clad woman with children ride a donkey in Kishim district of Badakhshan province on October 12, 2023. (Photo by Omer Abrar/AFP Photo)

Debbie Barton from Blufton, South Carolina, asks supporters of Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump to sign a petition calling for one day of voting and the eradication of voting machines, ahead of a “Team Trump” event in Beaufort, South Carolina, U.S. February 21, 2024. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

A witch doctor prepares an offering for the inauguration of the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Defense of Life, prior to the World Climate Change Conference, in Tiquipaya, Bolivia, October 10, 2015. Almost 150 nations, including major emitters led by China and the United States, have submitted plans to the United Nations for curbing greenhouse gas emissions blamed by the U.N. for causing more floods, droughts and heat waves. France will host the conference in Le Bourget, near Paris, from November 30 to December 11, 2015. (Photo by David Mercado/Reuters)

A man hugs a child at the Santuario de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe during a celebration on the Virgin of Guadalupe Day in Guatemala City, December 12, 2015. According to Catholic believers, December 12 marks the anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe at the Cerro del Tepeyac in Mexico. (Photo by Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)

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)