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)
Double amputee dog Cora Rose balances on her hind legs to watch Zach Skow repairing her cart on a street in Washington, U.S., May 15, 2019. Cora Rose serves in a prisoner therapy program founded by Skow called “Pawsitive Change” in California. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
A girl wearing a mask to help curb the spread of the corona virus runs through a fountain in Beijing, China, Thursday, August 26, 2021. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)
A woman poses for a picture next to a caterpillar-tracked Bentley Continental GT, which was modified by Russian car engineering enthusiasts, during a demonstration in St. Petersburg, Russia on June 7, 2019. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)
Actors dressed as a “Yeti” attend a promotional event for Travel Channel's “Expedition Unknown: Hunt for the Yeti” in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., October 4, 2016. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
Hannan Iskandar gets ready before she starts to drive her car in her neighborhood, in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia on June 24, 2018. Saudi Arabia ended its longstanding ban on women driving on June 24, 2018 – and the second the clock struck midnight, women across the country started their engines. (Photo by Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters)