A volunteer feeds a swift chick after it was found on the ground during a heatwave and given to the Centre Ornithologique de Readaptation in Genthod near Geneva, Switzerland on July 25, 2023. (Photo by Denis Balibouse/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)

An Iraqi special forces soldier wears a rose in his body armor as troops move from the Yarmouk neighborhood to take another district from Islamic State militant control in Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, April 12, 2017. (Photo by Maya Alleruzzo/AP Photo)

A young tiger tries to get at poultry parts hidden in a pumpkin at Magdeburg Zoo, Germany on October 30, 2025. The zoo is celebrating Halloween from October 31, 2025 to November 1, 2025. In addition to the puppet theater, children's carousel and children's train, visitors can carve their own pumpkins, which are then distributed to the zoo animals and serve as food. (Photo by Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/Avalon)

2016 Rio Olympics, Athletics, Women's Heptathlon Javelin Throw, Groups, Olympic Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 13, 2016. Evelis Aguilar (COL) of Colombia competes in Javelin group A women's heptathlon. (Photo by Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

A performer dressed as Empress Huang of the China's Forbidden City takes part in a musical performance at a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur on January 22, 2017 as part of the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations marking the Year of the Rooster. (Photo by Manan Vatsyayana/AFP Photo)

Four orphan barn owl chicks were found weak from hunger and thirst after their mother's death, are under treatment at the Dicle Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center before being released back into their natural habitat on September 23, 2025, in Diyarbakir, Turkiye. (Photo by Bestami Bodruk/Anadolu via Getty Images)

This photo taken on January 30, 2020 shows officials in protective suits checking on an elderly man wearing a facemask who collapsed and died on a street near a hospital in Wuhan. AFP journalists saw the body on January 30, not long before an emergency vehicle arrived carrying police and medical staff in full-body protective suits. The World Health Organization declared a global emergency over the new coronavirus, as China reported on January 31 the death toll had climbed to 213 with nearly 10,000 infections. (Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP Photo)