Couples kiss during a kissing contest in Wuhan, Hubei province, November 23, 2014. Some 20 couples attended the contest and the winners have been awarded an iPhone 6, according to local media. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A devotee lights oil lamps at a religious ceremony during the Diwali or Deepavali festival at a Hindu temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka October 18, 2017. Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, marks the triumph of good over evil, and commemorates the return of Hindu deity Rama to his birthplace Ayodhya after victory against the demon king Ravana. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

Internally displaced Syrians who fled Raqqa tie ropes for their tents in a camp in Manbij, Syria on April 6, 2017. (Photo by Rodi Said/Reuters)

Chinese women run with a ball on a snow covered field in Shenyang in China's northeastern Liaoning province during International Women's Day on March 8, 2018. International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 every year and commemorates the movement for women's rights. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)

An Indian Hindu devotee celebrates Holi, the spring festival of colours, during a traditional gathering at a temple in Nandgaon village in Uttar Pradesh state on March 16, 2019. Holi, the popular Hindu spring festival of colours is observed in India at the end of the winter season on the last full moon of the lunar month. (Photo by Noemi Cassanelli/AFP Photo)

Runners high-five children cheering from the sidewalk as they begin the half marathon during the Ottawa Race Weekend, which returned from a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa, Canada on Sunday, May 29, 2022. (Photo by Canadian Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Young female Ibex on the fork of Disteis (2,200 m), near the top of the Jof di Montasio (Friuli, Italy). (Photo by Stefano Zocca)

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)