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)

A face mask is placed on one of the 'Three business men who brought lunch' statues on Swanston street on March 29, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. All international arrivals into Australia from midnight on Saturday will be placed into mandatory quarantine in hotels for 14 days as the Federal Government increases restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

Retired builder Vasili Sidamonidze, 70, poses for a portrait at his home in Gori, Georgia, December 6, 2016. “Unfortunately, Stalin is not popular nowadays. Our people don't respect him. Only we, members of the (Communist) Party, respect him”, Sidamonidze said. “I always try to attend Stalin's birthday anniversaries in Gori. Unfortunately many people don't want to join us even if they live nearby. They look at us from their windows”. (Photo by David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)

Madame Tussauds's wax figure of Audrey Hepburn sits at an empty table to comply with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) social distancing requirements in a dining room at Peter Luger Steak House in Brooklyn, New York U.S., February 26, 2021. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

Forrest Walker, “Police Walk”. Walker describes this shot, taken in 2015 at the last officially permitted Pride parade in Istanbul, as a tense and surreal experience. His focus is on a woman walking calmly in front of a line of riot police, her attitude part defiance and part performance. (Photo by Forrest Walker/All About Photo awards 2025 via The Guardian)

Competitors in the Big Air challenge at the Proryv-2016 festival of extreme sports in Moscow, Russia on March 27, 2016. (Photo by Xinhua/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A light installation is seen on the facade on the banks of the Saone river to pay tribute to the victims of the Paris attacks in Lyon, France, December 8, 2015. (Photo by Robert Pratta/Reuters)

A father crosses a road with his twin daughters in Shanghai, China September 28, 2018. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)