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 photo made avialable on 05 August 2015 shows an Indian woman collecting drinking water from a water pump in the submerged village of Sreerampur, some 150 kilometers north of Calcutta, India, on 04 August 2015. At least 215 people have died in floods and a landslide following monsoon rains in India over the past week, 83 deaths were reported from the western state of Gujarat and 69 from eastern West Bengal. The worst-affected states were West Bengal, Gujarat and Rajasthan, the Home Ministry said. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

A youth poses while holding two fishes before his face in Iraq's southern port city of al-Faw, 90 kilometres south of Basra near the Shatt al-Arab and the Gulf, on May 18, 2020. In Iraq, a national lockdown to halt the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has found some unexpected fans: local businesses who no longer have to compete with Turkish, Iranian or Chinese imports. Those countries, as well as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait, typically flood Iraqi markets with inexpensive products at prices local producers can't compete with. (Photo by Hussein Faleh/AFP Photo)

Why would you want to buy a Christmas tree if you have a luscious full beard? Or maybe you have a friend that is willing to volunteer? Just glue some ornaments onto his facial forest and make him stand in the corner. Just don’t forget to feed him! You don’t want your Christmas tree to go bad before the holidays are over! Stephanie Jarstad had created something similar in her project, The Twelve Bears of Christmas, in order to honor the Decembeard (much like Movember), in order to bring awareness to Men’s health problems. (Photo by Stephanie Jarstad)

Could you ever have guessed that so many superheroes would meet together in one photoshoot? This scenario becomes possible thanks to the project of Sasha Goldberger. He was able to accomplish this by transporting modern superheroes into Elizabethan era. Some of the superheroes, such as the Cat Woman and Wonder Woman, look very natural in their new old-fashioned outfits. On the other hand, Ironman and Hulk look very peculiar in their newly acquired outfits. However, such innovative approach is very popular nowadays. People are fed up with dull and uninteresting ideas, which make them grab onto anything peculiar such as this project. (Photo by Sacha Goldberger)

Marge Simpson may be many things (doting mother, long-suffering wife, erratic driver), but she’s not usually a style icon. Thanks to artist Alexsandro Palombo – known for his irreverent and colourful fashion cartoons – she is now, as he re-imagines her in some of the most iconic dresses of all time. Photo: Marge Simspon in “Fire Suit”, Thierry Mugler.

A 19-year-old Japanese macaque monkey named Monday sneezes while suffering an allergy to pollen from the cedar tree, at Awajishima Monkey Center on March 26, 2012 in Sumoto, Hyogo, Japan. Some twenty monkeys are suffering the effects of hay fever at this time of the year, with the typical symptoms being the same as with humans. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)

Japanese macaque monkeys enjoy sitting in the hot springs at Jigokudani-Onsen (Hell Valley) on January 23, 2005 in Jigokudani, Nagano-Prefecture, Japan. Japanese Macaques, also known as snow monkeys are the most northerly nonhuman primate in the world. In 1963 a female Macaque ventured into the hot springs to retrieve some soybeans. This behaviour was adopted by other monkeys, and eventually by the entire troop. This Macaque troop regularly visits the Jigokudani-Onsen springs to escape the cold. The hot springs are said to help relieve nerve pain and fatigue. (Photo by Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images)