New York City policemen tangled with demonstrators at a subway station on the opening day of the New York World's Fair, April 22, 1964. Youths attempted to stall the train, which was headed from the city to the fairgrounds, as a form of protest on behalf of civil rights for blacks. (Photo by Charles Gorry/AP Photo)

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)

Extraordinary tales of everyday heroism have been illustrated beautifully by renowned US photographer Steve McCurry in the new 2015 Lavazza Calendar. The calendar which has been created in collaboration with the Slow Food movement, features twelve breathtaking pictures, capturing the spirit, strength and humanity of the Earth Defenders – women and men who protect their land and projects in Africa with passion and bravery. The proceeds from sales of the calendar and all donations will be contributed entirely to create 10,000 food gardens in African schools and villages by the end of 2016. (Photo by Steve McCurry/2015 Lavazza Calendar)

A Scots soldier has won a top award for his photos vividly depicting Army life in Afghanistan. Corporal Jamie Peters took the overall first prize for his portfolio in the annual Army Photographic Competition. Photo: Jamie's overall winning image entitled “Celtic Warrior” and shows Private Ross Cunningham from 1 Scots cleaning his personal weapon. (Photo by Jamie Peters/PA Wire)

A parishioner of the St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Nairobi's Kangemi slum carries the vestments to be worn by Pope Francis during his visit to Kenya on November 24, 2015 in Kenya. Pope Francis makes his first visit to Kenya on a five day African tour that is scheduled to include Uganda and the Central African Republic. Africa is recognised as being crucial to the future of the Catholic Church with the continent's Catholic numbers growing faster than anywhere else in the world. (Photo by Nichole Sobecki/Getty Images)

Father Juan Manuel Villar blesses a dog during the feast of San Anton, the patron saint of animals, at the San Anton church on January 17, 2012 in the center of Madrid, Spain. San Anton is honored by many Catholic churches in Spain where thousands of animal lovers flock to their nearest place of worship to have their animals blessed. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)

A woman poses for pictures with skulls made of cardboard placed on an altar next to the San Francisco church in Mexico City during the celebration of All Souls Day on November 2, 2015. (Photo by Yuri Cortez/AFP Photo)

Black Nazarene devotees clamber on top of one another to to touch the cross on January 9, 2015 in Manila, Philippines. The Feast of the Black Nazarene culminates in a day long procession on January 9 as barefoot devotees march to see and touch the image of the Black Nazarene. The Black Nazarene is a dark wood sculpture of Jesus brought to the Philippines in 1606 from Spain and considered miraculous by Filipino devotees. The event falls a week ahead of the visit of Pope Francis who will travel to Leyte and Manila during his visit to the Philippines from January 15–19. The visit is expected to attract crowds in the millions as Filipino Catholics flock to catch a glimpse of the leader of the Catholic Church. The Philippines is the only Catholic majority nation in Asia with around 90 percent of the population professing the faith. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)