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 exhausted Rohingya refugee woman touches the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of Bengal, in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh, September 11, 2017. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

A girl in a vamire costume poses for pictures during the traditional park picnic on the first day of the annual Wave-Gotik Treffen, or Wave and Goth Festival, on May 17, 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. The four-day festival, in which elaborate fashion is a must, brings together over 20,000 Wave, Goth and steam punk enthusiasts from all over the world for concerts, readings, films, a Middle Ages market and workshops. (Photo by Marco Prosch)

American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo accepts the Grammy award for Best Pop Vocal Album for “Sour” during the 64th Annual Grammy Awards show in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., April 3, 2022. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

A goat named “White On The Right” bleats as it is paraded with other goats prior to a race during the annual Easter goat racing event at the Mount Pleasant recreation ground in Tobago April 6, 2015. (Photo by Andrea De Silva/Reuters)

“The Crimean War (October 1853 – February 1856) was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire. Most of the conflict took place on the Crimean Peninsula, but there were smaller campaigns in western Anatolia, Caucasus, the Baltic Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the White Sea”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A vivandiere, a female soldier selling provisions and spirits, with the Allied forces during the Crimean War. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Flying pigeons pass over Nepalese street vendors near the earthquake damaged UNESCO World Heritage Site, Durbar Square in Kathmandu on May 20, 2015. Nearly 8,500 people have now been confirmed dead in the disaster, which destroyed more than half a million homes and left huge numbers of people without shelter with just weeks to go until the monsoon rains. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

A woman shoots her rifle at a forest shooting range near the village of Visnova, Czech Republic, June 9, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)