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)

Norway's Casper Ruud jumps in a swimming pool after winning the Barcelona Open in the final match against Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas in Barcelona, Spain, on April 21, 2024. (Photo by Albert Gea/Reuters)

In this Monday, April 27, 2015 photo, a Nepalese man walks over fallen rocks and past a crushed car on the way to Dhunche, Nepal, a village in Langtang National Park, two days after a 7.8-magnatude earthquake hit the region. The photographer, Joe Sieder, said the man was part of a group of Nepalese workers and trekkers who left Syabrubesi earlier that day and hiked about 30 km (19 miles) for 13 hours, mostly over boulder-strewn roads with some small landslides along the way to make their way to a passable road. (Photo by Joe Sieder via AP Photo)

A beggar who lay at the side of a road pretending he had no legs was moved on by police who made him stand up and walk away. The man lay slumped on his front in Chengdu, in Sichuan Province, China, with his legs tucked under him, and his jeans stretched out to make it appear he had no legs. He is approached by a police officer, who bends down and talks to him for some moments. The officer then reaches out and helps the man to his feet before guiding him across the road. Chengdu is one of a number of cities where officials have tried to clamp down on begging. (Photo by Rex Features)

“Bear Grylls, (born Edward Michael Grylls, 7 June 1974) is an English adventurer, writer and television presenter. He is best known for his television series Man vs. Wild, known as Born Survivor in the United Kingdom. He was the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest, doing so at age 23. In July 2009, Grylls was appointed the youngest ever Chief Scout at the age of 35”. – Wikipedia

Photos: Passer inspects “Camelot”, a replica camel carcass simulating that used by adventurer Bear Grylls to shelter in the Sahara desert during an episode of the Discovery Channel's “Man Vs. Wild”, in Wynyard Park on March 1, 2010 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Discovery Channel via Getty Images)

A man takes a photograph of his friend as thick smoke rises from a fire, which broke out at oil wells set ablaze by Islamic State militants before they fled the oil-producing region of Qayyara, Iraq, January 28, 2017. (Photo by Muhammad Hamed/Reuters)

An ethnic Lisu man dances barefoot on hot charcoal embers to celebrate the annual Knife Pole Festival in Luzhang township of Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan province, China, March 29, 2018. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

A man uses a scissors to make intricate decorative patterns on a camel's back before displaying it for sale at a makeshift cattle market ahead of the Eid al-Adha festival in Karachi, Pakistan, September 9, 2016. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)