An American robin feeds on holly berries in a thicket near Elkton in southwestern Oregon on November 16, 2024. Many birds can safely consume holly berries, including blackbirds, redwings, and thrushes. There is an old wives tale that if you see a bird eating a berry, it is safe for humans to eat, but this is not true. Birds consume many plants that are poisonous to humans, holly berries included. (Photo by Robin Loznak/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

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 Chesterfield Borough Police telephone operator tests a gasmask with built in earpiece and microphone. The telephone service is considered one of the most important links in the coordination of ARP operations and must remain operational during air raids, 12th April 1939. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Play-fighting cheetah siblings at the Zimanga game reserve in South Africa in the second decade of November 2024 were spotted by Gavin Bickerton-Jones, an amateur photographer, who said: “It is a bit scary at first being so close, but also a privilege for them to let you share their space”. (Photo by Gavin Bickerton-Jones/Solent News)

A walrus takes centre stage after barging another out of the way to be in a photograph in Svalbard, between mainland Norway and the North Pole in January 2025. (Photo by Olav Thokle/Syndicated Photos/Solent News)

Miners pulling up lazy tourists to the rim of Kawah Ijen (Ijen Volcano), East Java, Indonesia on September 21, 2017. They will earn as much as they would bring down a load of sulfur. Nomadic Explorer, Cultural Lifestyle Photographer Claudio Sieber captured striking images of miners working at Ijen volcanic range in East Java, Indonesia. The sulphur miners risk their lives daily as they climb the active volcano carrying heavy loads, which they sell to sugar refineries. (Photo by Claudio Sieber/Barcroft Images)

Peasants celebrate a traditional festival “Corpus Cristhi” since the time of the conquest, in Anolaima in the department of Cundinamarca, Colombia on June 29, 2022. Peasants collect all kinds of fruits and assemble great representative figures in gratitude to God for this festival. (Photo by Yair Suarez/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

In this Sunday, March 2, 2014 photo, animal barber Mohamed Mahmoud shaves a customer's initials onto the rump of a donkey in Cairo, Egypt. Clients typically request for regular trims to keep animals cool in the summer, initials in English letters, and patterns – but sometimes they give Mahmoud full creative license. (Photo by Maya Alleruzzo/AP Photo)