NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC’S BEST SCIENCE PICTURES

Some of science's most powerful statements are not made in words but in pictures.

Shown below are stunning winning photos from the International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge competition held in 2011 and 2010. Sponsored jointly by the journal Science and the National Science Foundation (NSF), the annual challenge was founded because "some of science's most powerful statements are not made in words," according to NSF. Overall, "the spirit of the competition is for communicating science, engineering, and technology for education and journalistic purposes." Judging criteria included visual impact, effective communication, freshness, and originality. 

1. Tiny 2-D "Frontier"

Photograph courtesy B. Anasori, M. Naguib, Y. Gogotsi, and M. Barsoum, Drexel University.

Weakly bonded particles that resemble a russet cliff in the U.S. Southwest won the people's choice award for photography in the 2011 competition. The layered solid - which resembles graphene, a main component of pencil lead - represents a new family of two-dimensional materials called MXene, according to co-creator Babak Anasori of Drexel University in Philadelphia. The 2-D material has unique properties that could lead to advances in fields such as energy-storage technology, the researchers say.

2. New Look at Mouse Eyes

Photograph courtesy Bryan William Jones, University of Utah.

A cross-section of a mouse eye reveals complex signs of metabolism - chemical changes in cells that release energy - in the eye's tissues. The picture won first place in the contest's photography category. To create the image, Bryan William Jones "assigned" colours to three organic molecules found in mouse eyes: taurine (red), glutamine (green), and glutamate (blue). The resulting range of hues comes from different molecular concentrations in the more than 70 classes of cell in the eye. For instance, the deep blue in the middle is optic fibre, while concentric rings of pink represent photoreceptor cells. (See "Mice Get 'Human' Vision in Gene Experiment.")

3. Death of a Tumour

Illustration courtesy E. Paul and Q. Paul, Echo Medical Media, and R. Gamble, UAB Insight.

Green, T-shaped drug molecules fight "scary-looking, tentacled" breast cancer cells in an image that earned Emiko Paul of Echo Medical Media an honourable mention in the illustrations category. The drug - called TRA-8 - locks into the cancer cells' "death receptors," so that the cells eventually die, Paul said via email. The illustration - based on photos of real breast cancer cells - shows how scientists are working on drugs to kill off only the cancer, leaving healthy cells alone, he said. (Also read "War on Disease—Challenges for Humanity.")

4. Toxic Cucumber

Photograph courtesy Robert Rock Belliveau.

Magnified 800 times, the skin of a young cucumber features in a picture that earned an honourable mention in the photography category. Young cucumber plants develop two powerful mechanisms to protect themselves against most herbivores: (1) The sharp points on their trichomes (pictured), a type of plant appendage, which are 40 times thinner than a sewing needle and can prick animals' mouths; (2) The globular parts of the trichomes contain cucurbiticin, a toxic, bitter substance that can repulse or even kill invaders. Cucurbiticins are so bitter that people can taste their presence even when the substance is diluted to one part per billion.

5. Nanotube Metropolis

Illustration courtesy Joel Brehm, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Carbon nanotubes rise like futuristic skyscrapers in a picture that earned Joel Brehm, of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Office of Research and Economic Development, an honourable mention in the illustration category. Carbon nanotubes are cylinders of atoms that are only a few nanometers wide. Because the carbon-carbon bond is so strong, nanotubes have been proposed for use in a wide range of materials, from computer chips to space elevators. (See "Nano 'Wiretap' Spies on Cells.")

6. Hand Zoom

Illustration courtesy Laura Lynn Gonzalez, Green-Eye Visualization

A screenshot captures the action as a gamer zooms in on a human hand in Powers of Minus Ten (POMT), an app that won an honourable mention in the Interactive Games category. With the app, iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, and web users can explore what the hand looks like down to the molecular level. (Explore an interactive of the human body.)

7. HIV in 3-D

Image courtesy Konstantinov/Stefanov/Kovalevsky/Voronin, Visual Science Company.

The most detailed 3-D model yet of the HIV virus won first place for illustrations in the 2010 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge. A Russian team led by Ivan Konstantinov analyzed data from more than a hundred scientific journals to digitally depict HIV as close to the real thing as possible. The two-tone colour scheme shows HIV (orange) attacking and fusing with an immune cell (grey). The triangular cut-away shows how the virus integrates itself to turn the cell into a virus factory. (Get the facts on AIDS.)

8. "Horror" Virus

Image courtesy Jonathan Heras, Equinox Graphics.

In a 3-D image, a bacteriophage aggressively attacks a bacterium "B-movie horror style," according to creator Jonathan Heras of Equinox Graphics, Ltd. The digital ambush snagged an honourable mention in the illustrations category of the 2010 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge. Bacteriophages are viruses with "alien, spindly legs" and sucker-shaped mouths used to "relentlessly pursue their prey," Heras said in a statement. The viruses hijack bacteria's biology and use the victims as virus "replication factories," he said. (See "'Zombie Virus' Possible via Rabies-Flu Hybrid?")

9. Rough Waters

Image courtesy Seth B. Darling/ANL and Steven J. Sibener/U-Chicago.

Snagging first place for photography, this micrograph - a photograph taken through a microscope - shows the rippling surface of a single layer of molecules. Each of the millions of molecules in the image has sulphur at its head, but one type has carbon and hydrogen at the tail whereas the other has carbon and fluorine. The heights of the two molecule types differ by about 0.2 nanometers. The image is featured on the cover of the February 18 edition of Science. (Also see "Pictures: Best Micro-Photos of 2010.")

10. Tomato-Seed "Hair"

Image courtesy Robert Rock Belliveau.

A microscope-enabled close-up of hairs on the seed of the common tomato won an honourable mention in the photography category. The hairs secrete a mucus that appears as a clear membrane at the edge of the seed, according to photographer Robert Rock Belliveau, a retired pathologist. This mucus has several purposes: killing predators with a natural insecticide, preventing the seed from drying out, and anchoring the seed to the soil. (Also see "Giant, Mucus-Like Sea Blobs on the Rise, Pose Danger.")

11. Plant-Gene Map

Image courtesy Insuk Lee, Michael Ahn, Edward Marcotte, and Seung Yon Rhee, Carnegie.

What looks like a fireworks display is really a portion of AraNet, a gene map of the mustard plant Arabidopsis thaliana, which earned an honourable mention in the illustrations category. (Get a genetics overview.) A Carnegie Institution for Science team built Aranet from more than 50 million experimental observations of the plant and other organisms. Genes involved in the same biological processes are linked by lines, and colour shows the strength of the link.

12. Fungus Poster

Image courtesy Kandis Elliott and Mo Fayyaz, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

All manner of fungi sprout in a detail from an educational poster that won first place in the Informational Graphics category. Depicted species include those found in cheese, beer, bread, and even hibernating bats. Fungi are now being used to make natural fuels, medicine, and many other beneficial products, Elliot said.

13. Centipede Robot

Image courtesy Katie L. Hoffman and Robert J. Wood, Harvard University.

A photograph of a centipede-inspired robot won an honourable mention in the photography category. The bug-size robot's design may inspire better models for movement, according to Harvard University experts. The multisegment millirobot offers insight into how flexibility and body undulations can enhance movement, and whether there is an ideal number of legs for efficient and stable walking. (See "Robot Fish to Detect Ocean Pollution.")

Source:

1. Best Science Pictures of 2011
2. Best Science Pictures of 2010
[Edited. Top image added.]