Mark Megahan
We thought you might like to see these stunning micro-scale images which ended up as the 12 finalists. The contest is the 2023 Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology image contest. Every year, “in the lead up to National Science Week, researchers at the University of Queensland’s AIBN have a competition to find the best image taken using imaging equipment and microscopes.” In no particular order, these are the best from the past year and the winner will be announced on August 14. The descriptions were provided entirely by The Guardian.
Big images of really small scales
Hey that foot is smiling at us. Just kidding, it’s a self-organised axial organoid, cheekily exhibiting neural tube elongation. Photograph: Mohammed Shaker/AIBN
Pebbles? Milky quartz? The world’s smoothest Lego? Nope, these are structures of dissolved solar cells. Photograph: Yonhxin Huang/AIBN
These cabbage-like nickel phosphate particles have been synthesised by a solvothermal process. Not suitable for Chiko Roll filler. Photograph: Valentino Kaneti/AIBN
Here, a Diskovery spinning disk confocal microscope has been used to image cultured hippocampal neurons (the yellow bits) immunostained against endogenous lipid modifying enzyme DDHD2 (the blue bits). Photograph: Saber Abd Elkader/AIBN
Organoid science involves growing tiny synthetic copies of a person’s internal organs for drug and disease research. This human spinal cord organoid shows the segregation of cell populations that develop into neurons and motor neurons. Photograph: Sean Morrison/AIBN
These carbon-based metal–organic framework nanorods have gradually decomposed and aggregated in a water solution, finally forming elegant radial crystals. Photograph: Ping Cheng/AIBN
The beauty of science
Stem cell science can sometimes make your heart skip a beat. This human embryonic stem cell colony consists of hundreds of cells clustered together in a familiar and lovely shape. Photograph: Desi Veleva/AIBN
Don’t let the purple hue fool you – this image captured by a scanning electron microscope is actually showing us mesoporous gold nanoparticles. Photograph: Javeria Bashir/AIBN
This image might appear festive, but we assure you it is not. This fluorescent microscope image captures the receptor binding domain of the Sars-CoV-2 spike protein. Photograph: Harshita Rupani/AIBN
Here we have an image of some zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 rhombic dodecahedron particles. The technical term, we understand, is ‘science candies.’ Photograph: Valentino Kaneti/AIBN
Sometimes you’ve just got to know what a piece of fruit looks like on the inside. To that end, here’s a juicy nectarine under microCT imaging. Photograph: Gary Cowin/AIBN
Scientists use magnetic resonance microscopy as a non-invasive MRI method to visualise internal organs. This spiky-looking specimen is actually a rat kidney. Photograph: Gary Cowin/AIBN
