Under the microscope: Glowing alien-like flea takes top photography prize



This strange alien-like creature is not a character from a science-fiction blockbuster but actually from far closer to home. The eerily beautiful image is of a water flea with a radiant green 'crown of thorns' to protect it from predators.

It took top prize in the 2009 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition, the world's foremost forum for showcasing microscope photos and movies.



Top prize: The water flea's defensive 'crown of thorns' is induced in offspring only when the parents sense chemical cues released by their main predators, the tadpole shrimp

Dr Jan Michels, a zoologist at the University of Albrecht, Germany, took the honors for the photograph.



The image reveals not only the exoskeleton, but also interior detail down to the nuclei within its cells, seen as tiny, glowing blue dots.

The stunning and unusual depiction of a whole organism detailing both external and intracellular structures was selected from more than 2000 entries.



Any life science subject is eligible, and entries are judged based on the science they depict, their aesthetics (beauty and impact of the image), and their technical merit.



Sixth prize: Tentacle of a Portuguese Man of War, magnified 30X. It is notorious for its painful, powerful sting

Eighth prize: Flower of Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress), a popular model organism in plant biology and genetics using 20X zoom.

This year's winning images reflect the latest advances in neuroscience and cell biology, including the second prize image by Chung-Ju Rachel Wang of the University of California, Berkeley.

Ms Wang's image of the nucleus of a corn plant cell shows a colourful ladder-like protein structure, which forms between chromosomes during one type of cell division.



According to Wang, this may be among the first high-resolution 3D images of this complex ever captured with a light microscope.



Third Prize this year went to a movie called "Sexual Attraction in Spyrogyra," by Dr Jeremy Pickett-Heaps of the University of Melbourne, Australia. It depicts reproduction in simple algae captured in time-lapse video over two hours.



Other winning images reflect a never-ending fascination with the influence of science in everyday life, including surprising views of fossils, jellyfish, spiders, flowers, mosquitoes and dinosaur bones.



Ninth prize: The jelly-like embryos of an Atlantic salmon taken by Haruka Fujimaki from Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts

Fifth prize: A simple form of algae called Penium taken by David Domozych from Skidmore University, New York. The largest and most complex form of algae is seaweed

Dr Albert Pan of Harvard University captured Seventh Prize with an image that uses the recently developed "Brainbow" imaging technique.

In his image of long, slender nerve fibers covering a zebrafish tail, each cell glows a distinct, random colour, allowing researchers to follow their often-tangled paths.

'These images and movies reflect some of the most exciting research being done around the world and reveal the art that exists in optical microscopy,' said Osamu Joji, a senior manager at Olympus America Inc.



Second prize (left): Nucleus of a plant cell showing a ladder-like protein structure that forms between pairing chromosomes during cell division needed for reproduction. Fourth prize (right): Fresh water algae taken with a 100X zoom



'They shed light on the intricacy of our living universe and provide us with a visual record of the science of our era.

'But just as important, they reflect the awesome grace, beauty and mystery of aspects of the natural world that can't be seen with the naked eye.



'There are extraordinary stories being told in science laboratories today, and the BioScapes Competition, with entries representing 62 countries and winners from five continents, allows Olympus to share those images and stories with the world.'

10th prize (left): Research image of motor neuons in Lou Gehrig's Disease taken from an 83-year-old patient Seventh prize (right): Long, slender nerve fibres covering the tail of a 3-day-old larval zebra fish





