Captions-2014 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Science Photography

Eureka Prizes, Media releases

Wednesday 10-September: The first, second and third place winners will be announced at the Award Dinner and that information will be embargoed until the time of announcement in the course of the dinner. The winner themselves won’t know until it’s announced on stage.

Press release and high resolution copies available online at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/eureka.

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The Australian Museum only have permission from the photographers for the images to be used in connection with the Eureka Prizes, so please ensure that the images are credited to the photographers and that the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are acknowledged. Please confirm that  the images will only be used in this context and that they won’t go into your image library. The Museum has had problems in the past where they’ve provided images and they’ve popped up in other contexts without the approval of the photographer.

We’ve provided suggested captions – the photographer’s version which includes details of how they captured the images and a summary caption on the subject of the image.

Finalists

 Wheat through the looking glass

Wheat through the looking glass, Mark Talbot, CSIRO, ACT

Photographer’s caption

This scanning electron microscope (SEM) image by Dr Mark Talbot of CSIRO, ACT, shows young wheat flower buds that will eventually become seeds. Using different modes of the SEM, two images of the same tissue were captured, superimposed and artificially coloured to highlight cell outlines (blue) and nuclei (orange). This unique way of creating SEM images unexpectedly revealed details normally seen only with a confocal laser microscope, even though the microscopes work in very different ways.

Content caption

The birth of a seed is captured by CSIRO’s Mark Talbot from the ACT. A finalist in the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography, Mark’s photo uses a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to obtain a unique view of young wheat flower buds.

 

Reef manta ray feeding

Alfred manta feeding, Gary Cranitch, Queensland Museum, Queensland

Photographer’s caption

The Alfred Manta, Manta alfredi, one of the largest rays on the planet at a width of 5.5m, is currently listed as vulnerable, with only a few hundred recorded in eastern Australian waters. This awe-inspiring image by Queensland Museum’s Gary Cranitch is an important reminder that we still have much to do to ensure the survival of this beautiful species.

Content caption

The Alfred manta, up to 5.5m wide, is one of the largest rays on the planet. Queensland Museum’s Gary Cranitch has captured this graceful giant feeding on plankton, lit by sunbeams just below the ocean surface. His image is a finalist in the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography.

 

Unravelling a Basket Star

Unravelling a basket star, Charles Tambiah, Australian National University, ACT

Photographer’s caption

Charles Tambiah from the ACT has composed this striking image of a basket star, Gorgonocephalus sp., by ‘painting’ with micro-light to peel back layers of science. Using the full breadth of tools within imaging software, and fibre-optics for lighting hidden spaces, Charles has painted multiple layers of information out of blackness, unravelling this simple, yet complex, marine invertebrate.

Content caption

Charles Tambiah from the ACT has composed a striking image of a basket star by combining fibre-optics and imaging software to ‘paint’ hidden spaces. Charles’ unravelling of this simple, yet complex, marine creature is a finalist in the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography.

 

Highly Commended

Probing the breast in 3D

Probing the breast in 3D, Anne Rios, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Victoria

Photographer’s caption

Anne Rios’ picture, taken inside human breast tissue, shows a 3D view of the elaborate milk-producing ductal network enwrapped within the blood vessels. This photo represents more than 100GB of data, obtained with a new, cutting-edge3D confocal strategy developed at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. It allows a unique visualisation of expansive areas of breast tissue with high cellular resolution that could bring new insights in breast cancer.

Content caption

The intricate structure of milk ducts within the human breast is captured in 3D by Anne Rios of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. Obtained using the latest imaging technology being used to study breast cancer, the image is a highly commended submission of the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography.

 

Nanoparticle Planet

Nanoparticle planet, Michael Bradshaw, Ocean Reef, Perth, WA

Photographer’s caption

Perth researcher Michael Bradshaw’s image shows skin cells with internalised nanoparticles. The large circle is a 10-millimetre coverslip and the bright orange dots are the fluorescent and magnetic nanoparticles inside the cells. The cells are being induced to migrate off to the left of the coverslip via an external magnetic field. This kind of cellular control has implications in wound healing.

Content caption

Perth’s Michael Bradshaw has photographed human skin cells, coloured bright orange by fluorescing, magnetic nanoparticles, as they are induced to move (to the left) by a magnetic field.  Highly commended in the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography, Michael’s image illustrates how cells could be manipulated to aid in wound healing.

 

An Ancient Landscape for Modern Science

An ancient landscape for modern science, Pete Wheeler, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Perth, WA

Photographer’s caption

Using a long exposure and the light of the full moon to illuminate the landscape, Perth’s Pete Wheeler has captured one of the 128 ‘tiles’ of the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope and a distant ‘breakaway’ beneath a star-studded Murchison sky. Located in the Western Australian outback, the array is a precursor to what will be the largest telescope ever built—the Square Kilometre Array.

Content caption

Pete Wheeler, of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in Perth, captures one of the 128 ‘tiles’ that make up the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope in remote Western Australia. Pete’s long-exposure, moon-lit shot has been highly commended in the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography.

 

Bolt Out of the Blue

Bolt out of the blue, Peter Enright, Coolum Beach, Queensland

Photographer’s caption

Bolt out of the Blue is the result of Sunshine Coast photographer Peter Enright’s lucky, four-second handheld exposure during a sudden summer storm at the Woodford Folk Festival. The image encapsulates the incredible power of nature.

Content caption

Sunshine Coast photographer Peter Enright was in the right place at the right time during a sudden summer storm at Queensland’s Woodford Folk Festival. Peter’s hand-held, four-second shot is a highly commended submission of the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography.

 

Flight of the Samara

Flight of the samara, Phred Petersen, RMIT University, Melbourne

Photographer’s caption

Melbourne photographer Phred Petersen’s image is a composite of four frames from high-speed video showing the aerodynamics of an auto-rotating samara, or ‘helicopter’ seed. This seed was tagged with a theatrical smoke formula to show an integrated picture of its descent. Understanding the aerodynamics of these natural helicopters has application in the bio-inspired design of micro air vehicles.

Content caption

The flight of a rotating samara, or ‘helicopter’ seed, is captured by high-speed camera as it falls from a tree. Highly commended in the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography, this image by Melbourne’s Phred Petersen used smoke trails to trace the seed’s path through the air.

 

The Face of a Moth

The face of a moth, Ralph Grimm, Jimboomba, Queensland

Photographer’s caption

Many animals, particularly insects, have the ability to perceive their surroundings in a totally different way to humans. Queensland teacher Ralph Grimm’s textural, close-up image draws the viewer in to reveal the exquisite detail and complexity of a moth’s head, thereby also encouraging people to not just see the surface but to look more closely at our amazing world.

Content caption

The exquisite complexity of a moth’s head is revealed in this highly detailed photograph by Ralph Grimm, a teacher from Jimboomba, Queensland. Ralph’s arresting close-up has been highly commended in the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography.

 

Thorny Problems

Thorny problems, Richard Wylie, Sandy Beach, New South Wales

Photographer’s caption

Crown-of-thorns Sea Stars have a justifiably bad reputation for causing damage to the Great Barrier Reef. Richard Wylie’s photo, taken at Lizard Island, demonstrates that even one 40-centimetre wide Crown-of-thorns can eat its way through a large area of reef. The white coral, which has been consumed by this sea star, is in sharp contrast to the healthy sections of reef.

Content caption

Underwater photographer Richard Wylie catches the infamous crown-of-thorns starfish as it moves across a coral outcrop at Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef. This crime-scene shot, showing the white coral skeleton left behind, is a highly commended submission of the 2014 Australian Museum New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography.