THESE colourful, fluorescent, almost hypnotic images look like the product of a powerful artistic imagination, but in fact they show nature in all its magnified glory.
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The three photographs are among the regional winners and honourable mentions in the Olympus Global Image of the Year Life Science Light Microscopy Award 2019 announced last week.
The kaleidoscopic swirls and shards in the large image show L-glutamine and beta-alanine, two amino acids. Photographer Justin Zoll crystallised them out of solution in ethanol and used filters to add contrast and to remove reflections from the image.
In the lab, amino acids such as L-glutamine are crystallised to obtain a purer form for use in making pharmaceuticals.
Top right is the winning image for the Americas. Taken by researcher Tagide deCarvalho, it uses fluorescence to show the insides of a tardigrade, one of Earth鈥檚 toughest organisms. These creatures are 0.05 to 1 millimetre long, yet can withstand cold of -200掳C and heat of 150掳C, radiation and pressure that would kill us, and even the vacuum of space.
The final image might look like a stunning coastal scene, but it is in fact a close-up of a prase opal, a gem coloured green by nickel. Nathan Renfro, a geologist and mineralogist, magnified it to mimic a shot of a shoreline.
