Topic: Scientific Picture of the Week

[sam]

I know this is a bit sooner than it should be but since I was away last week I thought we could have another...

Best Microscopic Images of 2008 Announced - http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/photogalleries/best-microscope-photos/index.html

The winner was:

Sinewy filaments within squirming microscopic diatoms, a type of algae, are artificially rainbow hued as a result of being photographed through polarizing light filters.

Captured by retired British microscopist Michael Stringer, the photo took top prize--and U.S. $3,000--in the 2008 Small World Photomicrography Competition, organizers announced on October 15. Sponsored by Nikon, the annual contest showcases "the beauty and complexity of life as seen through the light microscope."
—Photograph by Michael Stringer/photo courtesy of Nikon Small World

but I think my favourite is:

Glowing-hot carbon nanotubes form an expanding orange ball in this image by Paul Marshall of Canada's Institute for Microstructural Sciences, a winner in the 2008 Small World photomicrography competition.

The nanotubes are elongated, hollow cylinders of carbon atoms. To make a carbon nanotube--just 1/50,000 the width of a human hair--a piece of carbon (graphite) must be heated, for example by lasers or electricity. And sometimes, Marshall says, the heated mass of nanotubes grows like a bulb in the spring.
—Photograph by Paul Marshall/National Research Council Canada/photo courtesy of Nikon Small World

[Simon]

It's when you realise how small these things are, it's the detail in the photography which is amazing. 

[AM]

This is quite a nice surprise to see this picture on here!  (My dad took it and submitted it to the Nikon competition!)

[sam]

cool 

[Clive]

Well done to your dad AM.  And 

[Simon]

  AM!  Feel free to post any more good pics your Dad has taken!   

[AM]

I don't have any myself... they are all taken at his work, an area of his life which I stay far out of.  The world of nanotech evades my History/Political Science mind.
He does have some travel ones though which he should be submitting soon.