Igor Siwanowicz's photo of a small, carnivorous sea plant opening what looks to be a giant mouth to consume single celled prey is so surreal it looks more like abstract art than an actual photo. But that's par for the course in the 2013 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition, in which all 2100 entrees came through the lens of a microscope, Fast Company reported.
The competition, now in its 10th year, is regarded as "the world's foremost showcase for outstanding images and movies of life science subjects captured through light microscopes," according to its website. This year, four leaders in microscopy and imaging selected the winning photograph from over 70 countries.
Siqanowicz, a scientist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus in Ashburg, VA, actually concentrates most of his time analyzing dragonfly anatomy. No reports yet on what led him to the humped bladderwort, as it is most commonly known, however, he likely didn't get lucky in terms of technique. For evidence, the researcher has an online gallery of all his best microscope shots.
Siganowicz's carnivorous plant is found on every continent but the United States. It stretches to about two inches in length with a flower about a quarter of an inch, according to botanical-society.org. Small bladder systems (this one is magnified 100 times) dangle underwater and trap and ingest microorganisms like the ones in the photograph. Based on Siganowicz's picture, the bladder acts like an enormous mouth and sucks in tiny prey.
The bladderwort placed first among ten recognized winners and a host of honorable mentions. Second place particularly stood out, for it didn't have the bright colors trademark of other entries, but was flesh-colored and depicted a bat embryo folded over to resemble something like a human baby with wings (an angel?). Click here for all winners, honorable mentions, past winners, and past honorable mentions.
