Cool Science Image Contest

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Kennah Konrad and Duncan Smith

The large holes in this cross-section of a stalk of desert stringybark, Eucalyptus arenacea, are conduits through the plant tissue that help researchers quantify the way the plant — native to dry parts of Australia — adapts to a new, wetter environment.

Although the UW-Madison's long-running web magazine The Why Files closed up shop in 2016, its annual exhibit featuring images taken with cameras, microscopes or telescopes continues. The 2020 and 2021 selections are currently on display through Dec. 17 in the McPherson Eye Research Institute’s Mandelbaum and Albert Family Vision Gallery, located on the ninth floor of the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research building at 1111 Highland Ave., and a public reception for the image creators takes place Oct. 7. See the images online here.

media release: Ten images and two videos created by University of Wisconsin–Madison students, faculty and staff have been named winners of the 2021 Cool Science Image Contest.

A panel of nine experienced artists, scientists and science communicators judged the scientific content and aesthetic and creative qualities of scores of images and videos entered in the 11th annual competition. The winning entries showcase animals and plants, the invisibly small structures all around us, and stars and nebulae millions of millions of miles away.

An exhibit featuring the winners is open to the public at the McPherson Eye Research Institute’s Mandelbaum and Albert Family Vision Gallery on the ninth floor of the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research, 1111 Highland Ave., through December. A reception — open to the public, through Dec. 17 — for the contest entrants will be held at the gallery on Oct. 7 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Winning submissions were created with point-and-shoot digital cameras, cutting-edge microscopes, and telescopes of both the backyard and mountaintop variety.

Because sometimes, there’s no substitute for the visual.

“An image often can convey meaning more effectively than words,” says Ahna Skop, a longtime contest judge, artist and UW–Madison professor of genetics and active ambassador for science. “We know from marketing and education research that adding a picture with words to a slide increases retention of knowledge by 65 percent. The visual communication of science is critical for the transference of knowledge broadly.”

There can be an ineffable sort of something that makes a particularly effective science image — it’s the “Cool” in Cool Science Image Contest — but the good ones have much in common.

“You’ll know it when you see it. It’s like seeing “Starry Night” or the “Mona Lisa” for the first time, in person. They hit you deep and quickly,” Skop says. “They are beautiful to the eye, simple, and convey meaning. Some images just take your breath away. Looking deeper they exquisitely communicate the secrets of science beautifully.”

The Cool Science Image Contest recognizes the technical and creative skills required to capture images or videos that capably reveal something about science or nature while also leaving an impression with their beauty or ability to induce wonder. The contest is sponsored by Madison’s Promega Corp., with additional support from the UW–Madison Division of the Arts.

Winning entries are shared widely on UW–Madison websites, and all entries are showcased at campus science outreach events and in academic and lab facilities around campus throughout the year. Because there was no opportunity to show off the 2020 contest winners in-person, this year’s exhibit is a double-feature for both the 2020 and 2021 contests. To see last year’s winners, visit: https://news.wisc.edu/the-winners-cool-science-images-2020/

UW–Madison 2021 Cool Science Image Contest winners are:

Yuya Makino, assistant scientist at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, for a photo of the aurora over IceCube’s South Pole site.

Timothy Catlett, graduate student in Cell and Molecular Biology, and Timothy Gomez, professor of neuroscience, for their image of the way diseased human brain cells grow in the wrong directions.

Jose Guerrero, postdoctoral fellow, and Andrew Alexander, professor, both of Medical Physics, with Peter Ferrazzano, professor of pediatrics, for visualizing the connections between regions of the human brain.

Gregory Holdman, graduate student in Physics, for his picture of micrometer-wide etchings in silicon designed to correct minute imperfections in lenses.

Nisha Iyer, postdoctoral fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, for a close-up look at the fine, sticky hairs of the carnivorous sundew plant.

Kennah Konrad, undergraduate student, and Duncan Smith, graduate student in Botany, for their image of the internal changes in a desert stringybark plant spurred by life in a new, wetter environment.

Shin-Tsz (Lucy) Kuo, undergraduate student in Computer Sciences and Economics, for her photo of a pair of mating dragonflies.

Rebecca Salamon, graduate student in Cell and Regenerative Biology, for an image of the nerves running through a mouse’s heart.

Jeffrey E. Shokler, associate director of the Office of Undergraduate Advising, for his telescope view of the Orion Nebula.

Joel Siegel and Margaret Fortman, graduate students in Physics, Jian Sun, graduate student in Materials Science and Engineering and Jonathan Dwyer, doctoral alumnus in Chemical Engineering, for a microscopy image of mazes made from of atom-thick graphene.

Chris Noble, a graduate student in Engineering Physics, Josh Herzog, a postdoctoral fellow in Mechanical Engineering, David Rothamer, a professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Riccardo Bonazza, a professor of Engineering Physics, for their video of gases mixed by a shockwave.

David J. Nowak, alumnus and auditing student, and Robert D. Nowak, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, for their video depicting the complex outputs of a simple recurrent neural network.

The contest judges were:

Steve Ackerman, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and vice chancellor for research and graduate education

Terry Devitt, emeritus director of research communications, University Communications

Kevin Eliceiri, director, Laboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation

Michael King, visual communications specialist, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

Steve Paddock, former scientist, Molecular Biology

Kara Rogers, science writer and editor, Encyclopedia Britannica

Ahna Skop, professor of genetics

Kelly Tyrrell, director of research communications, University Communications

Craig Wild, videographer, University Communications