Weird & Wonderful

Science doesn't always have to be serious.

LIGHT GOLD AWARD WINNER – Bernhard Schubert, Austria. Prize: £500.
Image Title: Magic Spores
Subject: Cockroach and bracket fungus
On a night hike through a Bornean national park, I noticed this bracket fungus releasing masses of spores. At first, I held my headlamp behind the fungus to get a better sense of the floating spores. As I tried capturing the scene with my camera and a flash, I noticed that the white light split up in many different spectral colours. Experimenting to achieve the right angle for the flash in relation to the position of my camera took quite a while, but in the end I was rewarded with this picture. The cockroach which came by later added just the final touch to it.
Equipment and Settings: Canon EOS 5D mark IV with Tamron 35mm DI VC f/1.8 lens. Focal length 35mm; 1/200 second; f/16; ISO 800. Meike MT-24 flash.
Website address: www.bernhardschubert.com
Instagram: @bernhardschubertphoto

Stunning cockroach bathing in light wins WildArt photo competition

CONNECTION GOLD AWARD WINNER ñ Amit Eshel. Israel. Prize: £500.
Image Title: Lessons for Life
Subject: Patagonia Puma Puma concolor
This beautiful female Puma is looking for prey from a high vantage point while her playful cubs are learning through imitation.

I spent a week tracking this Puma family, comprising a mother and four cubs, in Patagonia, Chile. These incredible wild cats where completely calm in my presence, and accepted me into their world and allowed me to capture some special moments.
The Puma of Patagonia, once almost hunted to extinction, has made a phenomenal comeback in the last few decades thanks to safeguarding measures. This is an example of conservation and coexistence with a wild cat that is persecuted and misunderstood in other parts of the Americas.
Equipment and Settings: Canon EOS 1DX mark II with Canon EF200-400mm f/4L IS USM lens. Focal length 381mm; 1/1,250 second; f/4; ISO 640.
Website address: www.amiteshel.com
Instagram: @siberianart

Puma mother and her playful cubs win WildArt photo competition

An incredibly rare black panther (Panthera pardus) photographed in Laikipia Country, Kenya. The photographer spent more than a year photographing leopards in this location using a high-quality camera trap system that was developed to snap elusive and nocturnal wildlife. Prior to this project, a black panther had not been scientifically documented in Africa for more than 100 years.

The rare black panther not seen in Africa for 100 years: Sony World Photography Awards 2021

The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2021
Andrew Mayes
Randburg
South Africa
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Title: Monday Morning Mood
Description: I took this shot while photographing a group of Pied starlings perched in a tree at the Rietvlei Nature Reserve in South Africa. It perfectly sums up my mood on most Monday mornings :)
Animal: Pied Starling
Location of shot: Rietvlei Nature Reserve

That Monday morning feeling: The Comedy Wildlife Awards 2021

THUMB_BPOTY-2021-Finalists-2

21 incredible pictures from the Bird Photographer of the Year 2021

A blobfish

The blobfish: a bloated guide to the world’s ugliest animal

13 amazing facts about tardigrades, the world's toughest animal © Getty Images

The world's toughest animal 16 tremendous tardigrade facts

What were the ‘Oakville blobs’? © William Defalco/YouTube

Everyday science

What were the ‘Oakville blobs’?

A Bengal tigress with a catchlight in her eye lies up to her neck in the dark shadows of a water hole. Her name is Maya 'The Enchantress', and she has orange and black stripes with white patches on her head. Shot with a Nikon D810 in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in India on 13 May 2017, which just happened to be my birthday!
ISO 220, 800mm, f/5.6, 1/1000

What goes up: World Nature Photography Award winners

The science of whale vomit

The bizarre (and pretty gross) science of whale vomit

Quartz and some of the associated minerals that give it color enter into the fossilizing process as solutions, gels, and sols. Although they move as liquids, gels and sols are made up of very small particles bound together by weak electrical bonds. In this specimen, the linear arrays of small round structures were produced by local condensations of particulate mineral. During their consolidation, small puddles of pigment formed that are unrelated to the structure of the bone itself.

On Thin Ice: RPS Science Photographer of the Year winners unveiled

Dock moth with open wings sitting on red flowers from behind against a blue sky © Getty Images

What’s the difference between a moth and a butterfly?

TPOTY 2020 Winners

Ghostly Arctic Fox and a Snail on a mission win the Travel Photographer of the Year awards

Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacan, Mexico © Getty Images

Fantastic facts about butterflies: Everything you need to know, according to science

TOPSHOT-INDIA-ASTRONOMY-ECLIPSE

Everyday science

The best scientific images of 2020