Bad Hair Day
Paralyzed worms frozen in a falling leaf pattern, color-tagged proteins that look like marbles, and a video reconstruction of a human face that resembles an Impressionist portrait—all these images were created during the course of scientific research, and all are on display this month at Princeton University as part of its sixth Art of Science competition.
Above, color-stained worms reveal the location of their DNA (blue) and RNA (red) while curling wildly like the hair atop Medusa.
The image, which won third place in the "People's Choice" category, was submitted along with images from academic fields spanning psychology to plasma physics.
The competition celebrates the unexpected beauty that can emerge from analytical work in the sciences.
And in keeping with the Art of Science concept, the three winning artists were awarded cash prizes in amounts determined by the golden ratio, a mathematical proportion whose influence extends to art and architecture: $250, $154.51, and $95.49 for first, second, and third place, respectively.
Our gallery presents some of the winning images, as well as other Art of Science highlights.
—Sharon Jacobs
6 Amazing Science Pictures
Worthy of an art museum, these images were initially created as part of scientific research.