Now in its eighth year, the Beaker Street Festival's Science Photography Prize tells the story of one of the more remote places on Earth, Australia's southern island state of Tasmania, and the 12 finalists for 2024 have captured the beauty and diversity of this far-flung region.
These 12 finalists – all of which you can view in our gallery – weren't voted on by a panel of photographers but chosen half by competition judge Cam Blake and half by public vote.
One of the most otherworldly, captivating images came from the camera of Luke Brokensha, who inventively used a scanning electron microscope to bring a tiny, single-celled calcifying phytoplankton (Calcidiscus leptoporus) to life. These ball-like organisms, with a surface covered in calcium carbonate plates, are big players in fighting climate change, pumping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to deep into the ocean. It's a stunning look at a lifeform we're unlikely to ever see in our lives.
Each finalist was selected because their image stood out in various categories – from showing a biological concept to showing human impact. You can also view the pool they were chosen from, to see if the public got it right ...
"Glimpse into the endangered red handfish's unique beginnings" by Andrea Williamson is a special look at red handfish (Thymichthys politus) embryos. While only tiny, the survival of the species depends on them – there are fewer than 100 adults remaining in two small areas in Tasmania.
"Eddies of Time" by Deon Scanlon captures the worn, rippled wood of a dead snow peppermint tree (Eucalyptus coccifera), a species that battles for survival amid a habitat fraught with fire, ice and human disturbance. It also highlights how, despite its death after a long life, its resources once again become part of the ecosystem it once thrived in.
"Mite on bracken" by Ben Travaglini shows the beauty of this tiny animal (subfamily Callidosomatinae) captured in macro. The usually speedy species paused amid undergrowth, which allowed Travaglini to snap this rare sight in the Hawley Nature Reserve, northern Tasmania.
"When Night Unfurls its Splendour" by Toby Schrapel captures biofluorescence emitting from a frog's eye and body, and the photographer suggests taking to the dark with a 356-nm torch in order to illuminate what we can't see with the naked eye.
"Ruby Bonnets" by Charlie Chadwick captures these small agaric fungi (Cruentomycena viscidocruenta). To get some scale for the image, their dazzling red caps are just the size of a pinhead. They're hard to spot but abundant, often seen growing on rotting wood in Tasmanian forests.
For those lucky enough to be in the area, these images are on display at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery from 6 – 23 August. For everyone else, don't miss the entire 12 in our gallery.
Source: Beaker Street Festival
