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A Picture Sparks a Thousand Words
A scientific image can conceal even more than it reveals. Scientists can now share their untold behind-the-image stories in our new Science Snapshot column.
A Picture Sparks a Thousand Words
A Picture Sparks a Thousand Words

A scientific image can conceal even more than it reveals. Scientists can now share their untold behind-the-image stories in our new Science Snapshot column.

A scientific image can conceal even more than it reveals. Scientists can now share their untold behind-the-image stories in our new Science Snapshot column.

science snapshot

Image of pancreatic organoids under a microscope with immunofluorescent staining
Pancreatic Organoids Take the Stage
Laura Tran, PhD | Dec 1, 2023 | 2 min read
Meritxell Huch tackled her pipedream of growing three-dimensional pancreatic tissue in a dish.
slime mold spores
Science Snapshot: Breaking the Mold
Lisa Winter | Nov 3, 2022 | 1 min read
This image took 5th place at the 2022 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition.
Close up of spider
Science Snapshot: Legs for Days
Lisa Winter | Nov 2, 2022 | 1 min read
This image took 4th place at the 2022 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition.
network of intestinal blood vessels
Science Snapshot: No Guts, No Glory
Lisa Winter | Nov 1, 2022 | 1 min read
This image took 3rd place at the 2022 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition.
Breast tissue shown in pink and yellow
Science Snapshot: Milking It
Lisa Winter | Oct 31, 2022 | 1 min read
This image took 2nd place at the 2022 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition.
Embryonic gecko hand
Science Snapshot: Show of Hands
Lisa Winter | Oct 28, 2022 | 1 min read
This image took the top prize at the 2022 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition.
pollen tubes releasing sperm into ovule
Science Snapshot: Go Forth and Multiply
Lisa Winter | Oct 6, 2022 | 1 min read
An honorable mention in the 2022 Nikon Small World in Motion competition shows thale cress sperm being released into the ovule.
Grayscale microscopic image of dying melanoma cells
Science Snapshot: Living Bubble Wrap
Lisa Winter | Oct 5, 2022 | 1 min read
This year’s fourth-place winner of the 2022 Nikon Small World in Motion competition shows dying melanoma cells.
purple and green microscopic view of sea anemone neurons and stinging cells
Science Snapshot: With Fronds Like These, Who Needs Anemones?
Lisa Winter | Oct 4, 2022 | 1 min read
This year’s third-place winner of the 2022 Nikon Small World in Motion competition features sea anemone cells.
Microscopic view of monkey cells in orange and blue
Science Snapshot: More Fun Than a Barrel of Monkey Cells
Lisa Winter | Oct 3, 2022 | 1 min read
This year’s second-place winner of the 2022 Nikon Small World in Motion competition shows a 12-hour time-lapse of labeled cells.
Fluorescent view of a zebrafish embryo
Science Snapshot: Do the Locomotion
Lisa Winter | Sep 29, 2022 | 1 min read
The top winner of the 2022 Nikon Small World in Motion contest shows cells migrating through a zebrafish embryo.
bird perched next to brick atop trash can
Science Snapshot: Fine Feathered Foes
Lisa Winter | Sep 14, 2022 | 1 min read
Australians are resorting to increasingly drastic measures to keep cockatoos out of their garbage bins.
Two donkeys interacting at the Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark
Science Snapshot: Pin the Domestication on the Donkey
Lisa Winter | Sep 8, 2022 | 1 min read
A genomic analysis reveals that humans domesticated donkeys more than 7,000 years ago.
dead bee surrounded by yellow flower petals
Science Snapshot: One Insect’s Corpse Is Another’s Breakfast
Lisa Winter | Aug 31, 2022 | 2 min read
Though it’s poetic to say that ants were grieving the bee at a funeral, the reality is a bit more prosaic.
Various primate 
Science Snapshot: An Arm and A Leg
Lisa Winter | Aug 24, 2022 | 1 min read
3D modeling of 7 million-year-old hominin bones hints at bipedality occurring earlier than previously thought.
An aerial view of the Tetiaroa Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
Science Snapshot: Reversing an Invasion of Paradise
Lisa Winter | Aug 17, 2022 | 2 min read
After years of work, conservationists have successfully eliminated two invasive rat species from the Tetiaroa Atoll in French Polynesia.
Close up of ant mandible
Science Snapshot: The Need for Speed
Viviane Callier | Aug 4, 2022 | 1 min read
Understanding the biomechanics of the trap-jaw ant could help humans build better, faster robots.
Shark at the surface of the water next to a boat
Science Snapshot: An Arctic Shark’s Tropical Vacation
Lisa Winter | Jul 26, 2022 | 1 min read
Though Greenland sharks generally live in icy waters, one was recently caught in the Caribbean.
Two researchers hold up giant waterlily
Science Snapshot: Holily Molily
Lisa Winter | Jul 21, 2022 | 1 min read
The largest waterlily species in the world was incorrectly classified for more than 170 years.
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