Animals news, articles and features | Page 14

$Evident Image of the Year global winner: Cross-section of a Cosmic Orange aster flower with pollen grains maturing inside anthers. Captured by Igor Siwanowicz of the United States. Igor Siwanowicz of the United States was selected as the global winner for his striking cross- section image of a Cosmic Orange Mexican aster flower that vividly depicts pollen grains maturing inside anthers. To create this image, Siwanowicz embedded isolated florets in agarose, sectioned on a vibratome and stained with Calcofluor White and Congo Red dyes. The sample was dehydrated, cleared and mounted in methyl salicylate. Siwanowicz chose to image this flower to observe how aster florets are organized before the flower opens. ?I was lucky to pick my flower buds at the right stage of development, with the pollen grains almost fully mature but still bound together in a mass,? Siwanowicz explained. ?I think this image shows the true beauty of a common flower that most of us take for granted by extending it well beyond what we can see with the naked eye. The beauty of natural form and design is present on very different scales, sometimes almost in a fractal manner?as we continue to zoom in, the form may lose familiarity but also become a new emotional experience.?$

Life

See the world in close-up in these intricate images of nature

Regulars

�鶹��ý

animals

Life

Punk and Emo fossils rock our ideas of how ancient molluscs looked

Environment

We thought we knew emperor penguins – robots are proving us wrong

Life

Secrets of velvet ant's venom explain what makes its sting so painful

Life

Dolphins may use their teeth to hear underwater

Life

Whales may hone their singing skills by practising out of season

Video

2024 review: The strangest animal videos of the year

Life

Earliest known sabre-toothed predator hunted 270 million years ago

Life

A festival of stunning animal pictures from 2024

Life

See the world in close-up in these intricate images of nature

Environment

The bizarre story of a rodent utopia that predicted doom for humanity

Life

Pigeons are misunderstood: These little-known facts will prove why

Life

The amazing talents of pigeons – and why we should learn to love them

Life

Dogs pull harder on the leash when they wear a harness than a collar

Life

Screwworm: Why is this flesh-eating parasite making a comeback?