Zombie fly and fountains of lava — August’s best science images
The month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team.
Zombie fly. A parasitic fungus erupts from the body of a fly in the Tambopata National Reserve in Peru. This close-up shot was taken by Roberto García-Roa, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Valencia, Spain, and was the overall winner of this year’s BMC Ecology and Evolution image competition. “The image depicts a conquest that has been shaped by thousands of years of evolution,” said García-Roa in a statement released with the announcement. “The spores of the so-called ‘zombie’ fungus have infiltrated the exoskeleton and mind of the fly and compelled it to migrate to a location that is more favourable for the fungus’s growth. The fruiting bodies have then erupted from the fly’s body and will be jettisoned in order to infect more victims.”
Don’t poke the bear. A team of Turkish scientists returned from a 22-day expedition in the Arctic Ocean, during which they collected data for various projects including sampling plankton, measuring pollutants and observing sea-ice. Wildlife sightings included this relaxed-looking polar bear on the Svalbard islands, snapped by photojournalist Özge Elif Kızıl.
Darwin's former garden at Down House in Kent. Credit: English Heritage
Darwin's former garden at Down House in Kent. Credit: English Heritage
Close-up of the violet helleborine orchids, the rare flowers which have informed Darwin’s theory of evolution, have been restored to the scientist’s former garden at Down House in Kent. Credit: English Heritage
Close-up of the violet helleborine orchids, the rare flowers which have informed Darwin’s theory of evolution, have been restored to the scientist’s former garden at Down House in Kent. Credit: English Heritage
Two stems of violet helleborine orchids, the rare flowers which have informed Darwin’s theory of evolution, have been restored to the scientist’s former garden at Down House in Kent. Credit: English Heritage
Two stems of violet helleborine orchids, the rare flowers which have informed Darwin’s theory of evolution, have been restored to the scientist’s former garden at Down House in Kent. Credit: English Heritage
Darwin’s former garden at Down House in Kent where the violet helleborine orchids have been restored. Credit: English Heritage
Darwin’s former garden at Down House in Kent where the violet helleborine orchids have been restored. Credit: English Heritage
Delicate flower. A rare orchid is flourishing in the gardens of Down House in Kent, UK, where Charles Darwin once lived with his family. The violet helleborine (Epipactis purpurata) is closely related to species that Darwin studied when he was investigating the specializations that some orchids developed to attract insect pollinators. The flowers are pollinated by wasps, which become intoxicated on nectar and end up covered in pollen. The violet helleborine would not have grown in Darwin’s garden during his lifetime because the young woodlands there were not suitable. But since then, the trees have matured and now provide an ideal habitat.
Seismic hotspot. After several days of intense seismic activity in southwest Iceland, a new volcanic eruption in a valley called Meradalir has unleashed a deluge of red-hot molten rock. The site is close to the Fagradalsfjall volcano, which spewed lava for several months last year, ending an 800-year dormancy of volcanic eruptions in the area.
Credit: Y. Liu et al./Nature
Credit: Y. Liu et al./Nature
The hole story. Researchers have learnt more about the evolutionary history of a fossilized microscopic creature that had a mouth but no anus. When it was discovered in 2017, the 500-million-year-old Saccorhytus was thought to belong to a group of animals called deuterostomes — which includes vertebrates — potentially making it one of humans’ earliest known ancestors. But after finding and examining hundreds of other specimens, researchers now think it was part of a group called the ecdysozoans, and is more closely related to insects and roundworms.
Credit: BluePlanetArchive/Steven Kovacs
Credit: BluePlanetArchive/Steven Kovacs
See-through squid. Wildlife photographer Steven Kovacs snapped this sharpear enope squid (Ancistrocheirus lesueurii) while diving off Kona in Hawaii. This medium-sized squid is the only species in its genus and family. The luminous spots on its body and tentacles are produced by light-emitting organs called photophores.
Credit: Dr Charlie Arber
Credit: Dr Charlie Arber
Mind control. This flower-like structure is called a neural rosette — a group of human stem cells (blue) that are differentiating into brain cells (green). Growing brain cells in a dish helps researchers to study how they develop and offers insight into conditions such as dementia. Charlie Arber, a stem-cell biologist at University College London, captured the image, which won the London-based Alzheimer’s Society’s first ever research-photography competition.
Credit: Michael Probst/AP/Shutterstock
Credit: Michael Probst/AP/Shutterstock
Moon sandwich. The final supermoon of the year — known as the sturgeon moon because of fishing traditions in North America — gave rise to some stunning photo opportunities in mid-August. Here, the Moon sets behind apartment blocks on the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany. Supermoons seem larger and brighter than a standard full moon, and occur only when the Moon is at its closest point to Earth along its elliptical orbit.
Built with Shorthand