The 2018 winners of the Northwestern Scientific Images Contest represent advances across a wide range of disciplines including medicine, chemistry, engineering, physics and astronomy. This gallery showcases both the breathtaking beauty and scientific innovation of contemporary research.
Judged by an interdisciplinary panel of local artists, scientists, educators and community leaders, these images were captured by Northwestern researcher students, staff and faculty. The winners were announced during an evening reception at Evanston Township High School, where the images were hosted within a gallery of more than 40 student artworks.
Read more: ‘Beauty of Science' Winner Captures Network Synchronization with Striking Image
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Scientists often use computer simulations to create theoretical models of agents that interact with each other — like neurons in the brain or the populations of multiple species. Each dot in this image represents a different initial condition that can lead to specific dynamics of the system.
In this case, there are two possible long-term dynamics; the dots are colored orange or blue according to which one the system converges to when starting from that initial condition. You can always find a blue dot arbitrarily close to an orange dot and vice versa; these are called “riddled basins.”
This is similar to a coin toss: whether you get heads or tails depends sensitively on the initial velocity and angular momentum of the coin, and the outcome cannot be predicted without knowing those initial conditions to infinite precision.
Yuanzhao Zhang
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Tools & Techniques: Computer Simulations
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This cosmic flower was not grown in nature, but by astrophysicists using supercomputers. At the center of the flower, a simulated galaxy shines in bright yellow. The galaxy is surrounded by multi- colored petals, representing different origins and consisting of many smaller lines; each is a record of the path of matter through space.
Simulations like this help scientists understand the cosmic origin story of Earth’s ingredients by breaking down the life of the material before it became the world as we know it.
Alex Gurvich and Zach Hafen
Department of Physics and Astronomy and Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration & Research in Astrophysics (CIERA)
Tools & Techniques: Stampede2 Supercomputer, Firefly Visualization Software, FIRE Simulations
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After decades of research and trillions of dollars of investment, engineers have enabled extremely powerful computers that fit in our pockets - smartphones. This is achieved by making nanometer sized patterns on silicon to make tiny computer chips.
Precise control over silicon chemistry can be used to create nanometer sized holes with various applications. If the silicon surface is not controlled, strange shapes such as the star shape can be carved out of the silicon.
Liban Jibril
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Tools & Techniques: Scanning Electron Microscope
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This is a high-speed photograph of a compound drop of oil and water falling onto a glass plate. The droplet showcases how the two substances don’t truly mix, as they interact differently with the glass surface and with each other.
Phalguni Shah and Michael Frim
Department of Physics and Astronomy and Evanston Township High School
Tools & Techniques: High-Speed Camera
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Gelatin is perhaps best known as the main ingredient in Jell-O and many gummy candies. This microscope image shows a flower-like irregularity in the surface of a gelatin-based material. The gelatin here has been chemically altered to be stronger so that researchers can use it to help understand how kidney cells interact and function and to eventually engineer new kidney tissue in the laboratory.
Jimmy Su
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Tools & Techniques: JEOL Neoscope Scanning Electron Microscope; Colored in Photoshop
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Actinomycetes are a type of bacteria that are commonly found in soil, but can also be found in humans and other animals. Like many bacteria, they can be harmless, but in some cases can cause disease, especially in patients with weakened immune systems.
This image is the gram stain of a taken from a patient with a tumor in the esophagus. Pathologists can diagnose disease processes by looking at tissue samples using a microscope.
Maryam Kherad Pezhouh
Department of Pathology
Tools & Techniques: Light Microscope at 600x Magnification
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This is a mouse egg that has been matured outside of the ovary. With the right engineered environment, these eggs can develop, grow and behave much like they would in the body. Being able to study eggs in this way allows researchers to develop new approaches and treatments for women facing infertility.
Jennifer Rowley
Department of Reproductive Science in Medicine
Tools & Techniques: Laser-Scanning Confocal Microscope
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When a water droplet falls onto a pool of water, it pushes into the pool’s surface, spreading ripples around the point of impact. As these ripples spread outward, a small jet of water bounces upwards from the impact point, but this usually happens too quickly for us to see in real time. This image captures the beautiful crest of this jet just after impact.
Isaiah Katz
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Tools & Techniques: VEO High Speed Camera
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Motor neurons are the part of the body’s nervous system responsible for movement. The upper motor neurons (UMNs) are located in the brain and carry information to the spinal cord, controlling most voluntary movements.
In this image, the UMN (green) has survived, compared to the other dead cells and neurons (red). This helps us understand the conditions that favor upper motor neuron survival.
Hande Ozdinler
Department of Neurology
Tools & Techniques: Nikon Microscope
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Collagen is a protein that provides shape and support to organs, providing a scaffold for living cells to grow and thrive. It is also the most abundant protein in the human body.
This image shows collagen fibers in a lung tumor from a mouse. When arranged in a specific way, the fibers glow when illuminated with infrared laser light. This image is color-coded by depth to reveal the fibers’ three-dimensional structure. This work helps investigate how processes like cancer and aging affect collagen.
Jennifer Davis and Alexandra Berr
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Department of Biomedical Engineering
Tools & Techniques: Second Harmonic Generation Microscopy -
This image shows flower-shaped nanostructures, a next-generation technology for treating cancer. These structures are 1000 times smaller than human hair and can be programmed to reach inside targeted cancer cells. They are also magentic, allowing them to be visaulized inside the body by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Vikas Nandwana
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Tools & Techniques: Transmission Electron Microscopy
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Soap is known for creating bubbles of air encased by a thin film of the soap and water. Bubbles are maintained by surface tension, which keeps the water and soap molecules in place; things like dry air or another object can break surface tension and cause the bubble to rupture.
This image shows a thin soap film in mid-rupture. The wiggled lines on the intact side of the bubble reflect differences in the thickness of the film.
Phalguni Shah
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Tools & Techniques: Phantom v2515 High-Speed Camera