SNSF Scientific Image Competition 2023 winners

The winning entry, ‘Searching for a good father’ by Francesca Angiolani-Larrea, is an image of the Hyalinobatrachium valerioi, a type of glass frog with a transparent belly. Angiolani-Larrea studies the interactions between parents and offspring in the glass frogs, a species in which the father stays with the young after the mother has produced the eggs.

‘Maize root microbiome’, by Lisa Thönen, shows the ensemble of microorganisms living in or on the maize root and how they process secondary metabolites of the plant. The jury said the photograph “acts as a poetic window into a new world awaiting discovery: the microbe communities living under our feet”.

‘Cerebrospinal Fluid Streaming Through Optic Nerve’, by Diego Rossinelli, Jatta Berberat and Gilles Fourestey

‘Right or left’, part of the ‘My voice in images’ collection by Sylvia Garcia Delahaye and Lavinia Johnson, is a participatory research method using photography to give young people an opportunity to express themselves on social issues and public policies

The first prize image, ‘Not only wearing white coats’, was taken with a tripod on a farm, and demonstrates that doctors and scientists do not always wear white coats and work in sterile environments

‘Wheat harvest’, by Andreas Hund, is an image of the field phenotyping platform, located at the ETH Research Station for Plant Sciences in Eschikon, Switzerland. It is equipped with high-tech devices including a rope-suspended carrier system, drones and farming robots. 

‘High stakes in the history of medicine’, by Alexandre Wenger and Radu Suciu, Professor and scientific collaborator, University of Geneva, was taken at the historic library and museum of the Hôpital Saint-Louis in Paris. It is home to a collection of books relating to the history of medicine and dermatology, many of them out of print and very rare.

‘Cognition roulette’, by Francesca Angiolani-Larrea, PhD student at University of Bern, shows a gecko learning the location of food in a maze. The team at the University of Bern are comparing how females, males and juveniles learn differently.

‘Bees and chips’, by Rafael Barmak, is a close-up of a honeybee-populated robotic device developed within the Mobile Robotics Systems group at EPFL

‘Basel’s bishop invoices 1458-1474’, by Corina Liebi, a PhD student at University of Bern, shows a huge bound book consisting of individual accounts: the court accounts of the Bishop of Basel, and part of Liebi’s work at the Archives de l’ancien Evêché de Bâle in Porrentruy.