Top 10 Science Pictures

Top 10 Science Pictures Of The Year

This image of a peppercorn and a grain of salt taken by David McCarthy is the overall winner (and close-up category winner) in this year's Visions of Science Photographic Awards. The competition is sponsored by Novartis and The Daily Telegraph.

A tiny shrimp fearlessly enters the mouth of a fish to clean its teeth. Fish value this service as the shrimp removes and eats harmful parasites.

A clinical skills tutor holds a pile of prosthetic arms. The arms are used to help medical students learn valuable techniques, in this case the insertion of a cannula, a tube used for draining or introducing fluids.

Representation of panspermia - a theory that the seeds of life are found throughout the

 Universe, and that life arose on Earth when such seeds landed here early in geological history.

The image shows eggs shattering and releasing smaller eggs.

Films of supersaturated solutions can have crystallization initiated by any disturbance. This black rectangular outline has been scratched out to make a border in which these paracetamol crystals can grow.

The surface tension of water supports a metal paperclip. By photographing it using a grille in

front of the light source, the deformation of the water around the clip can be seen.

Cancer cells can spread through the body in a process known as metastasis. This cancer cell is moving down a pore in a filter. The image was taken at Cancer Research UK, where the spread of cancer is studied in the hope of finding a cure.

Migraine attacks can cause a variety of visual symptoms (aura) as well as the notorious stabbing head pain. This is a representation of a barn seen during an attack, painted by an artist and migraine sufferer.

The fine cellular structure of the stem of a sunflower is revealed here, including red vascular areas and blue supportive tissue. This systematic regularity contrasts with the sweeping outline of the butterfly.

An eye studies a self-contained ecosystem in which every organism feeds on another, or its waste products. All this sealed globe needs to sustain it is light, so that the plant can produce oxygen.

It is like a mini-Earth.