The 2007 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge awards were announced last week in Science. That little beauty above is Chondrus crispus, a red algae more commonly known as Irish moss, that was snapped by Andrea Ottesen of the University of Maryland. National Geographic has a roundup of some more winning photographs.

There are a few dozen books to be written about the interplay between visual images and popular support for science. NASA, for one, is very good about using stunning pictures to mobilize public support for space research. But the sublime works both ways. You can generate awe and wonder by going either very big or very small. What NASA can do with overwhelming star systems, biologists should be able to do with snapshots of impossibly delicate bundles of pollen grains.

References:
* Best Science Images of 2007 Honored [National Geographic]

Previously:
* Neural Nets See Things The Way We Do, Vulnerable To Basic Optical Illusion
* IIS Begs Science: Please Stop Making Robots That Creep Us The Hell Out
* The Things We Can Do - 20 Years Of Technological Progress