Weird and Wonderful: Bernice Akpinar wins first prize in EPSRC Photo Competition

CDT-ACM Student Bernice Akpinar has been awarded first prize in the annual EPSRC (Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council) photography competition in the Weird and Wonderful category. The competition, which is now in its fifth year, allows researchers and doctoral students to share another side of their work. Bernice’s photograph is entitled Nature’s Nano-sized Net for Capturing Colour and captures the surface of a butterfly’s wing. The seemingly delicate wings are covered in micrometre-scale structures, which trap the sun’s rays, and give rise to an array of dazzling colours. This image reveals some of these structures at the nanometre scale. It was taken using atomic force microscopy: a technique that scans a sharp probe across a surface, feeling for changes in height.

To see the other winning images, and to find out more about the competition, please click here