Nature's photo team selected the month's sharpest science shots.
By Emma Stoye
December 6th, 2021.
A postcard from Mars. The panoramic view of Mars was captured by the navigation cameras on NASA's rover. The scene was captured twice in one day, first at 8:20 a.m. and again at 4:10 p.m. local Mars time. Engineers combined the shots and colors to create an artistic re-creation of the morning scene in blue, the afternoon scene in orange and a combination of both in green.
There is a pool of plastic. The Atlantic Basin Facility at the Deltares research institute is a scale model of the Atlantic Ocean, complete with wave generators. Researchers at the European Space Agency are using real bits of reclaimed marine litter to test whether plastic can be detected from space using satellite monitoring. Styrofoam balls, bags, bottles, marine nets and ropes, and other items found at sea are included in the items they dumped in the basin.
Sick of oil. A climate activist vomits mock oil at a protest outside of an oil refinery in Scotland. During the United Nations COP26 Climate Change Conference, world leaders gathered in Glasgow, UK, to discuss commitments to tackle climate change. Thousands of people protested outside the conference venue, demanding stronger action on emissions.
A child is lost. The first partial skull of a Homo naledi child, who died almost 250,000 years ago, has been found in the depths of Rising Star Cave. The skull contains 28 fragments and 6 teeth. The team named the skull Leti, after the word letimela, which means the lost one. It's a rare find, juvenile hominin remains are usually thin and fragile.
Credit: Wits University
A field is flooded. A house is submerged by floodwater from the Panaro river in Italy after heavy rain and melting snow. The photo won Environmental Photographer of the Year. Climate change is thought to be causing floods to become more frequent in some parts of Europe.
The credit is given to the Smith Lab.
The credit is given to the Smith Lab.
A fish's heart. This microscope image shows the abundance of cells in the heart tissue of the fish. A new study shows that glia have a role to play in the functioning of the heart. When glia lack a key gene that drives their development, the heart beats irregularly. The network of organ-associated glia have functional roles that are dependent on the environment, according to co-authorCody Smith.
A swimming lesson. The otter is dunking her baby in the Kallang River in Singapore. Teo told Yahoo that the baby otter were learning to swim during that time. They would swim for a short time near the river bank, then get tired and want to go back to the nest. The adults would make them swim back and forth to get them to swim again. The picture was a winner at the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, which aim to bring a lighter note to conservativism.
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