Disclaimer: machine translated by DeepL which may contain errors.

Report on the Faculty of Science Image Contest 2022

Chairman of Open Campus Committee Atsushi Matsuo
(Associate Professor, Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences / Department of Mathematics)

Perhaps due to the success of the Public Relations Office's appeal, we received 30 entries for the 2022 Image Contest, a significant increase over last year's number. Since the Open Campus was again held online, the Communications & Public Relations Committee of the Faculty of Science conducted voting and selected one Grand Prize winner and two Excellence Award winners. The winning entries were all related to biology, but the runner-up was related to physics. We would like to thank everyone who worked so hard to prepare the images.

Grand Prize

Squid suckers and teeth

Ryosuke Kanehara (Second-year doctoral student, Department of Biological Sciences )

Fluorescent image of suckers on the arms of a squid observed by confocal microscopy. The squid's suckers have protrusions and teeth on their edges in order to catch prey while swimming agilely. The elaborateness and strength of this image shows the wonder and romance of the morphological evolution of organisms.

The Grand Prize winner, "Cuttlefish suckers and teeth," is a fluorescent observation of cuttlefish suckers. Unlike the octopus, the sucker of the squid has a ring with teeth, which are removed during cooking, but the image is full of powerful physical beauty backed by function.

The Excellence Award winner, "Crescent Moon Resisting Stress Environment," observed cells in which a tardigrade protein was introduced. The protein that fibrillates under stress is amazing, but the technique used to create this beautiful image must also be amazing. Mr. Yoshimura, who also won the Excellence Award for "Logarithmic Spiral Dynamics," has won the Grand Prize two years in a row, following the Grand Prize last year. The logarithmic spirals formed by shells are beautiful both biologically and mathematically, but this ambitious work attempts to show that they are also beautiful mechanically.

I confess that all the works I voted for were not selected. Although everyone's sensibilities are different, it is true that I was a little troubled. The image contest will be held again next year and beyond, and we hope to receive many more entries.

Excellence Award Crescent Moon withstanding a stressful environment 　Akihiro Tanaka (Third-year doctoral student, Department of Biological Sciences ) This is a cultured insect cell in which a resistance protein of the animal tardigrade, which can withstand space exposure, has been introduced. When exposed to stress, this resistance protein fibrillates and physically strengthens the cells. The cells look like crescent moons floating in space.

Award for Excellence Dynamics of Logarithmic Spirals 　 Taro Yoshimura (Second-year student, Master's Program, Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University Museum ) Mollusk shells are shaped by a natural design called a logarithmic spiral. By analyzing 3D data of shells, we are attempting to reveal the strength design behind these curves. A frame that impresses with the beauty of something strong.

All entries can be viewed on the Faculty of Science website.
https://www.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ja/communication/contests/2022_result.html

Published in the September 2021 issue of Faculty of Science News

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