Life

Feature

Tiny frogs and fjords: Australian student features in Nature's Science photo competition

A PhD student from the University of Melbourne was featured in Nature's 2025 Scientist At Work photography competition.

A woman kneels in the grass holding tiny frogs in her open palms. There is a large white esky next to her.

This photo of Kate Belleville from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife holding tiny froglets was a finalist in Nature's annual photography competition. Credit: Ryan Wagner

Navigating rough seas, boring into ice cores, and a stunning aurora are some of the subjects of stunning photographs highlighting science and discovery.

Each year, the academic journal Nature selects its favourite photos for its Scientist At Work competition.

This year, a PhD student from the University of Melbourne was one of the six winners announced on Wednesday morning, but the overall prize went to a photo of a scientist braving choppy Norwegian waters on the search for whales.

Top prize for Norway

A man in a yellow jacket on a small boat next to a ship navigates calm waters with sea birds flying overhead.
Biologist Audun Rikardsen on the search for whales near fishing trawlers in the fjords of northern Norway. Credit: Emma Vogel
This photograph by Emma Vogel was the best of the over 200 entries and shows biologist Audun Rikardsen.

Vogel, his PhD student, captured the scientist conducting fieldwork with a backdrop of Norwegian fjords and sea birds.

Rikardsen is holding an airgun with satellite tags that track the movement and behaviour of whales.

Another entry from Norway shows two figures on an ice sheet surrounded by impenetrable black.
A pair stands on an illuminated ice sheet surrounded by darkness.
Geobiologist James Bradley and microbiologist Catherine Larose are conducting fieldwork in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Credit: Dagmara Wojtanowicz
Dagmara Wojtanowicz captured the boring of an ice core by geobiologist James Bradley and microbiologist Catherine Larose in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.

Australian university student featured

Two figures stand on a large telescope with a colourful sky in the background.
The South Pole Telescope at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole station, taken during Aman Chokshi's stay at the research station. Credit: Aman Chokshi
The photograph of the massive South Pole Telescope in Antarctica was taken when Aman Chokshi was a PhD student at the University of Melbourne.

Chokshi was staying at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole research station when he captured the colourful aurora lighting up the sky.

The competition also featured two-time consecutive finalist Ryan Wagner.

His image of a cheerful woman, Kate Belleville, shows her holding a small group of froglets in her hands in California's Lassen National Forest.


For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.

Share
2 min read

Published

By Cameron Carr
Source: SBS News


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world