The Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2025 has announced its winners, celebrating exceptional scientific photography that bridges the gap between compelling art and groundbreaking science. The competition, operated in partnership with the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), showcases brilliant images that reveal hidden scientific phenomena from around the world across multiple specialized categories.
Dr. Martin Ramirez from Argentina emerged as the overall winner with his mesmerizing photograph titled "Mesmerizing spider threads." Using a scanning electron microscope, Dr. Ramirez captured an extraordinary close-up image of silk from the Australian net-casting spider (Asianopis subrufa), magnified to show details of a structure just 0.05 millimeters in length. The image reveals intricate rope-like structures with remarkable twists and complex undulations that demonstrate the unique properties of this spider's silk.
The winning photograph focuses on a fascinating predator species known for their clever ambush hunting strategy. These Australian net-casting spiders hold sticky, strong webs between their forelegs and throw them onto passing insects. This distinctive hunting technique requires silk with extraordinary properties, which initially sparked Dr. Ramirez's scientific interest in studying the species alongside his collaborator, Dr. Jonas Wolff from Greifswald University.
Dr. Ramirez, a research scientist for the National Science and Technical Research Council at the Argentinian Museum of Natural Sciences, expressed surprise at his victory. "I knew my image was nice, but it is very surprising to be competing with these awesome photographers," the humble scientist explained. He emphasized the spectacular nature of their discovery, stating, "Just from observing the behavior, we knew something spectacular was going to be there. The web is incredibly stretchy; no normal silk can extend in that way to then return to its original form."
The research process involved meticulous collaboration between Dr. Ramirez and Dr. Wolff in Germany, where they carefully dissected the silk fiber by fiber and investigated it using an electron microscope. The winning image was actually captured back in Argentina using samples that Dr. Ramirez brought back with him. The electron microscope technology uses a beam of electrons rather than light to capture images, revealing details invisible to traditional photography.
The competition's judging panel was unanimous in selecting Dr. Ramirez's photograph as the winner. Hugh Turvey, Science Committee Chair at the Royal Photographic Society and a member of the judging panel, explained their evaluation criteria: "We evaluate entries on two key criteria: aesthetic appeal and the ability to convey a compelling scientific phenomenon. This bold, graphic scanning electron microscope image of inconceivable rope-like structures—with their remarkable twists and complex undulations—evokes a sense of wonder, perfectly demonstrating the intersection of artistic form and scientific function."
The competition featured five distinct categories: astronomy, behavior, earth science and climatology, ecology and environmental science, and microimaging. Dr. Ramirez won both the overall competition and the microimaging category, earning $1,000 for his achievement. The four other category winners each received $500 for their outstanding contributions.
In the astronomy category, Imran Sultan claimed victory with his striking image titled "Dancing on the Edge of Fire," while the runner-up position went to Aman Chokshi for "Between Auroras and Dawn—A South Pole Sunrise After the Longest Night on Earth." The behavior category was won by Peter Hudson's "Prairie Chicken Jump Off," with Irina Petrova Adamatzky earning runner-up honors for "The Snake That Flies."
Michael Meredith secured the earth sciences and climatology category with his powerful image "Scanning glaciers in the Antarctic winter," while Felipe Ríos Silva received runner-up recognition for "Where Fog Becomes Drinking Water: Four Decades of Science, Community, and Fog-Harvesting in the Atacama Desert." The ecology and environmental science category featured Filippo Carugati's winning entry "Amphibian galaxy," with Kees Bastmeijer earning runner-up status for "Lessons from a Forgotten Dance—Inspiration from Ainu culture to reflect on our human-nature-relationship."
The microimaging category, beyond Dr. Ramirez's overall winning entry, included Swetha Gurumurthy as runner-up for "Neurite Nexus: The Blueprint of Motion." These diverse winning images demonstrate the global reach of scientific photography and its power to make complex scientific phenomena accessible and visually compelling to broader audiences, reinforcing the important role that photography plays in scientific communication and public understanding of research.
