A dozen stunning science images, representing cell structures, microorganisms, polymer films, degraded metals and more, have been selected by the voting public as winners in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Science as Art contest.  

The photos are representative of research projects at the Department of Energy laboratory and will appear in a 2012 "Discovery in Action" calendar (available for high- and low-resolution download here).  Winning images will also be used in laboratory websites, printed materials, building lobbies and conference rooms.

The photos were selected from about 40 nominations during a late summer contest on PNNL's Facebook site.  

Additionally, two of the photos have been selected by the American Chemical Society as winners in their "Science as Art" contest.  One — an image taken by a high-powered microscope showing mineral buildup as carbon dioxide reacts with rock, for deep underground storage of carbon dioxide — was named the top image submitted and will be featured in the Oct. 31 issue of the Society's prestigious Chemical & Engineering News magazine.

"Great science art that is representative of the laboratory's discovery and innovation is created here at PNNL every day," said John LaFemina, PNNL's director of Institutional Strategy. "Through PNNL research, we have acquired unique photos, graphics and renderings, as well as images that were created on laboratory instrumentation.  This is a small but outstanding selection of those images."

To see or download the 12 winning photos, visit PNNL's Flickr site.