2025 Beaker Street Science Photography Finalists Announced
Captured by photographer Ben Alldridge using specialised UV-sensitive techniques, the image reveals the Eastern Quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) biofluorescing in its natural habitat. While many animals are known to glow under ultraviolet light, this is the first time the phenomenon has been recorded in the wild for this endangered species. The image forms part of ongoing research into the impacts of light pollution on native wildlife.
This remarkable photograph is one of 12 finalist images that will be exhibited at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) from 6 to 31 August as part of Beaker Street Festival. Each image tells a powerful scientific story, spanning microscopic exploration, ecological discovery and rarely seen natural phenomena. Visitors to the free TMAG exhibition will be invited to vote for their favourite image in the People's Choice category, with winners to be announced at the end of the exhibition.
'This year's finalists really capture what Beaker Street is all about. Making science visible, beautiful and emotionally resonant,' said Festival Founder and Executive Director Dr Margo Adler. 'These photographs let us see the world differently, and in some cases quite literally reveal things we've never seen before.'
From dark sky conservation and photosynthesising sea slugs to auroras, slime moulds and high-speed wildlife drama, this year's finalists offer a visual reminder of the wonder, complexity and fragility of the world around us.
2025 Beaker Street Science Photography Prize Finalists include:
Ben Alldridge – The Magic Rat and His Slick Machine – The first wild documentation of an Eastern Quoll's biofluorescence
Sarah Lloyd – Slime Moulds: Overlooked and Underestimated – Capturing micro-organisms critical to nutrient cycling
Alison McNeice – PhotosyntheSlug – A sea slug that photosynthesises via kleptoplasty
David Nolan – Milky Way over Waterworks Reserve – Highlighting the importance of dark sky conservation
Jordan Cripps – Your Hand in Mine – Aurora Australis over the Tessellated Pavement
Chelsea Bell – Crystalline Forest – Frost formation on Nothofagus gunnii leaves
Nicolas Horniblow – Sea Spider – Macrophotography of Tasmania's Pallenella ambigua
Kelli Miller – Inner Terrain – Microscopy revealing polymerised protein puddles in blood
Deon Scanlon – Aerodynamic Attraction – Capturing the wonder of birds in flight
Rosa Maria Cañedo-Apolaya – Keep Swimming… This is My Spot – Documenting territorial fish behaviour
Lily Barnett – Lunch Time – A white-bellied sea eagle stealing prey from a fur seal
Matilda Francis (Under 12) – Liken the Lichen – A young photographer's close-up of lichen at Mt Field
The Judges' Choice winner will receive a $200 voucher to spend on food and wine at Frogmore Creek Cellar Door and Restaurant in Richmond, while the People's Choice winner will enjoy a wilderness cruise for two adults with Pennicott Wilderness Journeys.
The Science Photography Prize is one of many public highlights of Beaker Street Festival, a week-long celebration of science and art held across Tasmania from 12 to 19 August. With more than 70 events, the 2025 program includes headline talks, immersive field trips, after-dark adventures and quirky experiences such as a nightclub for sexual health, slime mould safaris and a live onstage dating show. Beaker Street Festival invites curious minds of all backgrounds to explore the world through science, story and connection.
Beaker Street Festival is presented by Beaker Street, an independent charitable cultural organisation building community through scientific understanding in Lutruwita/Tasmania.
Beaker Street Festival is supported by the following Major Partners: the Tasmanian Government, City of Hobart, the Australian Government as part of National Science Week, and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The Science Photography Prize is sponsored by the Pennicott Foundation, and supported by Full Gamut and Cam Blake Photography.
About Beaker Street Festival
Beaker Street Festival is a week-long celebration of science and art in Lutruwita/Tasmania each August. Now in its eighth year, Beaker Street Festival promises a mix of wonder, flavour, and scientifically proven fun. The Festival invites adults from all walks of life to delve into today's hottest topics with a packed program of science-infused experiences, mind-expanding entertainment and intimate eco-adventures, while experiencing the best of Tasmanian environments and culture.
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Scoop
13-07-2025
- Scoop
2025 Beaker Street Science Photography Finalists Announced
A glowing quoll in the Tasmanian wilderness, the first documentation of its kind, leads a striking line-up of finalists announced today for the 2025 Beaker Street Science Photography Prize. Captured by photographer Ben Alldridge using specialised UV-sensitive techniques, the image reveals the Eastern Quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) biofluorescing in its natural habitat. While many animals are known to glow under ultraviolet light, this is the first time the phenomenon has been recorded in the wild for this endangered species. The image forms part of ongoing research into the impacts of light pollution on native wildlife. This remarkable photograph is one of 12 finalist images that will be exhibited at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) from 6 to 31 August as part of Beaker Street Festival. Each image tells a powerful scientific story, spanning microscopic exploration, ecological discovery and rarely seen natural phenomena. Visitors to the free TMAG exhibition will be invited to vote for their favourite image in the People's Choice category, with winners to be announced at the end of the exhibition. 'This year's finalists really capture what Beaker Street is all about. Making science visible, beautiful and emotionally resonant,' said Festival Founder and Executive Director Dr Margo Adler. 'These photographs let us see the world differently, and in some cases quite literally reveal things we've never seen before.' From dark sky conservation and photosynthesising sea slugs to auroras, slime moulds and high-speed wildlife drama, this year's finalists offer a visual reminder of the wonder, complexity and fragility of the world around us. 2025 Beaker Street Science Photography Prize Finalists include: Ben Alldridge – The Magic Rat and His Slick Machine – The first wild documentation of an Eastern Quoll's biofluorescence Sarah Lloyd – Slime Moulds: Overlooked and Underestimated – Capturing micro-organisms critical to nutrient cycling Alison McNeice – PhotosyntheSlug – A sea slug that photosynthesises via kleptoplasty David Nolan – Milky Way over Waterworks Reserve – Highlighting the importance of dark sky conservation Jordan Cripps – Your Hand in Mine – Aurora Australis over the Tessellated Pavement Chelsea Bell – Crystalline Forest – Frost formation on Nothofagus gunnii leaves Nicolas Horniblow – Sea Spider – Macrophotography of Tasmania's Pallenella ambigua Kelli Miller – Inner Terrain – Microscopy revealing polymerised protein puddles in blood Deon Scanlon – Aerodynamic Attraction – Capturing the wonder of birds in flight Rosa Maria Cañedo-Apolaya – Keep Swimming… This is My Spot – Documenting territorial fish behaviour Lily Barnett – Lunch Time – A white-bellied sea eagle stealing prey from a fur seal Matilda Francis (Under 12) – Liken the Lichen – A young photographer's close-up of lichen at Mt Field The Judges' Choice winner will receive a $200 voucher to spend on food and wine at Frogmore Creek Cellar Door and Restaurant in Richmond, while the People's Choice winner will enjoy a wilderness cruise for two adults with Pennicott Wilderness Journeys. The Science Photography Prize is one of many public highlights of Beaker Street Festival, a week-long celebration of science and art held across Tasmania from 12 to 19 August. With more than 70 events, the 2025 program includes headline talks, immersive field trips, after-dark adventures and quirky experiences such as a nightclub for sexual health, slime mould safaris and a live onstage dating show. Beaker Street Festival invites curious minds of all backgrounds to explore the world through science, story and connection. Beaker Street Festival is presented by Beaker Street, an independent charitable cultural organisation building community through scientific understanding in Lutruwita/Tasmania. Beaker Street Festival is supported by the following Major Partners: the Tasmanian Government, City of Hobart, the Australian Government as part of National Science Week, and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The Science Photography Prize is sponsored by the Pennicott Foundation, and supported by Full Gamut and Cam Blake Photography. About Beaker Street Festival Beaker Street Festival is a week-long celebration of science and art in Lutruwita/Tasmania each August. Now in its eighth year, Beaker Street Festival promises a mix of wonder, flavour, and scientifically proven fun. The Festival invites adults from all walks of life to delve into today's hottest topics with a packed program of science-infused experiences, mind-expanding entertainment and intimate eco-adventures, while experiencing the best of Tasmanian environments and culture.
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Extinction may be no moa?
Most of us have lost someone dear. It's unhappily the way of things, that in the midst of life we are indeed in death. Who wouldn't give pots of money or anything they owned for even a short time more with a loved one who has died? Instead, we are left with the hurt and sorrow, the feeling we have lost part of ourselves. In the animal kingdom, whole orders and families of creatures have died out, many of them as a result of human behaviour. They have been killed by hunting and by introduced predators, and because we have destroyed their habitat directly by burning or through ongoing insidious changes to their food sources, including plant distribution, as a consequence of climate change. What if we could really bring these animals back somehow, rather than just in our minds? You might say we owe them that at least. Could we start with moa? That's the idea which has burst through into the media this week, courtesy of United States biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences, Ngāi Tahu, Canterbury Museum and film-maker Sir Peter Jackson. Through the use of genetic engineering and DNA in preserved moa remains, they believe South Island giant moa hatchlings could be restored to life in less than eight years. New Zealand has a shocking roll call of species which have become extinct since the first Polynesians arrived some time in the late 13th century. Those settlers were accompanied by the Pacific rat, kiore, which exterminated some bird species, and then Europeans arrived some 500 years later with their deadly cargo of stoats, ferrets, weasels, Norway rats and ship rats. New Zealand ornithologist Dr Richard Holdaway says during about 750 years of human settlement the number of vertebrate species has nearly halved, including the losses of one type of bat, more than 50 birds, three frogs and three lizards, and a freshwater fish. Moa were hunted to extinction by about the early 1400s. Prominent Catlins archaeologist Les Lockerbie proved that those early settlers from Polynesia were responsible for wiping out moa by discovering moa bones next to moa-bone fish-hook points, necklace reels and pendants in coastal excavations. This new plan to "de-extinct" moa has excited a great deal of attention. The idea would be that the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre would oversee the project and own the moa, to be kept on an ecological reserve. Sir Peter is cock-a-hoop at the prospect of success. He says it follows his long-held dream that many scientific wonders might become something more tangible during his lifetime. Paul Scofield, the Canterbury Museum's senior curator of natural history, is also excited about working with Colossal Biosciences, which is also trying to resurrect the dodo, the Tasmanian tiger and the woolly mammoth. Thousands of genes would be required to rebuild the bird's brain, feathers, eyesight and other characteristics. A related living species would then act as a genetic surrogate. However, a dose of reality has been injected into the scheme by University of Otago scientists, including paleogenetics laboratory director Assoc Prof Nic Rawlence. He points to Colossal's supposedly de-extincted dire wolf, which was actually a genetically engineered grey wolf. In the case of the moa, he believes they will simply be creating a GE emu or similar, which might look like a moa but may not function like one. There would also be serious ethical concerns. At least 500 individuals would be needed to avoid dangerous in-breeding — that is, if they are actually able to breed. As well, Prof Rawlence is questioning the level of iwi engagement. While carrying out genome-sequencing on the moa, scientists from the paleogenetics lab have found no appetite from individual rūnanga across the South Island to bring back moa. He says it might also be a better use of the company's technology to use genetic engineering to help strengthen and conserve animals now on the endangered list. We agree. There can be no doubting it would be absolutely incredible were moa to walk the earth again after more than 500 years. But energy, technology and money would be much better used in saving our endangered species right now, rather than attempting to reverse the arrow of time.
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Jurassic tech: Company claims the dire wolf is ‘de-extinct', but is it ethical?
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