Latest news with #Nuraine
The Guardian
17-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Technicolour lakes and butterfly brains: Wellcome photography prize 2025
Setia's series of portraits explore the mental and physical trauma caused by domestic abuse in south Asian culture. A survivor of domestic abuse herself, Setia worked in close collaboration with the charity Shewise. Her series of portraits depict the stories of survivors as they chose to be seen, and after taking the photographs, Setia used the Indian paper-cutting technique sanjhi . • All photographs can be seen at the Francis Crick Institute, London, until 18 October Dhaka in Bangladesh has been subject to rapid urbanisation driven by climate migrants fleeing the rising threat of extreme weather events and natural disasters. Nuraine and her mother live in the city. Nuraine wanted to have a picnic outside in nature, but there are very few parks left, so her mother decided to recreate a 'nature experience' on the roof of their apartment building This image is of cholesterol crystals (blue) within a human liver cell (purple). Cholesterol builds up in the circulatory system and causes blood-vessel damage, leading to heart attacks and strokes. Detailed images such as these can help scientists and the public understand the effects of cholesterol on the body This aerial picture is of the former village of Geamăna in Transylvania, Romania. In 1977 the Romanian president, Nicolae Ceaușescu, ordered the evacuation of the village's 1,000 inhabitants to clear the way for the creation of a large lake to store toxic waste from the nearby copper mines. Popescu created this image to highlight how the beauty of the lake – which continues to grow - is at odds with its toxicity Mordechai Zilberman sits wearing his late partner Aryeh's clothes, holding a flower-decorated mask. The two Israeli men were together for 60 years. After moving to a nursing home, he concealed his sexuality, fearing rejection from other residents and staff. This image is part of a series by Wagenstein, who worked with older LGBTQ+ people in their homes. The mask, made by Wagenstein, represents this act of hiding Vanessa was diagnosed with breast cancer when they were 38. After a double mastectomy, they opted for 'aesthetic flat closure'. This decision was gender-affirming for them, and therefore positive, despite it also being a devastating experience. The portrait is from an ongoing series amplifying stories from people who are underrepresented in breast cancer research. Vanessa died at the end of December 2024 and this portrait is a celebration of their life This was taken after a surgical procedure to implant electrodes into Vidler's brain. The procedure is carried out on people who have epilepsy that can't be controlled by medication and is used to identify which area of the brain is causing the seizures, and can determine whether they are eligible for brain surgery. Vidler took this picture on the first day that the electrodes were inserted, and he had to keep them in for seven days This is of Musa Wandawa collecting water from a well next to his house in Jinja, Uganda. When Wandawa was 10 years old he contracted polio which left him with some physical disabilities. 'When I was growing up,' he says, 'children were sometimes afraid of me. I believe this perception has changed over the years and continues to change' Ko Tun is a craftsman from Inle Lake in Myanmar who creates carved traditional lacquerware. Due to the loss of several limbs, Ko Tun works primarily with his left foot. Pyae Phyo says he wanted this image to give a broader perspective on the meaning of health: 'Ko Tun's resilience is not just physical, it is mental and emotional. His story speaks to the importance of purpose and adaptability in overcoming life's challenges' Some of the most quietly powerful images explore ageing and the emotional terrain of later life. In this image , Waller photographs her mother navigating daily life in rural Australia. Her portraits are full of stillness and tenderness, capturing daily rituals This is the brain of a butterfly undergoing metamorphosis as new neurones are born through a process called neurogenesis. Studying this process can provide valuable insights into how the nervous system is formed, as well as brain disorders, says scientist Alcalde Anton Fine-particle pollution kills seven million people a year worldwide, and is linked to numerous health issues. This image shows magnified pollution particles in this street, visualising this otherwise 'invisible killer'. UK-based artist Vitaglione collaborated with scientists at Imperial College to collect samples A group of divers admire Nemo's Garden - the world's first underwater greenhouse system, located in Liguria, Italy. It was created to research farming solutions for areas where growing plants may be challenging in the future. By highlighting this groundbreaking project, d'Orlando invites us to consider how an underwater vegetable garden might help us face the new challenges that climate crisis is bringing This self-portrait by UK-based photographer Wileman documents the dates of her scars from endometriosis surgeries. The condition affects one in 10 women and those assigned female at birth and, says Wileman, 'is dangerously underfunded, under-researched and misunderstood, leaving so many isolated in their agony and fighting to be heard' This image captures a group of local people collecting water from a riverbed in Purulia, a district in West Bengal, India. Due to global heating, the monsoon season is becoming more irregular, causing rivers to dry out. During the dry season, many villages in this area regularly run out of drinking water
Euronews
21-06-2025
- General
- Euronews
7 stunning photos at the intersection of climate, science and health
'A picture is worth 1,000 words, and that means they can really change perceptions of different things in society,' says Elizabeth Wathuti, a young Kenyan climate activist and one of the judges of this year's Wellcome Photography Prize. On Thursday, the competition from Wellcome Trust - a UK-based charitable foundation focused on health research - revealed its top 25 photos, ahead of the winners being announced next month. The pictures are deeply evocative, capturing thousands of words' worth of emotion and information about pressing global issues. The health impacts of climate change emerge as a major theme, as well as the resilience and creativity with which people are responding. After the awards ceremony on 16 July, all 25 photos will be free to view at an exhibition at the Francis Crick Institute in London, running from 17 July until 18 October 2025. We have written many thousands of words about air pollution, climate migration, microplastics, water crises, and eco-innovations at Euronews Green over the years. But the seven photos below render these subjects in stunning and unfamiliar detail. This aerial picture is of the former village of Geamăna in the Lupșa area in Transylvania, Romania. In 1977, the Romanian president, Nicolae Ceaușescu, ordered the evacuation of the village's 1,000 inhabitants to clear the way for the creation of a large lake for the storage of toxic waste from the nearby Roșia Poieni copper mines. Residents were promised they would be remunerated and relocated nearby, but were in fact moved hundreds of miles away and did not receive adequate support. Romanian photographer Alexandru Radu Poposecu created this image to highlight how the beauty of the lake, known as the 'Geamăna environmental disaster', is at odds with its toxicity. The lake continues to grow by about 100cm a year, and affects the quality of the local groundwater. This image captures a group of local people collecting water from a riverbed in Purulia, a district in West Bengal, India. Due to climate change, the monsoon season in the Indian subcontinent is becoming more irregular, causing rivers to dry out. During the dry season, many villages in this area regularly run out of drinking water, and only minimal amounts can be collected from the riverbed. Indian photographer Sandipani Chattopadhyay seeks to draw attention to the stark reality of the water crisis and the growing threat to human existence. Nuraine and her mother live in the city of Dhaka in Bangladesh. Nuraine wanted to have the experience of eating a picnic outside in nature, but due to rapid urbanisation, there are very few parks or green spaces left. So her mother decided to recreate a 'nature experience' on the roof of their apartment building. One of the main reasons people are moving into cities is because of the increase in extreme weather events and natural disasters, particularly affecting Bangladesh. Every day, 2,000 climate migrants take up permanent residence in Dhaka, and they now comprise close to half of the total population. This is causing infrastructure challenges for the city. Mithail Afrige Chowdhury, a local photographer, draws our attention to this tender scene and contrasts it with the reality of urban expansion visible around them. Following the 'Striking Solo Photography' shortlisted pictures above, this remarkable photo has prevailed in 'The Marvels of Scientific and Medical Imaging' category. It is the first successful non-invasive image of its kind, which shows the presence of plastic particles – visible in turquoise – deep inside a live mouse. Patrick and Ogunlade, UK-based biomedical researchers, developed a photoacoustic imaging method using lasers and the resulting sound waves they generate when interacting with a sample, to visualise these microplastics. The accumulation of microplastics in the human body is a growing global health concern. But current methods of imaging microplastics are invasive, hindering research into how they affect our wellbeing. So this picture represents one of the first steps towards developing techniques and devices to take images of human tissues, which can then be used for clinical investigations into the health impacts of microplastics. Another contender in the Biomedical Imaging category is this unusual shot of Brixton Road in south London. It doesn't bear an obvious resemblance to the bustling high street, but tells a deeper story about life and death for residents there. Fine-particle pollution kills seven million people a year worldwide and is linked to numerous health issues, including asthma and dementia. This image shows magnified pollution particles from Brixton Road, visualising an otherwise 'invisible killer'. It was a team effort. UK-based artist Marina Vitaglione collaborated with scientists Paul Johnson, Laura Buchanan, Stephanie Wright and Joseph Levermore from Imperial College London's Environmental Research Group to collect air-pollution samples throughout the city. Vitaglione then photographed these samples, enlarged through a microscope, and produced a cyanotype print from the digital negatives of the close-up image. This 19th-century camera-less photographic process involves coating paper with photosensitive chemicals and exposing it to sunlight. The resulting cyan-blue tones ironically echo the clear skies that pollution threatens. Two of the five shortlisted photographers in the third category, 'A Storytelling Series', are also fundamentally telling climate stories. Located in Liguria, Italy, Nemo's Garden is the world's first underwater greenhouse system. It was created to research farming solutions for areas where growing plants may be challenging in the future. Giacomo d'Orlando's photographs set out to reveal how the biospheres work. The images also highlight some of the discoveries that are being made about the plants. One of which is that they contain higher levels of antioxidants than the same plants grown on land, which could be useful in the development of new medicines. By sharing this groundbreaking project, d'Orlando invites us to consider how an underwater vegetable garden might help us face the new challenges brought by climate change. Slovenian documentary photographer Ciril Jazbec's 'A dream to cure water' series transports the viewer to Peru, home to the majority of the world's tropical glaciers. But 40 per cent of their surface area has disappeared since the 1970s because of climate change. He explores the health impacts of rapidly melting glaciers in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range, where this is threatening water supplies and contaminating rivers with the heavy metals that accumulate over centuries within glaciers. As glaciers are a crucial water source for mountain farming communities, this poses a serious threat to the health of local people and their livestock. Jazbec took these images of the ways in which local people are combining ancestral knowledge with scientific monitoring equipment in an effort to protect the water and sustain their livelihoods. 'Understanding how to share and transmit ethically produced images is of the deepest importance,' says Daniella Zalcman, photographer and founder of Women Photograph, and another Wellcome Photography Prize 2025 judge. 'Not only are people trusting us with their stories of their vulnerable and traumatic experiences, we're communicating those experiences for the collective human record.'
