Pony
Pregnant Pony Uterus. Photo: Michael Frank, Royal Veterinary College, courtesy Wellcome Images.
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Scientific images are both shocking and fascinating, as they often show us parts of our natural world that go entirely unseen: cross sections of brains, chemical reactions inside the body and extreme closeups of animals too small to actually see with the human eye.

Earlier this month Wellcome Image Awards announced the finalists of their 14th contest recognizing the most excellent and informative scientific images recently acquired by the biomedical research charity.

The pregnant pony uterus above was this year’s overall winner. “It evokes many different emotions at once: it’s fascinating, sad, macabre, almost brutal,” said James Cutmore, Picture Editor of BBC Focus and a judge of the competition. “Yet the subject is also delicate, detailed and beautiful. The image shows as a large and magnificent creature reduced to this sad, fragile and half-formed creation, which I find very humbling.” The pony uterus is preserved in fromalin and was photographed by Michael Frank in the Anatomy Museum of the Royal Veterinary College in London.

Although that winning shot is insane, the entire lineup of finalists is quite surreal.

3D-printed Lungs in Ribcage

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3D-printed Lungs in Ribcage Photo
Goat Stomach Chamber

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Goat Stomach Chamber
Immune Cell Detects Disease

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Immune Cell Detects Disease
Cat Tongue

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Cat Tongue
Pregnant Pony Uterus

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Pregnant Pony Uterus
Pollen Grains

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Pollen Grains
Boll weevil

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Boll weevil
Tuatara skeleton

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Tuatara skeleton
Mouse brain

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Mouse brain
Purkinje Cell

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Purkinje Cell
Chemical Reactions in the Kidney

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Chemical Reactions in the Kidney
Delivering Medicine to the Brain

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Delivering Medicine to the Brain
Newly Discovered Parasitoid Wasp

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Newly Discovered Parasitoid Wasp
Greenfly Eye

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Greenfly Eye
Fruit-fly Nervous System

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Fruit-fly Nervous System
Mapping Brain Wiring

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Mapping Brain Wiring
Delivering Medicine to the Lungs

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Delivering Medicine to the Lungs
Curvature of the spine

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Curvature of the spine
Children’s Multi-Sensory Unit

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Children’s Multi-Sensory Unit
Old Anatomy Model

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Old Anatomy Model