A fruit fly’s icy, unwavering stare, the quiet immensity of an iceberg and the tranquillity of the womb – these amazing images bring into focus the beauty of nature, be it big or small.
The stunning pictures are at the forefront of a new bid to excite children’s interest in science and dispel its dusty image in schools.
They are being offered to schools as part of a package by the Science Photo Library to draw children into learning, so they can better understand the world they live in.
The high quality of the images and videos in their collection will help make the very complicated seem more simple, say organisers.
The library has also decided to take another stab at exciting children’s interest – by turning to a self-proclaimed ‘science rapper’ to wax lyrical about the subject matter.
The school package includes a music video from Jonathan Chase, a musician and associate science lecturer at the University of Glamorgan.
The video combines many of the library’s best moving images and puts them to Mr Chase’s backing track, in which he raps about the wonders of the scientific world.
‘We are always on the lookout for new ways to popularise science and show our footage in a relevant and engaging way,’ said Alison Somerville, the library’s motion content editor.
‘We wanted to give educators something a bit different that captures pupils’ attention and shows how the science they learn is related to the world around us.’