The month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team.
Pursuing poachers: These striking images show the forensic evidence left by the illegal wildlife trade — a handprint on a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) and fingerprints on an elephant tusk; both confiscated at London Heathrow Airport, UK. The photographs earned Britta Jaschinski first prize in the 2026 Earth Photo Award. Jaschinski worked with border-force operations and wildlife crime units to document elements of the illegal poaching trade, which is worth an estimated US$23 billion per year.
Credits: 1. Britta Jaschinski, Forensics Fingerprints 2025, UK. Earth Photo 2026 Award 2. Britta Jaschinski, Every Crime Leaves a Trace, 2025, Wildlife Crime Lab, Institute of Zoology (IOZ), London, UK. Earth Photo 2026 Award
View from above of a turtle with a handprint on its shell, visible under ultra violet light., image
Ice sampling: Researchers are spending six weeks camped out in front of the Isunnguata Sermia glacier in Greenland to research the carbon content of meltwater. Their analysis of melted-ice and sediment samples has revealed that bacteria under the ice consume organic matter and produce greenhouse gases. When the ice melts, these gases escape into the atmosphere. The Greenland Ice Sheet is melting at a rapidly accelerating rate, increasing greenhouse-gas emissions.
