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Fruit fly ovaries or a fungus garden don't automatically spring to mind when imagining objects of beauty.

But to a scientist, seeing these strange and fascinating specimens in detail can reveal unexpected patterns of beauty.

And now anyone can see the same stunning patterns as part of an annual exhibition held by Princeton University in New Jersey, which highlights the art in science. 

What does a fish see when it schools with others? In this GIF, the visual field is shown for one fish in a school. The field of view of the left eye is seen in red and the right in  blue. The areas of overlap are shown in purple. The video illustrates the fact that a fish can see far more than a few nearest neighbours

The exhibit consists of both still images and video of artistic merit created during the course of scientific research.

The idea is to spur debate among artists about the nature of art and open scientists to new ways of 'seeing' their own research.

It also hopes to open a window through which the general public can appreciate both art and science - two fields that for differing reasons can feel threatening to the non-expert.

This image won first place and is the work of  Princeton postdoctoral researcher Sara Sadri. Named 'Watermarks,' the images traces the complex patterns created by water moving back and forth on New Jersey's Atlantic coast

Microtubules are hollow filaments that serve as the skeleton of the cell. They were thought to grow linearly, but this GIF shows that they can branch: microtubules (red with growing tips in green) grow off the wall of existing microtubules

'Portrait of the Artist in the Air Shower' won third prize in the Art of Science competition. The image was taken during a 20-second blast of air that removes tiny pieces of debris when scientists enter the clean room

Shown here are fungus-growing ants and the fungus garden they cultivate in a colony from the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. The interaction between ant workers and the growing fungus creates dynamic living structure, seen here growing in a time-lapse video over the course of ten days

'Art of Science imagery has universal appeal, across cultures, languages, and age groups,' the organisers claim.

'Powerful imaging tools can now capture our world in ways never before contemplated and unintentionally produce aesthetically interesting visual effects.

'When viewed through the lens of art, these images can further man's concept of what it means to be human, enhance our appreciation of the natural world, and enrich our cultural heritage.'

Forty-four still images and 12 videos were chosen from more than 30 submissions from undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, staff, and alumni.

Zach Donnell, a graduate student in molecular biology and one of the 2014 organizers, explained that the exhibit highlights the interplay between art and science.

'While the scientific methods behind the exhibit strive for objectivity and consensus, everyone's individual response to the images is subjective and highly personal,' he said.

Sara Sadri, a postdoc in Civil and Environmental Engineering came first with her image dubbed 'Watermarks'.

Second place went to James Waters, a student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology for his 'Fungus among us' The image shows a microscopic view of a fungus growing on debris within an ant colony. 

The image of a 'Fruit Fly Factory' shows cross sections of ten ovaries from a female fruit fly. Each ovary acts as an 'assembly line,' with each egg (yellow circles) being formed as it works its way to the larger end of the ovary. The image was created by Yogesh Goyal, Bomyi Lim, Miriam Osterfield, and Stas Shvartsman

'Fungus Among Us' - pictured on the left is a microscopic view of a fungus growing on debris within an ant colony. The white areas transport nutrients between the reproductive spores (brown). On the right is an image of an ant hiding in one of the fittings designed to measure its respirometry system

This piece, titled 'Angel, shows a close up of the protective coatings of hydroxyapatite that are durable, but invisible. To control the growth of the mineral, researcehrs add a polymer (polyacrylic acid), which adsorbs on the growing crystal. In this image, the polyacrylic acid particles show exotic forms

The title of this image paraphrases Lewis Wolpert's declaration: 'It is not birth, marriage, or death, but gastrulation, which is truly the most important time in your life.' 'Gastrulation' is the process by which, through coordinated cell shape changes and movements, an embryo takes form. This image shows a transverse view through a gastrulating fruit fly embryo

Yasmin Afsar, graduate student, Electrical Engineering came third with 'Portrait of the artist in the air shower'. The image was taken during a 20-second blast of air that removes tiny pieces of debris when scientists enter the clean room.

This is the seventh Princeton University Art of Science competition but the first to include a category of video.

The top video award was a GoPro camera, awarded to Sabine Petry, assistant professor of molecular biology, for 'Microtubules branch out.'

'So much of science and engineering involves video or animation these days that it was inevitable we would include it in Art of Science,' said Dan Quinn, a graduate student in mechanical and aerospace engineering who is one of the 2014 exhibit organisers.

'Since a picture is worth a thousand words, video is worth approximately 30,000 words per second, so adding a video component to Art of Science was a no-brainer.'

Those attending the opening reception for the physical gallery in May were also asked to fill out a paper 'People's Choice' ballot.

Of 185 ballots cast, 1st place for the still image went to 'Fruit fly factory' by Yogesh Goyal, Bomyi Lim, Miriam Osterfield, Stas Shvartsman, of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

The People's Choice award for video went to 'Plenty of Fish' by Colin Twomey and Haishan Wu of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

The physical gallery of the 2014 exhibit will be on view in the Friend Center on the Princeton University campus through the end of April 2015. 

The 'Let It Snow' image on the left shows a group of beetles playing in a shower of flour as scientists investigate how parasites, which infect the beetles, change their metabolic rate. On the right is the American pika, sometimes thought of as the 'canary' of climate change as its absence reveals temperature fluctuations 

Observing this green algae leaf under a standard microscope only reveal limited detail, as conventional images are flat and two-dimensional. But thisimage here shows a volume slice of the leaf: two cell layers. One highlighted in blue and the other in green

A Tesla coil takes is pictured in 'Now That I Have Your Attention,' a photo created by by Omelan Stryzak, manager of undergraduate labs at Princeton and graduate alumnus Bart McGuyer. This imagescaptures the plasma filaments that discharge when high voltage is applied to the coil