Diatom arrangement (200x)
Image of Distinction - Dr. Gregor Overney
Agilent Technologies, Inc. - Santa Clara, California, USA
Flu, Antibodies and Genetic Testing
1. Swine Flu - H1N1 - Haemaglutinin (orange) and neuraminidase (yellow) are the 2 coat proteins, ion channels are also shown and 8 strands of RNA inside.
2. Monoclonal Antibodies
3. Genetic Testing. Removing one cell from an 8 cell embryo to test for disease prior to implantation.
(Source: behance.net)
Wishing to the Dandelions!
Luisa Whittaker (postdoc) and Yueh-Lin “Lynn” Loo (fac)
Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering
This looks like a dandelion but it is not.
Hybrid inorganic/polymer-based photovoltaic nanodevices offer the promise of low-cost large-area conversion of solar energy to electricity. Nanostructures of zinc oxide have shown supreme capabilities in emerging technologies ranging from solar energy harvesting to biosensing. However, the ability to control the size and position of these nanostructures is crucial for fabricating nanodevices with remarkable properties and astonishing solar energy conversion efficiencies.
Here we superimposed two scanning electron micrographs of zinc oxide nanostructures prepared by low temperature hydrothermal methods. We were trying to grow nanoarrays but they did not come out right because of surface contamination. We were suprised to see dandelions rather than vertically oriented nanoarrays.
Ultimately we were able to manufacture nanoarrays with the ideal configuration. However, they are much less visually interesting than this.
Carcenoma cells (40x)
Image of Distinction - Frederick Keeney
The Wistar Institute - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Three day old Brainbow zebrafish larva (20x)
Image of Distinction - Yuchin Pan
Harvard University - Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Fractal Artforms of Nature by Tom Beddard
The nineteen century German biologist Ernst Haeckel is famous for his fantastically illustrated book Artforms of Nature. The copyright for this book from 1904 has now expired and thanks to Wikimedia Commons it is available for everyone to appreciate.
Haekel’s artistic interpretation of the biological forms he studied have a clarity of symmetry and detail that has been a source of inspiration for many artists and engineers over the years. They provide the perfect subject matter for my Photoshop plugin Pixel Bender Fractal Explorer.
Mimicking butterfly wings could boost hydrogen fuel production
Chinese researchers have turned to the light absorbing properties of butterfly wings to significantly increase the efficiency of solar hydrogen cells, using biomimetics to copy the nanostructure that allows for incredible light and heat absorption.
Epidermis
Photograph by Andrew Syred/Science Photo Library
Seen here in a scanning electron micrograph, the epidermis is a tough coating formed from overlapping layers of dead skin cells, which continually slough off and are replaced with cells from the living layers beneath. The epidermis is the outermost of three layers that make up the skin.
Brain’s Neural Pathways
Image by 3D4Medical.com/Getty Images
The human brain may contain up to one trillion neurons. These nerve cells are interconnected, as shown in this microscopic image, so that they can transmit electrical impulses—and information—to other cells.
Angiogram of Healthy Heart
Photograph by SPL/Photo Researchers, Inc.
The picture of health, an angiogram of a human heart shows blood vessels in sharp detail. To take an angiogram, or arteriogram x-ray, doctors must first inject the patient with a special opaque dye that allows a clear view of the heart’s blood vessels, including the large left and right coronary arteries. Narrowed arteries indicate the presence of coronary artery disease. Blockages of either of the coronary arteries could lead to a heart attack. Such x-rays help doctors determine a course of treatment.
Seahorse Anatomy
Elina Mer
Spouse of a Graduate Student
Pluteus larva of a sea biscuit (echinoderm) (200x)
Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells
A Microscopic View of Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells
HeLa cells were the first immortal human cells ever grown in culture and are invaluable to medical researchers
In the image:
1. A HeLa cancer cell dividing.
2. The metaphase stage of a human HeLa cell division.
3. Subspecies of HeLa cells have evolved in labs and some feel that the cell line is no longer human, but a new microbial life form. These nuclei are shown in green the cytoplasm is red and structures within the cytoplasm are blue. internal darker zones are the nucleoli.
4. The prophase stage of mitosis in the division of these human HeLa cells.
5. This fluorescence micrograph of a HeLa cell shows the cytoskeletal microfilaments in red and nuclei stain with Hoechst in blue.
Nancy Kedersha / Science Faction / Corbis
(Source: smithsonianmag.com)
