WHAT KIND OF ART IS THIS ?
IS IT ART OR SCIENCE ? COMPILED BY: RAMA KRISHNA VADLAMDUDI, MUMBAI. OCTOBER 26th, 2009
1. Microparticle drug delivery A synthetic drug coated with co-polymers. Scanning electron micrograph.
2. Villi in the small intestine
These finger-like structures in the small intestine of a mouse have been cropped at the tips and stained with fluorescent dyes to distinguish between different components of the cells. The cell nuclei are blue, while the red stain shows actin, a protein that covers the surface of each villus. Multiphoton fluorescent micrograph.
3. Aspirin crystals
Aspirin is widely used for minor pain relief and to prevent heart attacks, strokes and blood clots. Essentially, it thins the blood by preventing platelets, which normally form clots to repair damaged blood vessels, from binding together. Light micrograph.
4. Portrait of Professor Sir Harold Kroto FRS
Professor Sir Harold Kroto on the day after his Nobel Prize was announced - he received the 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry along with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley for discovering spherical fullerines, the carbon structures known as 'Buckyballs'. Photograph.
5. Sensory nerve fibres
This image highlights the basket of nerve fibres at the end of a hair follicle. Sensory nerves allow us to detect stimuli such as movement, pressure and pain. Light micrograph.
6. Bird of paradise plant seed This seed is from a bird of paradise plant ('Strelitzia reginae'). Native to South Africa, the plant has a distinctive orange and blue flower, resembling an exotic bird, from which it takes its name. It is common in India. Scanning electron micrograph
7. Capillary network
This image shows capillaries, or small blood vessels, which act as the connective network between arteries and veins. They are often found as large networks supplying organs with oxygen and other nutrients, and removing carbon dioxide. Light micrograph.
8. Mechanical heart
Collage of a digitally enhanced pencil drawing of the human heart and photographs of different brass instruments. Digital artwork.
9. Mouse liver
This image of the liver shows blood vessels called sinusoids as long pink channels, brown tissue that is important in the production of bile, and the channels - shown as thin green grooves - that carry the bile towards the small intestine to help digestion. Scanning electron micrograph.
10. Embryonic mouse head
3D image of a developing embryonic mouse head at age 14.5 days. High-resolution episopic microscopy 3D reconstruction.
11. In vitro fertilisation
This image shows sperm and an egg (or ovum) at the moment of conception by in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The egg is surrounded by protective cumulus cells around the outside surface, coloured yellow. The sperm need to penetrate the membrane surrounding the egg, called the zona pellucida, if successful fertilisation is to occur. Light micrograph.
12. Amchi Tala, Tibetan doctor
Amchi Tala, a Tibetan doctor, holding precious medical books in a remote region of Western Tibet: the 'Gyu Shi' ('Four Tantras'), the fundamental Tibetan medical classic written in the 12th century, and a manuscript on compounding medicines, written by previous generations of Amchi Tala's medical family.
13. Lung cancer cell
A single cell grown from a culture of lung epithelial cancer cells. The purple spheres are 'blebs': irregular bulges where the cell's internal scaffolding - its cytoskeleton becomes unlinked from the surface membrane. Scanning electron micrograph.
14. Compact bone
These circular structures are regions of compact bone from a human femur. Compact bone forms a hard outer shell around the spongy bone that makes up the marrow space in the centre. Light micrograph.
15. Summer plankton
Plankton, small organisms that drift in the oceans, seas and fresh water. Many types of plankton, such as these, are microscopic, but some, such as jellyfish, are very large. Light micrograph.
16. Sickle-cell anaemia
This image shows two red blood cells. The one in the front has been affected by sickle-cell anaemia, and displays the characteristic sickle shape (a flattened 'C' shape) common to the disease. Scanning electron micrograph.
17. Engineering DNA A group of scientists manipulating a strand of DNA, modelled and rendered in 3D software. Digital artwork.
18. Skin cells from a scald
Damaged skin cells from a hand (Anne Weston's own) scalded by boiling soup. The original image was black and white; the pink colour has been added later. Scanning electron micrograph.
19. Premature baby in an incubator
A premature baby surrounded by medical equipment and a teddy. Photograph.
20. A GLASS SCULPTURE MADE FROM MRI SCANS
PHOTO COURTESY: THE WELLCOME TRUST All these micrographs have won Wellcome Image Awards in October 2009. COMPILED BY: Rama Krishna Vadlamudi, MUMBAI
October 26th , 2009