We at The Roosevelts troll the internets for stuff so you don’t have to. (as much at least) This sweet find is brought to you by the Wellcome Image Awards which “celebrates the most informative, striking and technically excellent images acquired by the Wellcome Images picture library. This year’s winners have used techniques ranging from medical photography to scanning electron microscopy encompassing a breadth of topics across medicine and the life sciences.”
There are currently no prizes for the alternative caption contest in the comments section though superior efforts may change my mind.
“Vascular system of a developing chicken embryo, two days after fertilization.” Still edible I presume.
“Stage V-VI oocytes of an African clawed frog, a model organism used in cell and developmental biology research. Each oocyte is surrounded by thousands of follicle cells.” Also, most people can’t lick there own elbows. (This kid can.)
“Connective tissue removed from a human knee during arthroscopic surgery.” Seriously, it’s impossible to make jokes about any of this stuff.
“Micrasterias, a type of green alga called a desmid. Desmids usually inhabit the acidic waters of peat bogs. These particular desmids are flat, platelike single cells made up of two halves (semicells), which are mirror images of each other.” Or…Kermit sperm.
“The tissue structures within the leaf of an Arabidopsis thaliana seedling. The sample was fixed and stained with propidium iodide, which labels DNA, but was imaged four years later. Over time, oxidation of the stain in different parts of the tissue provides differential fluorescent properties that can be excited with distinct wavelengths of light from a confocal microscope. The researchers are using these techniques to investigate cellular architecture in plants and gene activity.” Yup.
“Caffeine crystals. Found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves, and fruit of some plants, caffeine acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plant.”
“The surface (cortex) of a human brain belonging to an epileptic patient. The image displays the bright red arteries that supply the brain with nutrients and oxygen and the purple veins that remove deoxygenated blood. This photograph was taken before an intracranial electrode recording procedure for epilepsy, in which electrical activity is measured from the exposed surface of the brain.”
“Moth fly, also known as a drain fly. The fly’s larvae commonly live and grow in domestic drains; the adult fly emerges near sinks, baths and lavatories. The moth fly’s bodies and wings are covered in hairs, which gives them a ‘fuzzy’, moth-like appearance.”
“The repair of a traumatic ventricular septal defect (VSD). A VSD is a hole between the right and left ventricles of the heart, and is usually seen as a congenital condition, known as a ‘hole in the heart’.”
“Operamide crystals. Loperamide, an antimotility drug used to treat diarrhoea, works by slowing down the movement of the intestine and reducing the speed at which the contents of the gut pass through. Food remains in the intestines for longer and water can be more effectively absorbed back into the body. This results in firmer stools that are passed less often.”
See the full site here:
http://www.wellcomecollection.org/whats-on/exhibitions/wellcome-image-awards-2012.aspx
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