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I took the drawings I did for my final project in Human and Animal Form way back in May and compiled them into a gif on a whim. I think it turned out looking pretty cool!
(this thing is supposed to be a glyptodon)
(via scientificillustration)
“Caffeine crystals
ANNIE CAVANAGH AND DAVID MCCARTHYThis false-coloured scanning electron micrograph shows caffeine crystals. Caffeine is a bitter, crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. In plants, caffeine functions as a defence mechanism. Found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves and fruit of some plants, caffeine acts as a natural pesticide that paralyses and kills certain insects feeding on the plant. The main crystals of caffeine were 400-500 microns long; however, this crystal group formed on the end of the larger crystal and measures around 40 microns in length.”
Connective tissue
Anne Weston, London Research Institute, Cancer Research UK
This false-coloured scanning electron micrograph shows connective tissue removed from a human knee during arthroscopic surgery. Individual fibres of collagen can be distinguished and have been highlighted by the creator using a variety of colours. The horizontal field width of the image is 16 microns.
(via scinerds)
Color SEM of Red Blood Cells, White Blood Cells and Platelets (Science Photo Library)
(via aimlessinspace)
When biology is taught, it can look very static.
It seems, on paper, that things in a cell follow a logical order; we can trace the path of carbohydrates, for example, through glycolysis and the citric acid cycle, the latter fueling the reduction of high-energy electron carriers to generate ATP through the churning of the electron transport chain’s proton pump. Proteins looked rigid, trapped in complex three-dimensional structures, and everything in the cell appears as neat little capsules within the cellular membrane: Organised. Logical. Functional.
Not so, say Alain Viel and Robert. A. Lue.
The Harvard University professors of Molecular and Cell Biology pioneered the BioVisions project - an aim to get Harvard undergraduates to understand the chaotic complexity of the cellular environment. To do this, they developed extraordinarily precise animations; a far cry from the typical narrative explanations in science documentaries, these are accurate down to the smallest protein subunit.
The ultimate goal of the BioVisions project can be summarised by ‘to see is to begin to understand.’ Biology is constantly innovating, and new and more powerful ways to communicate it are becoming increasingly necessary as the discipline becomes ever more microscopic. The very act of observing and recording data lies at the foundation of all the natural sciences - and molecular biology is no exception.
So sit back, relax, and take a tour of the mitochondria: The cell’s ATP pump. See what you can spot in the animation; ATP is the glowing orange molecule, for example, and ADP is the burnt orange one.
All video credit goes to Harvard University and the BioVisions project.
Powering the Cell: Mitochondria
Together Harvard University and XVIVO developed this 3D animation journey for Harvard’s undergraduate Molecular and Cellular Biology students about the microscopic world of mitochondria. The animation highlights the creation of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) — mobile molecules which store chemical energy derived from the breakdown of carbon-based food. ATP molecules act as a kind of currency, imparting chemical energy to power all the functional components of cellular activity. This piece is the second in a series of award winning animations XVIVO is creating for Harvard’s educational website BioVisions at Harvard. The first program, Inner Life of the Cell, received international acclaim and can be seen both on our website and the BioVisions site.
From stem cells to neural networks: The differentiation of the neuron.
(Source: amolecularmatter, via imagineatoms)
False-colour transmission electron micrograph of a group of rhinoviruses. The rhinovirus is one of the causes of the common cold, as well as other respiratory disease. It belongs in the Picornaviridae family, a group of small icosahedral viruses, 22 nanometres in diameter, which are sub-grouped according to their acid sensitivity. The genus rhinovirus is adapted to low temperatures but cannot invade the gut since it is inactivated by moderately acid conditions. The virus is spread readily in droplets produced by talking, coughing and sneezing. Magnification: x70,000 at 6x4.5cm size.
Scanning electron micrograph of Bacillus anthracis, commonly known as anthrax. These rod-shaped, Gram-positive, spore-forming bacteria can infect the skin (cutaneous anthrax), causing raised itchy lesions, the lungs (pulmonary anthrax), which is fatal unless treated quickly, and the digestive system (gastrointestinal anthrax), causing vomiting of blood and severe diarrhoea. All forms can be fatal if left untreated.
Image Source: Science Photo Library.
(Source: amolecularmatter)
