Wednesday, July 23, 2008

10 must see electron micrograph images

An electron micrograph is an image taken using electrons to illuminate a specimen and create an enlarged picture of it. Some of these photos can magnify specimens up to 2 million times.

Soybean Cyst Nematode
The Picture shows Pollen of the Common Ragweed. It is the most widespread plant of the genus Ambrosia in North America. Pollen is a fine to coarse powder consisting of microgametophytes, which produce the sperm cells of seed plants. The pollen grain with its hard coat protects the sperm cells during the process of their movement between the stamens of the flower to the pistil of the next flower.


Crab Spider
Head of a Crab Spider. They are also commonly called "flower spiders" because they are most often found on flowers, lying in ambush for prey. Crab spiders do not build webs to trap prey, but are active hunters much like the jumping spiders.


Butterfly egg
Butterfly eggs consist of a hard-ridged outer layer of shell, called the chorion. It is the lined structure with a thin coating of wax which prevents the egg from drying out before the larva has had time to fully develop.


Bacteria: E. coli
These rod-shaped bacteria are enterobacters, which are part of the normal content of human and animal digestive systems. However, under certain conditions they can cause gastroenteritis and urinary tract infections.


Flea
The head of a flea, an external parasite living by hematophagy off the blood of
mammals and birds.


Skin, lateral cut
A section through human skin. The skin layers, from top to bottom, are the stratum corneum, composed of flattened, dead skin cells that form the surface of the skin. The dead cells from this layer are continuously being shed and replaced by cells from the living epidermal layer below (red). The lowest layer seen here is the dermis. In the middle, a sweat gland can be seen.


Soybean Cyst
Soybean cyst nematode and its egg. It is a small plant-parasitic roundworm that attacks the roots of soybeans.


Immune system: Macrophage, defense against microfilarie
A Microfilariae (larval worms) of a parasitic nematode roundworm being attacked by cells of the immune system. Numerous nematodes cause disease in humans, living as parasites of the intestines, blood, lymph, subcutaneous & connective tissues.


Salmonella
Color-enhanced scanning showing Salmonella typhimurium (red) invading
cultured human cells.

Shark skin
Scales from the skin of a shark. These sharply pointed placoid scales are also known as dermal teeth or denticles. They give the shark's skin the feel of sandpaper. The tip of each scale is made of dentine overlayed with dental enamel. The lower part of each scale is made of bone. The scales disrupt turbulence over the skin, considerably reducing the drag on the shark as it swims. This design has been investigated by engineers for use on the surfaces of aircraft and boats.

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