Archive for October, 2007

Marine Worms and Rat Neurons in Technicolor

From Medgadget, I find that Nikon has posted the winning photographs in its Small World competition for photomicrography - photographs of microscopic structures and critters.

They are so cool!

Here is a picture of a cedar leaf in cross section, using polarized light.

Nikon Small World - Cedar Leaf

And here’s a marine worm using a technique called confocal photography (which is explained in detail on the site, for you photomicrography bugs.

Nikon Small world - Marine Worm

This one is the seed of the small-flowered willowherb (Epilobium parviflorum).

Nikon Small World - Willowherb

And this lovely scene is some rat hippocampal neurons being attacked by Alzheimer’s related neurotoxins>

Nikon Small World - Rat Hippocampal Neurons

I don’t know that these images demonstrate the beauty of nature, so much as the beauty of photographic images that depict nature in clear lines and bright, nifty colors.

Still, they’re great to look at.