arpeggia:

Jessica Lloyd-Jones - Anatomical Neon, 2010

Blown glass human organs encapsulate inert gases displaying different colours under the influence of an electric current. The human anatomy is a complex, biological system in which energy plays a vital role. Brain Wave conveys neurological processing activity as a kinetic and sensory, physical phenomena through its display of moving electric plasma. Optic Nerve shows a similar effect, more akin to the blood vessels of the eye and with a front ‘lens’ magnifiying the movement and the intensity of light. Heart is a representation of the human heart illuminated by still red neon gas. Electric Lungs is a more technically intricate structure with xenon gas spreading through its passage ways, communicating our human unawareness of the trace gases we inhale in our breathable atmosphere.

ianbrooks:

Psychedelic Man-Of-War by Aaron Ansarov

The Portugese Man-of-War is an static creature, its only mobility provided by the swaying tidal forces. When one gets washed up on the beach, its only hope is it to get washed back into the rolling waves, otherwise they’re dead. But sometimes they may get picked up by Aaron Ansarov (with rubber gloves of course since their sting hurts like a sumbitch), who takes them back to his studio and splats them down on a light table, illuminating their naturally translucent bodies which he then mirrors in Photoshop. The result kinda looks like a tripped-out kaleidoscope that just vomited out its own intestines (And to the concerned readers at home: Aaron always transports the creatures safely and returns them to the beach when they’re done seductively distending their tentacle-y appendages).

Artist: Website (via: Wired)

currrentbiology:

Cucumber Skin Barbs

Under 800X magnification, this honorable-mention-winning photograph shows toxin-filled barbs called trichomes on the skin of an immature cucumber.

The trichomes bear sharp points 40 times thinner than a sewing needle and help protect the growing fruit from predators. The toxins they release are called cucurbiticins and are the most bitter compounds known.

Image: Dr. Robert Rock Bellivea

scinerds:

Iridescence With My Tea

As a cup of tea was steeping one morning in my sun-filled kitchen, I noticed the colorful patterns shown here.

Sunlight scattered through the steamy mist just above the surface of the hot tea, produced an iridescent mix. The similarly sized lipids (perhaps 0.01 mm in diameter) on the surface of the tea deflect sunlight in such a way to produce the pastel colors.

Color intensity results from minuscule variations in the size of the droplets. Photo taken on April 1, 2012. — Photographer: Hans Juergen Heyen // Summary Authors: Hans Juergen Heyen; Jim Foster

It’s fun to know we can science even when doing something as simple as drinking tea. Strangely satisfying :)

Omega: Messier 17 in Sagittarius

Distance: 5000 Light Years

M17 is one of the largest HII region-molecular cloud complexes in the inner part of our galaxy and one of the closest to our sun. Its location within the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy places it near another famous HII region, the eagle nebula (M16).

Color data Courtesy Wolfgang Promper

Image Assembly and Processing: Robert Gendler

M17 is considered a prototypical example of triggered star formation where an HII region expands into an adjacent molecular cloud, triggering fragmentation and core collapse within the cloud, and ultimately initiating the process of new star formation. Although M17 is known mostly for its bright HII region, it is situated at the edge of a massive and dense molecular cloud.

The visible nebula is illuminated by the massive stellar cluster NGC 6618. The core of the cluster is exceedingly rich in massive young stars and may contain up to 100 “O” and “B” type stars which illuminate the nebula although the stars are heavily obscured by dense and dusty foreground clouds. At the center of the cluster core and situated just west of the bright rim of the optical nebula is a ring of 7 hot O-type stars invisible at optical wavelengths due to obscuring foreground dust.

Within this ring is the major source of illumination for the optically bright nebula, a double O4V star system known as Kleinmann’s star which is so heavily obscured by intervening dust that it suffers nearly 9 magnitudes of extinction.

natureofnature:

Planktotrophic pelagosphera larva of Nephasoma pellucidum

ianbrooks:

Amber Inclusions by Anders Damgaard

With all this discussion recently surrounding the ethics of manipulating DNA in an effort to resurrect lost species, it seems appropriate that we take a look back in time at the vessels for our future T-Rexes and (fingers crossed~!) Giant Ground Sloths. Until that glorious day when we will ride atop the backs of huge beavers (it was a thing! Science up), admire the beauty of these amber-encased insects, forever looking out at us through a layer of several million years.

Photog: Flickr / Website / Blog

staceythinx:

If you are any good with those old “magic eye” posters and interested in anatomy, check out vovel123’s incredible gallery of stereogram CT scans. There are nearly 700 incredibly cool stereograms waiting to be seen in all their 3D glory.

jtotheizzoe:

Frozen Glass

I was pretty shocked to find out just how little liquid fresh water Earth contains, like we saw in this post. But I was equally shocked to find out that as much as one-fifth of Earth’s fresh water is locked up in the beauty above: Lake Baikal.

Siberia’s Lake Baikal, not only the world’s oldest lake at ~25 million years of age, is the largest single fresh water source on the planet. The water is so deep and so pure that when it freezes it becomes a sort of cold, turquoise glass, giving an observer a lens that can see over 100 feet straight down.

There’s more pictures not to miss at My Modern Met.

themineralogist:

Hematite and Fluorite on Quartz (by smulaxx)