Friday, February 29, 2008

Friday beautiful science

Today's Friday beautiful science is a shot of a fruitfly (Drosophila melanogaster) larva trapped in a water droplet. From the Nature website:

This image of a live Drosophila larva in a water droplet has won the photographic competition that forms part of celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Winner Robert Markus, of the Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Szeged, received the award at a ceremony on 25 February in Amsterdam.

...

Markus took his photograph to show how blood cells affect the fruitfly's immune system. "By identifying blood-cell-specific genes, we can generate transgenic Drosophila strains in which the blood cells express green fluorescent protein, so that they are visualized in vivo, making in vivo research possible on the immune system," he explained.
If you know Dutch, head on over to the prize website, and check out more info.

Digg!

1 comment:

makita said...

I read Dutch and went to the website. I did have a problem with the sentence that claimed the picture combined science, beauty, magic, originality, and art. What the heck does magic have to do with it? I appreciate the beauty much more if there is no magic involved.