[ home ] :: tissue art

Sometimes it can be hard to get 60+ students to pay attention in class while you drone on and on about biology. Well, I don't actually "drone," but I do like to keep things interesting. One of my favorite things to show my students is pictures like these from Nikon's MicroscopyU: 

Gorgeous!

What is it? Well, that's the intestinal tissue of a mouse. This picture usually elicits a chorus of, "oooooooh....pretty!" from my classroom.

One of my personal favorites...look at those microtubules!

This was my desktop background at work for a few years: 

Cervical cancer (HeLa) cells.

I'm in firm believer that some of the best art is found in nature, and these little beauties are no exception. While the cells are not naturally colored this way, they can be stained with fluorescent "dyes," to put it simply. How awesome would these look printed out and framed in my office?

I love this one!

- Maggie White