Image: David Gregory & Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images



Get up close and personal with your innards with these 15 amazing
3D-body shots. Almost all of the following images were captured using a
scanning electron microscope (SEM), a type of electron microscope that
uses a beam of high-energy electrons to scan surfaces of images. The
electron beam of the SEM interacts with atoms near or at the surface of
the sample to be viewed, resulting in a very high-resolution, 3D-image.
Magnification levels range from x 25 (about the same as a hand lens) to
about x 250,000. Incredible details of 1 to 5 nm in size can be
detected.

Max Knoll was the first person to create an SEM image of silicone
steel in 1935; over the next 30 years, a number of scientists worked to
further develop the instrument, and in 1965 the first SEM was delivered
to DuPont by the Cambridge Instrument Company as the “Stereoscan.”

Here you’ll experience the power of SEM in a journey of
self-discovery that starts in your head, travels down through the chest
and ends in the bowels of the abdomen. Along the way, you’ll see what’s
normal, what happens when cells are twisted by cancer and what it looks
like when an egg meets sperm for the first time. You’ll never see
yourself the same way again.

1. Red blood cells



Image: Annie Cavanagh, Wellcome Images

They look like little cinnamon candies here, but they’re actually
the most common type of blood cell in the human body - red blood cells
(RBCs). These biconcave-shaped cells have the tall task of carrying
oxygen to our entire body; in women there are about 4 to 5 million RBCs
per microliter (cubic millimeter) of blood and about 5 to 6 million in
men. People who live at higher altitudes have even more RBCs because of
the low oxygen levels in their environment.

2. Split end of human hair



Image: Liz Hirst, Wellcome Images

Regular trimmings to your hair and good conditioner should help to
prevent this unsightly picture of a split end of a human hair.

3. Purkinje neurons



Image: Annie Cavanagh, Wellcome Images

Of the 100 billion neurons in your brain,
Purkinje neurons are some of the largest. Among other things, these
cells are the masters of motor coordination in the cerebellar cortex.
Toxic exposure such as alcohol and lithium, autoimmune diseases,
genetic mutations including autism and neurodegenerative diseases can
negatively affect human Purkinje cells.

4. Hair cell in the ear



Image: Wellcome Photo Library, Wellcome Images

Here’s what it looks like to see a close-up of human hair cell
stereocilia inside the ear. These detect mechanical movement in
response to sound vibrations.

5. Blood vessels emerging from the optic nerve



Image: Freya Mowat, Wellcome Images

In this image, stained retinal blood vessels are shown to emerge
from the black-coloured optic disc. The optic disc is a blind spot
because no light receptor cells are present in this area of the retina
where the optic nerve and retinal blood vessels leave the back of the
eye.

6. Tongue with taste bud



Image: David Gregory & Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images

This colour-enhanced image depicts a taste bud on the tongue. The
human tongue has about 10,000 taste buds that are involved with
detecting salty, sour, bitter, sweet and savoury taste perceptions.

7. Tooth plaque



Image: David Gregory & Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images

Brush your teeth often because this is what the surface of a tooth with a form of “corn-on-the-cob” plaque looks like.

8. Blood clot



Image: David Gregory & Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images

Remember that picture of the nice, uniform shapes of red blood cells
you just looked at? Well, here’s what it looks like when those same
cells get caught up in the sticky web of a blood clot. The cell in the
middle is a white blood cell.

9. Alveoli in the lung



Image: David Gregory & Debbie Marshall, Wellcome Images

This is what a colour-enhanced image of the inner surface of your
lung looks like. The hollow cavities are alveoli; this is where gas
exchange occurs with the blood.

10. Lung cancer cells



Image: Anne Weston, Wellcome Images

This image of warped lung cancer cells is in stark contrast to the healthy lung in the previous picture.

11. Villi of small intestine



Image: Professor Alan Boyde, Wellcome Images

Villi in the small intestine increase the surface area of the gut,
which helps in the absorption of food. Look closely and you’ll see some
food stuck in one of the crevices.

12. Human egg with coronal cells



Image: Yorgos Nikas, Wellcome Images

This image is of a purple, colour-enhanced human egg sitting on a
pin. The egg is coated with the zona pellicuda, a glycoprotein that
protects the egg but also helps to trap and bind sperm. Two coronal
cells are attached to the zona pellicuda.

13. Sperm on the surface of a human egg



Image: Yorgos Nikas, Wellcome Images

Here’s a close-up of a number of sperm trying to fertilise an egg.

15. Human embryo and sperm



Image: Dr. David Becker, Wellcome Images

It looks like the world at war, but it’s actually five days after
the fertilisation of an egg, with some remaining sperm cells still
sticking around. This fluorescent image was captured using a confocal
microscope. The embryo and sperm cell nuclei are stained purple while
sperm tails are green. The blue areas are gap junctions, which form
connections between the cells.

15. Coloured image of a 6 day old human embryo implanting



Image: Yorgos Nikas, Wellcome Images

And the cycle of life begins again: this 6 day old human embryo is
beginning to implant into the endometrium, the lining of the uterus.

All images are used under the Creative Commons license of Wellcome Images.

As seen on: http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/images-inside-human-body-images/8292

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6