Wellcome Image Awards.

Vaso sanguíneo roto

(Imagen de Anne Weston)

Imagen tomada con un microscopio de electrones (y posterior retoque de color) 

en la que se muestran varios glóbulos rojos goteando de un vaso sanguíneo seccionado.

A fly on sugar crystals

Colour-enhanced image of a housefly (Musca domestica) on sugar crystals. To eat the sugar the fly releases its enzyme-containing saliva onto it, lets it digest, then sucks it all back up. Houseflies are well known for carrying gastrointestinal diseases such as Salmonella and dysentery, but they can also spread tuberculosis, anthrax and other major illnesses through their habit of visiting decaying organic matter and faeces, as well as humans and their food.

Colour-enhanced scanning electron micrograph by Dave McCarthy and Annie Cavanagh.

B0006448

Molecular model of a ribosome

Ribosomes are complex molecular machines that make all the proteins found in every living thing on the planet. All natural proteins everywhere, from the silk and wool in clothes to the proteins in foods such as steak and lentils, have at some stage been made by a ribosome. Ribosomes reside inside cells and read off the code carried from the DNA by the messenger RNA (mRNA). They use this code to put the constituent amino acids together in the right order to make the different proteins. This molecular model shows all the different molecules, both RNA (turquoise, green and yellow) and protein (purple and orange), that go together to make up the complete structure of the ribosome. The three solid elements in the centre of the ribosome, coloured green, red and reddish brown, are the transfer RNAs (tRNAs), which flit in and out carrying the amino acids directly to the place where they are added to the growing protein chain. This process can be observed in the accompanying on-screen animation of protein synthesis.

Molecular model by Venki Ramakrishnan.

B0006575

Silkworm trachea

Trachea from a silkworm. Tracheal tubes such as this one carry oxygen from the openings in the surface of the insect's body (spiracles), branching into tracheoles, and delivering oxygen to the tissues.

Light microscope image by Spike Walker.

B0006804

Breast cancer cells

A clump of breast cancer cells. The blue cells are actively growing, whereas the yellow ones are in the process of dying by programmed cell death (apoptosis) in the same way as the prostate cancer cells in the adjacent image. The many factors involved in the development of cancers can affect cells in different organs in the generally the same ways to cause similar effects in different cell types.

Colour-enhanced scanning electron micrograph by Dave McCarthy and Annie Cavanagh.

B0006422