[biomedcentral]

This image is scanning electron microscopy showing glycocalyx in fenestrated capillaries of the kidney and sinusoids of the liver under normal conditions. It comes from a research article that may help understand septic injury to organs.

You can read that article here: https://ccforum.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13054-017-1841-8

[biomedcentral]

A serene landscape, peaceful, tranquil and isolated. Christin Säwström captured this magical image whilst riding a motorbike in Antarctica.

You can read the photographer’s thoughts in this Q&A: http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2017/10/06/behind-image-two-tranquil-towers/ 

[biomedcentral]

“When the ant feels threatened, it takes a defensive position“

Read more from  Maïlis Huguin, the photographer of this image: http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2017/09/15/behind-image-bugs-life/

[biomedcentral]

These young giant South American turtles will one day weigh up to 90kg and reach almost 110cm in shell length. Ana Carolina Lima, a Ph.D. student from the University of Aveiro, Portugal, has captured a moment in which these juveniles were being counted, measured and weighed.

This image was the overall winner of the 2017 BMC Ecology Image Competition, see all the winners here: https://bmcecol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12898-017-0138-8  

[biomedcentral]

This colourful image shows the mouse hippocampus at a resolution of 60-70nm after viral delivery of membrane-bound Brainbow 3.0. Looking closer at a recently developed technique, this paper answers some important questions about Expansion Microscopy. Check out the research here: http://bit.ly/2tnY4Fu

[biomedcentral]

Published today in the Journal of Ecology and Environment, authors form Kyungpook National University in Korea, report the first finding of three newly recorded Synura species. Synura are a small group of heterokont algae, they are colonial and have silica scales: the ultrastructure of which are used for classification.

Shown is an SEM image of colony forming cells of Synura conopea.

[biomedcentral]

Taken above the Colombian savanna, this photo shows hundreds of earth mounds created by large earthworms. Read more about this amazing image from the BMC Ecology Image Competition 2016 from landscape ecology and ecosystems image competition winner Delphine Renard, here:  http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/08/30/behind-image-earthworm-labyrinth/

[biomedcentral]

This image shows a great-tailed grackle perched between two intense hues, one of the winners of the BMC Ecology Image Competition.

Read an interview with the photographer, and get an insight into the research behind the image: https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/08/17/behind-image-gregarious-great-tailed-grackle/

See all the winning images in this blog: http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/08/09/2016-bmc-ecology-image-competition-winning-images/ 

[biomedcentral]

Davide Gaglio, a conservation biologist based at the University of Cape Town, captured this stunning image of Springbok grazing in South Africa, the overall winner of the 2016 BMC Ecology Image Competition. 

Read more about Davide’s research and the story behind the image here: http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2016/08/09/behind-image-springbok-sunrise/

[biomedcentral]

Earlier this year, Breast Cancer Now and Breast Cancer Research selected the winners to their annual Breast Cancer Research Image Competition, 2016!

Of those competing, Victoria Cookson submitted this overall winner.

Here we see fluorescently tagged breast cancer cells (green). Red indicates the presence of small interfering RNA’s that were used in an attempt to inhibit known targets. Dr Cookson and her team at Sheffield University are currently investigating the molecular pathways that are involved in breast cancer metastasis.

Take a look at the other winners here

[biomedcentral]

Arachnophobics look away now!

This amazing photograph was the Community, Population and Macroecology winner for the 2014 BMC Ecology Image Competition. 

Think you can frame cutting edge research as beautifully as this? Enter this year’s BMC Ecology Image Competition. Details (and the best of last year’s entries) can be found in this blog: http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-biology/2014/08/29/winners-of-the-bmc-ecology-image-competition/

Good luck!

[biomedcentral]

Can you speak gibbon?

The first image shows a white-handed gibbon hanging out in its forest home. Below is a photograph of spotted fabric, which researchers use to simulate the threat of leopards for the gibbons. 

The noises gibbons make to communicate with each other are known as ‘hoos’. Researchers have studied the sounds that gibbons make to indicate predators and other objects in their environment, giving great insight into how this communication evolved and the evolution of language in humans. The results of this work were published in BMC Evolutionary Biology.

Check out this blog to learn about the secret code of gibbons and how to tell your hoo hoo hoo hoo from your hoo hoo:

http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2015/04/08/decoding-the-whispers-of-gibbons/

Image credit of Esther Clarke

[rhamphotheca]

In Animal Kingdom, Blood Comes in a Rainbow of Colors 

Blood isn’t always red—evolution has given rise to a variety of hues.

by Carrie Arnold

Several species of octopus have blue blood, rather than red…

The blue comes from a copper-rich protein called hemocyanin, which carries oxygen from the lungs to the bloodstream and then to the cells of the octopus’s body. Hemoglobin, an iron-containing protein found in the blood of other animals—including humans—serves the same oxygen-transporting function but turns blood red.

Both hemoglobin and hemocyanin release their bound oxygen when they reach tissues that need it. But for the Antarctic octopus - Pareledone charcoti, transporting oxygen via hemocyanin poses problems at subzero temperatures.

That’s because in polar waters oxygen binds so tightly to hemocyanin that it doesn’t let go very easily. If these tissues can’t get oxygen, the octopus will die.

A new study, published March 11 in the journal Frontiers in Zoology, shows that this cold-water critter overcomes the obstacles by producing an overabundance of hemocyanin…

(read more: National Geographic)

photograph by Tomas Lundälv

[biomedcentral]

Here you can see the thick tentacles of Pillar Coral, which forms large underwater columns in the seas of the Caribbean. The complex and unique reproductive process is not well understood, but new research has shed light on this mystery and improved the chances of conserving this coral, and others, for the future.  

You can read about this research in this blog: http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2015/03/16/coral/ 

Image Credit Kristen Marhaver.

[biomedcentral]

These images show 'Yellow rust', a disease in wheat caused by the fungus Puccinia striiformis. Infections lead to reduced yield and quality of the grain produced. This aggressive fungus has the potential to be a serious threat to wheat production in the UK, according to an article in Genome Biology.

New strains of the fungus have emerged that are better suited to warmer temperatures, are more aggressive and can bypass many of the wheat defence mechanisms.

The top image is a close up photograph of the disease and the image below shows rust on a leaf at 1,260X magnification. Credit to Andrew Davis and Kim Findlay of the John Innes Centre.

You can read the full article here: http://genomebiology.com/2015/16/1/23

[biomedcentral]

Cannibalism is widespread in many vertebrates and invertebrates. What you can see here is cannibalistic behaviour of (A) a larva and (B) an adult Harlequin ladybird on eggs. 

This image comes from the following paper:  “Cannibalism in invasive, native and biocontrol populations of the harlequin ladybird” by Tayah et al.

For more beautiful science images check out this blog: http://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2015/01/07/12-months-12-pictures-the-best-images-from-2014-in-bmc-evolutionary-biology/

[biomedcentral]

This image shows meetings between different types of fungal mycelia of the genus Termitomyces (each represented by one of the letters A - E). These mycelia are 'homokaryotic', meaning that they contain more than one genetically identical nucleus. The distinct zones of increased growth visible when two different mycelia meet are thought to strongly indicate multi-level natural selection. 

Like all BioMed Central research, this is open access. You can read the full article, completely free, here: 

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/14/121