Some of these photos are artistic, others are terrifying.
Colin Salter's new book, Science is Beautiful (Batsford, 2015), shows us some amazing images of the human body under a microscope. When the photos are colorized they look like masterpieces of art. Check them out below:
This is what bone marrow making blood looks like.
Stem cells in bone marrow divide and transform into blood cells. This process is constantly happening because blood cells don't live for a very long time: "Red ones about 120 days, some white ones as little as three," writes science writer Colin Salter in his book Science is Beautiful.
Science Photo Library / Via Batsford
And these are our lung cells.
"Nuclei, which contain the cell’s genetic information, appear blue. Mitochondria, which generate energy for the cell, are yellow," writes Salter.
Science Photo Library / Via Batsford
These are adrenaline crystals.
"[Glands that produce adrenaline] are controlled by the hypothalamus, the part of the brain responsible for instinct and emotion," writes Salter. We always have small amounts of adrenaline in our blood, but when we're stressed we get more.
"It widens the airways of the lungs and constricts small blood vessels. This makes the muscles work harder and produces a ‘fight or flight’ response," he wrote.
Science Photo Library / Via Batsford
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