Images of Science


An Online Exhibition

The Max Planck Institutes for Gravitational Physics, for Colloids and Interfaces and for Molecular Plant Physiology have put together a small collection of their "Images of Science" for an online exhibition on this page. We hope you enjoy viewing! If you want to listen to music with the pictures, you can follow the link >> YouTube

Flower Development

 

Aligned confocal optical sections of an Arabidopsis thaliana flower, developing from the dome-shaped shoot apical meristem tissue.
 

Water Droplets

 

Microscopic water droplets adhering on a glass surface. A layer of lecithin covered the droplets. The lecithin was in a state of phase coexistence, made visible by a red dye.
 

Neutron Stars Merge into a Black Hole

 

The simulation shows a neutron star-neutron star merger which has resulted in a black hole surrounded by an accretion torus. The black sphere in the center represents the black hole, the blue-green region indicates the matter in the accretion torus.
 

Insights into Tobacco Leaves

 

Confocal laser scanning microscopy of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) mesophyll tissue. Yellow/green: cell wall modifying enzyme fused to a yellow fluorescent protein. Red: Chloroplast autofluorescence. Blue: anthocyanin auto-fluorescence in vacuoles.
 

Cartilage Armor

 

The cartilaginous skeleton of sharks and rays is covered in a mineralized, tessellated crust visible using  µCT imaging (freshwater stingray head from the Amazon basin).
 

First Detection of Gravitational Waves

 

On September 14, 2015, the LIGO detectors in the USA detected gravitational waves from two merging black holes for the first time. This numerical simulation shows the two black holes in the center and the gravitational waves emitted during the merger.
 

Green Transportation

 

Macroscopic images of two Arabidopsis thaliana plants loaded with a yellow/green fluorescent dye transported via the phloem to distant leaves. Red: Chloroplast auto-fluorescence.
 

Micro-Blooming

 

Hierarchical self-assembly of metal-organic nanosheet petals towards mesocrystal micro-rose.
 

Banded Cell Walls

 

Artificial secondary walls forming in epidermal and leaf pavement cells of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings. Cell walls were stained and imaged by confocal microscopy.
 

First Detection of Gravitational Waves

 

On September 14, 2015, the LIGO detectors in the USA detected gravitational waves from two merging black holes for the first time. This numerical simulation shows the two black holes in the center and the gravitational waves emitted during the merger.
 

Black and White

 

Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the most important crops in the world. Research projects at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology investigate metabolic and molecular processes from single cells to whole plants, including different crops such as rice.
 

Crystalline Snowflake

 

Crystals of squaric acid units coordinated to Zinc ions with a unique morphology which stronlgy resembles a snowflake.
 

Blue-Blooded

 

Thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) is the model organism for plant researchers worldwide. GUS-stained (blue) and bleached plants enable visualization of transportations along vascular bundles.
 

Gravitational Waves from Merging Neutron Stars

 

This discovery marks the first cosmic event observed in both gravitational waves and light. The numerical simulation shows the two neutron stars at the time of the merger. Higher densities are shown in red, lower densities are shown in yellow.
 

Blood Dog

 

Red blood cells taken from the eyepiece lens of a light microscope. The blood smear assay, performed on glass slides, is a diagnostic test used for the detection of malaria parasites. No parasites are seen in this image.
 

Making Leaves

 

Confocal laser scanning microscopy image of an Arabidopsis thaliana seedling shoot. Green fluorescent marker proteins expose the shoot meristem (plant stem cells) among red anthocyanin and blue chloroplast auto-fluorescence.

Gravitational Waves from Merging Neutron Stars

 

This discovery marks the first cosmic event observed in both gravitational waves and light. The numerical simulation shows the two neutron stars (white) and gravitational waves emitted during the merger.
 

Pretty Slime

 

E. coli bacteria grown on nutritive agar gels from biofilms with fascinating wrinkling pattern.
 

The First One

 

Visualization of the first leave forming on an Arabidopsis thaliana seedling by confocal microscopy. A yellow/green fluorescent protein is fused to a general regulator required in plant development.
 

Colliding Black Holes

 

In 2017, all three large gravitational-wave detectors together observed a black hole merger for the first time. In this simulation, the strength of the gravitational wave is indicated by elevation as well as by colour, with dark green indicating weak fields and bright violet indicating strong fields.
 
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