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915
916

Amazing Scanning Electron Microscope Photos (imgur.com)

submitted ago by wizkid030994

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[–]Darkwing_Shucks 130 points131 points ago

Just so everyone knows the color is added afterwards, and is mostly completely made up.

-edit- The subject are coated in metal, I've only ever used palladium but there are others. You need to do this in order to have a usable surface for the electron beam to bounce off the subject and create an image for the computer to read, so what your actually seeing is the metal that is covering the surface of the specimen. This creates artifacts but thats a different story. The coolest part about playing around with these are continuously increasing the magnification until the electron beam is so high energy that it burns holes in the specimen. Source- I did research for the Doc who wrote the grant proposal to get the microscope at our university.

[–]jaykins 14 points15 points ago

Yeah, I was actually gonna ask a question about this. Why are the colors so different from the actual things being scanned? It's for visibility right? Are there any that are as close to naturally colored as you can get?? Cause I kind of find it a little disorienting for the colors so be so alien to the object being scanned.

[–]dirtpirate 21 points22 points ago

The colors are so alien because they are added to allow for easier distinguishing between different components, so people chose high contrast colors.

For some of these images the length-scales can be smaller than visible light, so it's not as simple as just figuring out what the "correct" color is.

Edit: the e was an a! I swear it.

[–]jaykins 3 points4 points ago

Ah that makes a little more sense, but I'd still like to see one with less contrast.

[–]chrisc098 2 points3 points ago

Are the picture taken in black and white and then colored or taken in color and then changed?

[–]zennilicious 6 points7 points ago

They're all black and white. They're not taken optically, so there is no way to actually take them "in color".

[–]dirtpirate 5 points6 points ago

The picture is a scan of intensity, so most would consider it to "really be gray-scale" but in reality, if you chose to show it in a blue to red scale then it's just as right or just as wrong.

Think of it this way, If I show you a height map of a local mountain landscape, is it "really" gray-scale or "really" green-brown-white scale? One of these scales would look much more natural because it woulds lightly resemble the natural coloration of a satellite image, however it still wouldn't actually be a satellite image, and both color scales are just a representation of the height, which has no relation what so ever to color in optical imagery. I hope this makes some slight sense.

[–]What_Is_X 2 points3 points ago

Effectively. They are not taken with a regular microscope which uses visible light - they're taken with electrons, which obviously don't result in colour images.

[–]Vaskre 1 point2 points ago

Black and white.

[–]Darkwing_Shucks -1 points0 points ago

Also there is no 'color' since your using electrons not photons. Geniuses figured this out since electrons have a shorter wavelength thus can resolve two different objects at a smaller size.

[–]dirtpirate 0 points1 point ago

It's correct that SEM doesn't capture the color of an object, but that doesn't mean that there "is no color", If you image an object at optically resolvable scales, you could easily take a SEM image and overlay the correct colors to each components.

My comment was however mostly intended to convey the problem with even defining color for an object which is smaller then the visible spectrum wavelengths.

[–]Darkwing_Shucks 0 points1 point ago

The subject are coated in metal, I've only ever used palladium but there are others. You need to do this in order to have a usable surface for the electron beam to bounce off the subject and create an image for the computer to read, so what your actually seeing is the metal that is covering the surface of the specimen. This creates artifacts but thats a different story. The coolest part about playing around with these are continuously increasing the magnification until the electron beam is so high energy that it burns holes in the specimen.

Source- I did research for the Doc who wrote the grant proposal to get the microscope at our university.

[–]mrsroark 1 point2 points ago

Came to ask, thanks!

[–]boneritus 1 point2 points ago

Without the photoshopped false-color these usually dont look nearly as cool. Can be a bit tough to distinguish!

[–]WhamolaFTW 25 points26 points ago

A blood clot.

If anyone wants to put some color in it, he's welcome.

[–]asleepycompany 9 points10 points ago

Another photo of a blood clot, in colour.

[–]WhamolaFTW 1 point2 points ago

Smaller fibrin strands, that has to be a clot obtained with large concentrations of thrombin ,like this one.

[–]nebrija 1 point2 points ago

This is beautiful as a b/w shot.

[–]MainFrame0 3 points4 points ago

http://i.imgur.com/GTBRY.jpg Going to colour the vine things different later, don't have much time.

[–]WhamolaFTW 7 points8 points ago

When I tried an another pic, I did it like this but it really taook me a lot of time and I could'nt get it right.

The "vine" things is called fibrin, it's the polymer fiber that makes your blood clot

[–]MainFrame0 0 points1 point ago

Thanks for the information, I'll probably use the same color. Looks interesting.

[–]TheElderNigs 1 point2 points ago

As you wish. (I can't guarantee accuracy, though.)

[–]Hyro0o0 9 points10 points ago

Suddenly I am very itchy...

[–]thornae 3 points4 points ago

Let me help: Those little round bumps at the base of the eyelashes in the first photo? Those are mites. Their heads are buried in the follicle, feeding.

[–]pushrodv8 0 points1 point ago

YOU DIDN'T JUST DO THAT!

[–]AnimZero 0 points1 point ago

Fuck you. ):

[–]Senor_Wilson 17 points18 points ago

What are the crystalline like things in the cigarette paper?

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points ago

I believe they help to keep it lit by producing oxygen.

[–]Portlande 13 points14 points ago

its gunpowder to keep it lit.

[–]Proglottid 0 points1 point ago

What this guy said

[–]pokie6 32 points33 points ago

Solid cancer.

[–]jellytime -2 points-1 points ago

I'm not saying it's cancer, but it's probably cancer.

[–]Gabe_b 2 points3 points ago

Saltpeter to help it stay late perhaps?

[–]adaminc 0 points1 point ago

I hate late cigarettes!

[–]Gabe_b 0 points1 point ago

bah, lit

[–]DesiccatedDogDicks 2 points3 points ago

Seeing as it is crystalline in nature, it is likely some kind of salt. Perhaps an aid to keep it burning or even to hinder it (self extinguishing). Some have suggested saltpetre (potassium nitrate) which may be true.

[–]Thanatomania 0 points1 point ago

I am curious about this too.

[–]IamSkudd 3 points4 points ago

fiberglass fibers?

[–]FreeThinkerLee 0 points1 point ago

That was my guess, either that or maybe it was already partially smoked and that was tar.

[–]evilbob 0 points1 point ago

Portlande above had it right. It is gunpowder to keep it lit and make it burn evenly. Look at a cigarette or rolling papers. Those faint blueish lines are the gunpowder.

[–]Thanatomania 0 points1 point ago

I thought it may be potassium nitrate, but would love confirmation on it. My cigarette papers have no filter thus no fiberglass, but we don't know what source the paper is from.

[–]evilbob 0 points1 point ago

I don't know where I first heard that the lines are made from that. These days, though, it may actually be something different. I know in Australia now, cigarettes must be made to self-extinguish if left burning unattended. Tried a quick search on my phone but could not find any useful info on what the blue lines really are.

[–]Thanatomania 0 points1 point ago

I think they did that here in Canada too, noticed they would go out on their own some years ago.

[–]135 -1 points0 points ago

Yeah, this would make sense if it were the filter, mislabel maybe? The material under the fiberglass looking stuff does look like the material in a filter so that sounds about right.

[–]cicic 22 points23 points ago

I really like how the micro chip, the the only example of intelligent design, is clean and uniform. The natural examples are chaotic and messy.

[–]LegoFPS 1 point2 points ago

I think that makes a case for the "more then one way to skin a cat" proverb

[–]raoul_duke72 1 point2 points ago

I thought it was mind blowing how much more depth and complexity the rusty nail had than the microchip (assuming its the same magnification). It just illustrates how much farther and smaller we can take it.

[–]JustForCancer 9 points10 points ago

One of my first jobs was working at a junk yard where people would bring their old electronics to be "recycled". It was my job to research and clean up the things that could be valuable and sell them on ebay. This giant machine attached to a desk thing ended up being a dirty electron microscope. I cleaned it up and put it on ebay for $80,000 because I had no idea what it was worth and nothing online looked like it. Some scientist dudes came by to check it out and put liquid nitrogen in some canisters and it worked! It was awesome. We were putting all sorts of things under it to look at. One of the coolest days of work ever.

They bought it for $38,000.

[–]GooeyChickenman -4 points-3 points ago

You work at a junk yard where you false advertise and lie about recycling?

[–]Ogwizard 3 points4 points ago

He didn't false advertise and lie, he just cleaned the things that could be valuable.

[–]JustForCancer 2 points3 points ago

I have no idea what the company was responsible for. I was a teenager going through electronics and reselling them. I guess in a way it is recycling. I mean... these people could have sold their second hand electronics themselves if they wanted to, that is another form of recycling... reusing them...

In California it is illegal to just throw them in the garbage so people dropped them off at this location for us to deal with it.

I'd say 95% of it was junk... but I found some really awesome antique electronics.

Whatever we couldn't salvage, which was most of it, went to the place where the metals are broken down, etc.

[–]GooeyChickenman 1 point2 points ago

Ah, thanks for the clarification. It just sounded weird when you had recycling in quotes like you're a con artist or something.

[–]boomerangotan 1 point2 points ago

The "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" motto is meant to be preferred in that order.

E.g., reusing (what you did in this instance) is better than recycling.

[–]SquidMonger 15 points16 points ago

Is there anyone else out there that cringes when they see some of these? like that rusty nail is like nails on a chalk board for my eyes.

[–]SaltyBabe 4 points5 points ago

Yeah, pretty much all of these I said "that's disgusting" and quickly moved on.

[–]Cococarbine 3 points4 points ago

Those butterfly eggs make me extremely uncomfortable. Just that image, and I have no idea why.

[–]adaminc 0 points1 point ago

I'm sure you could poll 1M people, and you would find at least 50% of them would also find it uncomfortable to look at. The same goes for Lotus flower seed pods, and that frog which carries the egg sacks on its back.

[–]IHaveScrollLockOn -1 points0 points ago

It's a phobia called Trypophobia - fear of holes in skin. For your own sake, don't do an image search for that term.

[–]negajake 0 points1 point ago

Ladies and gentlemen, the botfly

[–]adaminc 0 points1 point ago

Trypophobia isn't a real phobia.

[–]TIGGER_WARNING 0 points1 point ago

Let's make it real, then.

[–]adaminc 0 points1 point ago

I can guarantee you that a large majority of the World will find that creepy, disgusting, off-putting, gruesome, repulsive or any other number of adjectives. Along with Lotus seed pods, and insect larva eating their way out of a host.

[–]TIGGER_WARNING 0 points1 point ago

It was an obvious joke.

[–]IHaveScrollLockOn 0 points1 point ago

I have it.

[–]reptomin 7 points8 points ago

Mosquito.. dear god ew.

[–]cheesehump 12 points13 points ago

The mosquito looks like a final boss for a game

[–]brittanypezzillo 2 points3 points ago

Heh, the first thing I thought of when I saw that rusty nail texture was the crumbly brown sugar and butter topping on a fresh apple crisp! It looks like a similar texture and the coloring they've added reinforces that thought.

I love electron microscope shots.

[–]Careless_Con 4 points5 points ago

Someone needs to design a video game in which every level involves traversing things like this. I would play the hell out of that game.

[–]adaminc 0 points1 point ago

The micro machines game?

Chip n' Dales rescue rangers, for SNES, also had some levels with giant things.

CS:S and DoD:S have maps involving super large rooms.

[–]telmnstr 1 point2 points ago

Very cool! Our hackerspace in Norfolk VA was donated a SEM and we're anxious to get it running. We're waiting to get hold of manuals (Stereoscan 200.) I don't expect to be able to get pictures off of it that are very high resolution as it's from the 80s.

[–]scriptyohhh 1 point2 points ago

I'm never going to eat strawberries or kiss anyone ever again.

[–]ajgator7 -1 points0 points ago

But would you kiss a strawberry?

[–]scriptyohhh 0 points1 point ago

I've always considered that fruit evil, and now even more so.

So, no. Not even once.

[–]sikyon 1 point2 points ago

Frankly most of these are bad SEM images.

Why? Because most of these can be done without SEM and rather with high resolution optical microscopy, which can give you actual color information. And if this wasn't done in ESEM then sample prep is a big issue as well in retaining the original properties.

It is important to choose the right tool for the job.

[–]FreddyandTheChokes 1 point2 points ago

Biology is disgusting. I love it.

[–]quacka 1 point2 points ago

Fucking circuits. Always blows my mind how we figured out how to make computers. With how stupid humanity looks sometimes its hard to believe we managed to fit so much power into a tiny little chip.

[–]lungbuttersandwich 4 points5 points ago

The tongue bacteria made me gag...

[–]yev001 10 points11 points ago

It's fascinating that people have a very developed feeling of disgust for images of bacteria. Since the said images have not been around for all that long and knowing how essential bacteria is to all life....

Cleaning products advertising at work here I think.

[–]jdiez17 1 point2 points ago

I don't know, I must be weird, but I don't get grossed out by pictures or even videos of bacteria. If I don't notice (for bad) that they are there, why should I care?

[–]TIGGER_WARNING 0 points1 point ago

Every inch of your body is covered in bacteria. Thinking about yourself as a substrate for bacterial colonies rather than one cohesive "organism" is actually quite interesting. You are in r/science, after all.

[–]turkishroyals 4 points5 points ago

It always ruins it for me knowing that electron microscopes can't take pictures in color. Other than that their awesome.

[–]thargob 0 points1 point ago

Don't you think it's pretty cool that it's because they look at things that are (in effect) smaller than photons?

That they're black and white reminds me of this, and makes it better!

[–]Gr1ml0ck 1 point2 points ago

Head louse clinging to a human hair

No ... nope ... no.

[–]imthefooI 1 point2 points ago

I thought the same exact thing. It was the most disturbing of all, in my opinion. Haha

[–]IAmAQuantumMechanic 1 point2 points ago

If it makes you happy, the one in the picture is dead. Unless it can live with a gold coating and in vacuum.

[–]Pierford -1 points0 points ago

It's amazing how small they are.

[–]teknoire7 0 points1 point ago

Even though its somewhat disturbing to see how the truth looks on a microscopic levels, it is quite beautiful indeed.

[–]Spruxy 0 points1 point ago

The Mosquito has freaked me out so fucking much. When any insect is zoomed in it always looks odd to me, but the Mozzie really takes the prize

[–]Your_favorite_penpal 0 points1 point ago

I feel so filthy

[–]IncoherentVoidParrot 0 points1 point ago

I was not afraid of head lice previously. I now understand they have Railroad Ties for hands.

[–]mrsroark 0 points1 point ago

I like the velcro best.

[–]Machine_Dick 0 points1 point ago

Now I'm even more afraid of mosquitos.

[–]Evil_Bonsai 1 point2 points ago

So...how'd they get the human inside the SEM for the eyelashes "growing"?

[–]Kovaelin 0 points1 point ago

The only thing I could think of was, why don't they let you use false colouring for your thesis?

[–]sonicvince 0 points1 point ago

What would be really amazing is the actual source, and a description of what each picture represents...

[–]Proglottid 0 points1 point ago

I now know how they make velcro...they weave it, then cut it!!!

[–]Clyfer97 0 points1 point ago

Dammit, I used to like strawberries.

[–]docticdoc 0 points1 point ago

surface of a strawberry.. a) that's a pretty nasty strawberry, more seed than flesh, b) how is it any different (other than not being very clear and false colour) to a macro photo of a strawberry? i can pretty much see this with my own eyes.

[–]Tracenstien 0 points1 point ago

The Velcro is blowing my mind

[–]Dreamwaltzer 0 points1 point ago

These are not all to the same scale, and it kinda throws me off a bit.

like how my sperm is nearly half as thick as my eyelashes

[–]kernelPanicked 0 points1 point ago

If you like this sort of thing, see if you can't get your hands on this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Secret-House-Extraordinary-Ordinary/dp/0425188426

A couple of these pictures appear in it, and more. Plus the text is quite informative, if a bit dated.

[–]suo 0 points1 point ago

As a Transhumanist the microschip image is my favourite. Humans are fucking awesome, I don't care what you say; and we're only just getting started. TO THE FUTURE!

[–]xejopu 0 points1 point ago

I don't want my tongue in my mouth anymore :(

[–]Blacksburg 0 points1 point ago

Damn Ted Turner for introducing colorization to black and white!

[–]Flench 0 points1 point ago

no scale boooooo

[–]pablothe 0 points1 point ago

I just dropped out of nanoengineering because I'm a failure and seeing this pictures just ruins my day.

[–]azza2110 0 points1 point ago

Brb, just scraping my eyebrows.

[–]jjremy 0 points1 point ago

That mosquito has a pretty bad-ass beard.

[–]mxracer450 0 points1 point ago

Amazing photo's! Thanks for sharing.It's truly like there is a whole other world that we've never seen, and will never truly experience when you get down to that scale. Imagine for a moment, if your body size were on the same scale as that head louse. If you were still the same person, had the same intelligence, same thinking process, and same abilities... All just scaled down to that size. It's incredible to think of.

The pictures of the cigarette paper, as well as the rusty nail kind of blew me away.

[–]MuffinatorXIII 0 points1 point ago

some of these look fake. like the strawberry and the head lice

[–]Kronecker_D 0 points1 point ago

Hey man, I need some samples for my electron microscope, could you cum into this real quick?

[–]Rabbit1991 0 points1 point ago

I hate that nail.. :(

[–]Shawno_21 0 points1 point ago

Must.. Not.. Fap..

[–]helm[M] 0 points1 point ago

Sorry, no picture submissions to /r/science

[–]GaProgMan 0 points1 point ago

For some reason, every time I see an image of some bacteria -at least how bacteria look in this image - I think "Wow! They just look like oblongs of stuff"

Amazing images, by the way.

[–]lukehashj 0 points1 point ago

"Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory"... seems a little contradictory.

[–]fireflycities 0 points1 point ago

You know you've spent too much time working on one instrument when this post makes you angrily grumble about how much better AFM is.

EDIT: Not saying that it is, just that I've grown extremely attached to my AFM. I named it Nemo and keep pictures of it on my phone the same way I do with my cat.

[–]Valcatraxx 0 points1 point ago

I don't think I'll look at strawberries the same way ever again

[–]Jelenfellin9 -3 points-2 points ago

Why is this in r/science?

[–]ToffeeC -2 points-1 points ago

How many fucking times is this going to get reposted? Holy shit.

[–]NefariousProphet 6 points7 points ago

This is the first time I've seen most of these. Calm down. Science requires as much peer evaluation as humanely possible. Taking a single look at something is the wrong way to do science.

[–]Ogwizard 1 point2 points ago

Doesn't matter how many times something gets reposted. It only matters how many times it gets upvoted enough for everyone to see. If everyone had seen it before, everyone would know it's a repost and no one would upvote.

[–]shoothemoon 0 points1 point ago

i've seen it in /r/pics an absurd amount of times

[–]ReverendEskimobob -1 points0 points ago

Thanks for sharing. I just went out and plucked all my eyelashes because of this.

[–]classical_6string -1 points0 points ago

Why doesn't this have more upvotes?

[–]Epistemology-1 -1 points0 points ago

If these are images from a scanning electronic microscope, are they really photos? Wouldn't they be more like 'electros'?

[–]n1i2e3 -1 points0 points ago

Absolutely disgusting.

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