Squid, eyes, and blood, oh my! 2017’s best biology images – Ars Technica

The Wellcome Trust is a major funder of biomedical research in the UK. But part of its remit is improving the public's understanding of health and medical research. This mostly means educational and public outreach efforts. But each year, the Trust also runs a contest that recognizes the best images of all things biological.

The winners run from the microscopic to the every day. Many of the winning images aren't clearly medical in nature (unless you plan to practice medicine on a squid). But the compelling visuals may just be enough to induce someone to want to learn more and start searching the Internet for details. And, if so, that'll be in keeping with the Wellcome's mission.

Those of you familiar with biology will know you're looking at an eye. But it's the process that created this eye that's amazing. These are the blood vessels that supply the eye, imaged after a contrast agent was injected into them. The images were used to create a 3D model, which was then printed to produce this.

This is the aftermath of a cell division, in which the DNA, condensed into thick rods during division, unwound again and distorted the membranes that contain it.

Early in the development of every vertebrate, including us, all our future nerves sit in a flat plate. These are three views of a mouse embryo as that plate rolls into a tube (blue), starting the development of a complex nervous system.

This is the circulatory system of an African grey parrot, reconstructed in 3D.

And, for contrast, the circulatory system of a pigeon.

Scott Echols

You're looking at the potential of neural stem cells, shown here in purple. When cultured under the right conditions, they turn into nerve cells and start extending out axons (green) for sensing and communicating.

Here's looking at you! A red fluorescent protein has been engineered into a zebrafish so that the developing lens and some sensory organs glow red. The nerves that hook up to them have been stained green.

Believe it or not, this sample is an antique. A victorian-era microscopist decided to see what a cat's whisker looked like. You can see it right of center, connected to a sensory organ, in a modern image made from the original sample.

This is a baby Hawaiian bobtail squid. Not only is it incredibly cute, but it's home to a colony of glowing bacteria that allow it to match its camouflage to the dim light of the Moon.

The Wellcome Trust focuses on medical research. And this image, a modern one done in the style of medieval illustrations, gives us some idea of just how far medicine has come.

Listing image by Mark R Smith, Macroscopic Solutions

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Squid, eyes, and blood, oh my! 2017's best biology images - Ars Technica