The dog tapeworm uses tiny barbed hooks to attach itself to the inside of an animal’s intestine. Scroll down for further images (Image: Wellcome Trust/Spike Walker)
The barbed fangs of an intestinal tapeworm, psychedelic kidney stones and a fluorescent-eyed fruit fly are among the winners of this year’s Wellcome Trust Biomedical Image Awards.
The annual awards honour the most spectacular images submitted by UK scientists to the trust’s medical photographic library over the past year. Twenty four pictures were selected in all, with three receiving top honours.
The top three include a menacing close-up image of a dog tapeworm, taken by photographer Spike Walker using a light microscope, which reveals the tiny barbed hooks the creature uses to attach itself to the inside of an animal’s intestinal tract.
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Bladder sand
Other highlights include an alien-like fruit fly, whose bug-eyes are lit up bright green by a fluorescence protein gene taken from jellyfish, captured by Derric Nimmo and Paul Eggleston, from Keele University. Scroll down to see this image.
Another outstanding picture, also taken by Spike Walker, reveals a psychedelic landscape of crystallising calcium oxalate – the tiny “bladder sand” particles that go on to form kidney stones.
While many of the images were selected simply for their aesthetic qualities, library curator Jenny Whiting says the scientific context is also important. “Personally, I think that when you can see something in the process of happening, that makes it special,” she told New Scientist.
