The Wellcome Image Awards recognise scientists who have created beautiful images as part of their own research and made them available for public use through the Wellcome Library. Click on the images for a larger version.

 

Colour-enhanced image of a housefly (Musca domestica) on sugar crystals. To eat the sugar the fly releases its enzyme-containing saliva onto it, lets it digest, then sucks it all back up. Houseflies are well known for carrying gastrointestinal diseases such as Salmonella and dysentery, but they can also spread tuberculosis, anthrax and other major illnesses through their habit of visiting decaying organic matter and faeces, as well as humans and their food.
Colour-enhanced scanning electron micrograph by Dave McCarthy and Annie Cavanagh.

 

 

Colour-enhanced image of red blood cells leaking out of a ruptured blood vessel. This is due to a mutation in the Ephrin-B2 gene, which prevents smooth muscle cells from being arranged correctly in the blood vessel wall. The blood vessels then become more fragile, leading to an increased rate of haemorrhaging. This abnormality is similar to that seen in the blood vessels that feed developing cancers. Understanding this process may help to lead to new cancer treatments.
Colour-enhanced scanning electron micrograph by Anne Weston.

Just trying out Firefox 3 Beta 4 and I'm impressed. The first most obvious difference I noticed is the speed of GMail. It's lightning fast. The over look 'n' feel of this beta is very nice and is a big improvement over Firefox 2.*. The memory usage is also a lot less than Firefox 2, so far anyway, though running it with a new/clean profile always helps.

 

I have it installed along side Firefox 2 but so far I think I'll stick with using this Beta version as I've had no problems so far. Looking forward to the final release.

This is a really sick hand.

Jeremy Beadle has died after a short battle with pneumonia, aged 59. The media in general has given Jeremy a hard time over the years but I've always had a lot of time for him. People tend to always think of him as the onscreen prankster he was most known for but outside of this he was an extremely intelligent, well read man. He could converse intelligently on almost any subject and had a private library of 22,000 books.

He also did a massive amount of work for charity and is estimated to have raised over 100 million. I used to listen to a quiz he hosted on the radio and once took part although I did terribly. I had a lot of time for Jeremy Beadle, he was one of the good guys.

Just wanted to say that Barack Obama sounds like the noise of something coming to rest after falling down the stairs.

I've recently switched my poker allegiance from PartyPoker to PKR. PKR has a much better user experience even if it is a bit over the top. The animated avatars make quite a difference and I also prefer the game structures.