[HN Gopher] Tiny beauty: how I make scientific art from behind t...
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       Tiny beauty: how I make scientific art from behind the microscope
        
       Author : pseudolus
       Score  : 63 points
       Date   : 2024-06-18 13:45 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nature.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nature.com)
        
       | tromp wrote:
       | Much more of such beautiful imagery can be found at Nikon's Small
       | World Competition that's been running for 50 years [1].
       | 
       | [1]
       | https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/photomicrography-c...
        
       | mistrial9 wrote:
       | LOL - a real story from graduate lands.. At a university in
       | "Holland" .. a real ordinary grad student, whose funding is not
       | certain, has data for a PhD project... such beautiful data! could
       | make amazing art! an artist-oriented person says "what about
       | doing some art with this data?" Reaction?
       | 
       | frozen deadly stare.. immediately stopped discussing any details
       | of that data.. careful check of screen logout and network
       | security over the next days. That data is guarded.. no one can
       | copy any, look at it without authorization.. it can not be
       | reprinted in any medium for any reason at risk to this graduate
       | student losing their status.
       | 
       | The artist is amazed, but within hours never thinks of it again..
       | That graduate student spends the next year+ guarding that data
       | and filing reports and status with their PhD supervisor and lab
       | admins.
       | 
       | source: biotech, true story
        
         | verisimi wrote:
         | I don't get the story... Why is the student so zealous in
         | guarding the imagery?
        
           | IanCal wrote:
           | A possibility is in trying to make sure they get their
           | publications and nothing gets scooped.
        
       | amelius wrote:
       | I guess the coloring is faked to make these images look better
       | (or in the case of electron microscopy to have color at all).
       | Would an AI be able to produce these colors given an EM image?
        
         | Etheryte wrote:
         | I mean, this is covered in the first paragraph of the article,
         | and then elaborated on further down.
        
       | JustBreath wrote:
       | Great photos, especially being colored by hand.
       | 
       | I'd love to see these in a museum with background information
       | about the subjects and stories like the raspberry fungus.
        
         | cchi_co wrote:
         | Good idea to make it like since art instolation
        
       | nyc111 wrote:
       | I wonder if there are no colors at that scale
        
         | hermitcrab wrote:
         | The false colouring is mainly due to the fact that they are
         | using beams of electrons, not visible light. But a typical
         | virus is ~100nm ( https://book.bionumbers.org/how-big-are-
         | viruses/ ) and the wave length of green light ~500 nm. So I
         | guess it isn't really meaningful to ask 'what colour is a
         | virus'.
        
       | cchi_co wrote:
       | Fascinating and unique way to merge science and creativity.
        
       | hermitcrab wrote:
       | Beautiful images.
       | 
       | If you have an SLR/DSLR camera you can buy a macro lens and a
       | flash and get some surprisingly good close ups of insects - with
       | all sorts of details you can't see with the naked eye. You can
       | safari in your own garden or nearby land. It opens up a whole new
       | world. You'll need an electron microscope for viruses though!
        
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