Art or science? The eyes have it

Here, we can see the eye of a miniature pig - or at least a 3D model of it. It's a combination of CT-scanning and 3D printing. The more open part on the right is the pupil. The blood vessels that supply the eye are also clearly visible.

This charming little creature is known as a "Hawaiian bobtail squid". It's 33-35 millimeters long and comes from the coast of the Hawaiian archipelago. At night time, it likes to hunt around coral reefs. Shrimps are the main thing on its menu. During the day, it hides in the sand. The black ink sac is clearly visible here.

In this image of a dove, a contrast agent known as "BriteVu" has been used, making the blood vessels visible. This complex network is essential for the thermoregulation of the dove. Birds often stand on one leg to keep their heat loss as low as possible. The image was taken with a CAT scanner.

Here, researchers were taking a look at how neuron stem cells grew on a synthetic gel. After just two weeks, the magenta colored stem cells produced green nerve fibers. By growing small organs on plastic chips, researchers are hoping to become better at predicting the efficacy and toxicity of drugs and vaccines, and to be able to do away with animal experiments in the future.

This picture shows differences in the development of the placentas of mice, which can result from the manipulation of the immune system of the mother. The placentas were each examined on the twelfth day of the 20-day gestation period. Researchers want to understand and prevent complications during pregnancy. The image was created using light microscopy.

Here, we see the retina of a mouse depicted. The blue blood vessels, which spread outward from the center of the image, are clearly visible. The astrocytes are shown in red. They're special cells of the nervous system, which have many functions - for example supporting repair processes in the brain and spinal cord after injuries. This picture is composed of more than 400 other individual images.

Here, we see unraveled DNA in a human lung cell. More specifically, it's from the nucleus of one of two new daughter cells. For unknown reasons, DNA got caught on one of the cells, causing it to unfold between the two daughter cells. By the way, the width of this image is just 84 micrometers (0.084 mm).

This photo shows how an "irisclip," also known as an artificial intraocular lens (IOL), is placed on the eye. An irisclip is a thin lens made of silicone or acrylic, fixed with two hooks," which can be used to curb short-sightedness. This 70-year-old patient recovered almost 100 percent of his vision after this procedure.

The zebrafish is tiny but it is still a popular object for research. It's robust, it reproduces quickly and it has important physiological systems in common with human beings. Here, geneticists have introduced a fluorescent gene that gives off the color red under certain activation conditions. It's apparently a way of studying fish behavior more closely.

This polarization microscope image shows a piece of cat skin, including hair (yellow), whiskers (also yellow) and blood supply (black). The sample comes from the Victorian era. The blood vessels were then injected with the dye carmine in order to make the capillaries visible in the tissue, a technique which had been newly developed at the time. This shot is twelve millimeters wide.