Hey there Universe!

A show of hands, for those who are still here and want this blog back up and running? 

Magnesium Oxide Cactus by ZEISS Microscopy

Magnesium oxide single crystals growing on Mg. Courtesy of Anasori Babak, Materials Science and Engineering Dpt, Drexel University, Philadel

Cnidaria, MultiView Light Sheet Microscopy | ZEISS Microscopy

Immunostaining of planktonic Cnidaria. Acetylated tubulin (green), myosin (red), nuclei (blue). Image taken with ZEISS Lightsheet Z.1 during the EMBO course on Marine Animal Models in Evolution & Development, Sweden 2013. www.zeiss.com/lightsheet Sample courtesy of Helena Parra, Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Barcelona.

Zebrafish embryo | ZEISS Microscopy

Just 22 hours after fertilization, this zebrafish embryo is already taking shape. By 36 hours, all of the major organs will have started to form. The zebrafish's rapid growth and see-through embryo make it ideal for scientists studying how organs develop. Image courtesy of Philipp Keller, Bill Lemon, Yinan Wan and Kristin Branson, Janelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, Va. Part of the exhibit Life:Magnified by ASCB and NIGMS.

A mammalian eye has approximately 70 different cell types | ZEISS Microscopy on Flickr.

The incredible complexity of a mammalian eye (in this case from a mouse) is captured here. Each color represents a different type of cell. In total, there are nearly 70 different cell types, including the retina's many rings and the peach-colored muscle cells clustered on the left. Image

Skin cell (keratinocyte) | ZEISS Microscopy

This normal human skin cell was treated with a growth factor that triggered the formation of specialized protein structures that enable the cell to move. We depend on cell movement for such basic functions as wound healing and launching an immune response. Image courtesy of Torsten Wittmann, University of California, San Francisco. Part of the exhibit Life:Magnified by ASCB and NIGMS.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY FROM THE UNIVERSE!

Larvae from the parasitic worm that causes schistosomiasis | ZEISS Microscopy

The parasitic worm that causes schistosomiasis hatches in water and grows up in a freshwater snail, as shown here. Once mature, the worm swims back into the water, where it can infect people through skin contact. Initially, an infected person might have a rash, itchy skin or flu-like symptoms, but the real damage is done over time to internal organs. Image courtesy of o Wang and Phillip A. Newmark, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

An Aurora Cupcake with a Milky Way Topping | APOD

This sky looked delicious. Double auroral ovals were captured above the town lights of Östersund, Sweden, last week. Pictured above, the green ovals occurred lower to the ground than violet aurora rays above, making the whole display look a bit like a cupcake. To top it off, far in the distance, the central band or our Milky Way Galaxy slants down from the upper left. The auroras were caused by our Sun ejecting plasma clouds into the Solar System just a few days before, ionized particles that subsequently impacted the magnetosphere of the Earth. Aurora displays may continue this week as an active sunspot group rotated into view just a few days ago.

Dividing cells showing chromosomes (purple) and cell skeleton (green) | ZEISS Microscopy

This pig cell is in the process of dividing. The chromosomes (purple) have already replicated and the duplicates are being pulled apart by fibers of the cell skeleton known as microtubules (green). Studies of cell division yield knowledge that is critical to advancing understanding of many human diseases, including cancer and birth defects. Image courtesy of Nasser Rusan, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health.

Laniakea: Our Home Supercluster of Galaxies | APOD

It is not only one of the largest structures known -- it is our home. The just-identified Laniakea Supercluster of galaxies contains thousands of galaxies that includes our Milky Way Galaxy, the Local Group of galaxies, and the entire nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The colossal supercluster is shown in the above computer-generated visualization, where green areas are rich with white-dot galaxies and white lines indicate motion towards the supercluster center. An outline of Laniakea is given in orange, while the blue dot shows our location. Outside the orange line, galaxies flow into other galactic concentrations. The Laniakea Supercluster spans about 500 million light years and contains about 100,000 times the mass of our Milky Way Galaxy. The discoverers of Laniakea gave it a name that means "immense heaven" in Hawaiian. 

Relapsing fever bacterium (gray) on red blood cells | ZEISS Microscopy

The long, spiral-shaped bacterium (gray) in this image causes relapsing fever, a disease characterized by recurring high fevers, muscle aches and nausea. The relapses result from the bacterium's unusual ability to change the molecules on its outer surface, allowing it to dodge the human immune system. The disease is transmitted through the bite of a tick (not the same species that transmits Lyme disease) and is found in parts of the Americas, the Mediterranean, central Asia and Africa. Image courtesy of Tom Schwan, Robert Fischer and Anita Mora, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health.

A Night at Poker Flat | APOD

Four NASA suborbital sounding rockets leapt into the night on January 26, from the University of Alaska's Poker Flat Research Range. This time lapse composite image follows all four launches of the small, multi-stage rockets to explore winter's mesmerizing, aurora-filled skies. During the exposures, stars trailed around the North Celestial Pole, high above the horizon at the site 30 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska. Lidar, beams of pulsed green lasers, also left traces through the scene. Operating successfully, the payloads lofted were two Mesosphere-Lower Thermosphere Turbulence Experiments (M-TeX) and two Mesospheric Inversion-layer Stratified Turbulence (MIST) experiments, creating vapor trails at high altitudes to be tracked by ground-based observations.

Fat cells (red) and blood vessels (green) | ZEISS Microscopy

A mouse's fat cells (red) are shown surrounded by a network of blood vessels (green). Fat cells store and release energy, protect organs and nerve tissues, insulate us from the cold and help us absorb important vitamins. Image courtesy of Daniela Malide, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health.

When Mice Collide | APOD

These two mighty galaxies are pulling each other apart. Known as the "Mice" because they have such long tails, each spiral galaxy has likely already passed through the other. The long tails are created by the relative difference between gravitational pulls on the near and far parts of each galaxy. Because the distances are so large, the cosmic interaction takes place in slow motion -- over hundreds of millions of years. NGC 4676 lies about 300 million light-years away toward the constellation of Bernice's Hair (Coma Berenices) and are likely members of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies. The above picturewas taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2002. These galactic mice will probably collide again and again over the next billion years until they coalesce to form a single galaxy. 

Rat brain, horizontal section | ZEISS Microscopy

M82 Galaxy, remixed from the Hubble Legacy Archive | write_adam