June Gallery

Gordon the Goat wearing a pink floppy hat looking cute

Goat wearing a floppy sun hat

© Paul Brown

Animal Animals Fashion

Astronaut Duke next to Plum Crater, Apollo 16

Exploring the Moon: astronaut Duke stands next to Crater Plum during the first excursion of the Apollo 16 mission. Duke is seen holding a bore sampling implement, used to take vertical profile samples of the lunar soil. On the far side of the 30 metre wide crater is the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). Astronauts Duke and Young landed in the Descartes region of the Moon on 21 April 1972. During their 71 hour visit, they made three excursions on the surface totalling 20 hours 14 minutes, covering 26 kilometres in the LRV. After blasting off from the Moon, they rejoined astronaut Mattingly in the Command and Service Module, returning to Earth on 27 April 1972

© NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

False-colour SEM of sperm on a human egg

Fertilisation. False-colour scanning electron micrograph of sperm (blue) on a human egg. In order to fertilise the egg a spermatozoon must penetrate the thick layer of follicular cells (pink), called the corona radiata, and the inner membrane known as zona pellucida (not seen here). The penetration occurs thanks to special enzymes released by the sperm's head. Once a spermatozoon ruptures the zona pellucida a chemical reaction strenghtens the two membranes. This prevents the entrance of other sperm, avoiding the creation of embryos with more than 46 chromosomes. Magnification: x910 at 6x7cm size. Magnification: x1405 at 4x5inch size

© PROF. P. MOTTA/DEPT. OF ANATOMY/UNIVERSITY LA SAPIENZA , ROME/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY