Images Dated 30th January 2004

Pollen grain of Sycamore tree

Pollen grain. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of pollen grains of the Sycamore tree, Acer pseudoplatanus. They are slightly triangularly shaped with coat ornamentation. When a Sycamore pollen grain (which contains the male gametes) lands on the stigma of a Sycamore flower, it germinates. A pollen tube will grow out of the pollen grain into the stigma, and down this tube the male nuclei" will travel towards the ovaries. When an ovule in the ovary is then fertilized, a seed is formed. Magnification: x1, 100 at 5x7cm size. x2840 at 8x6"

© POWER AND SYRED/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Thrust SSC, the worlds first supersonic car

Thrust SuperSonic Car (SSC), the first land vehicle to travel faster than sound, performs a speed trial. The car broke the land speed record on 15 October 1997 near Gerlach in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, USA. It travelled at an average speed of 1227 kilometres per hour (km/h) - about 24 km/h faster than sound - over two runs that took place within an hour of each other. The car was powered by two jet engines from a fighter aircraft. The British Thrust SSC team included driver Andy Green & team leader Richard Noble; the latter had him- self set a land speed record in 1983. Thrust SSC's success occurred the day after the fiftieth anni- versary of the first supersonic flight

© KEITH KENT/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY