Fertilisation* and Red Giant

Photo credit: Fatima Santos/Wendy Dean/Wolf Reik
Babraham Institute, Cambridge
UK
www.babraham.ac.uk

How were you conceived? Each one of us is the result of a single event, the meeting of male and female sex cells. Fertilisation occurs when the DNA in both egg and sperm comes together, but this doesn’t form a single nucleus. The nucleus of each parental cell is clearly visible in this microscopic image. Each makes a copy of their chromosomes in preparation for dividing. Here pictured is the early embryo of a mouse – the larger nucleus is from the male. DNA is blue and proteins that keep genes silent are shown in red-yellow.

Scale: Whole structure is 60 microns long 

This work has been selected for exhibition at the Royal Albert Hall in May 2008. Listen to the Red Giant created by students from Park View Community School, Durham Community Business College and Sion-Manning RC Girls School with composer Duncan Chapman.

My chosen image is a red giant. Towards the end of a stars life the temperature at the core starts to rise, causing the star to expand.The Helium in the star fuses with Carbon and begins to burn. Even though Red Giants are common among the stars visible to the naked eye, they are very rare in space. I chose this image because it has a similar shape to the Fertilisation Cell. It's circular; it has an irregular edge and has similar markings on the surface.