Squid suckers

This photo won an honorable mention in the Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge. They were robbed! Grand prize or they'll rip the judges' faces off!

i-44eee0bcab7b40761e78a112caf9c3f0-suckers.jpg
Squidsuckers: The Little Monsters That Feed the Beast
Credit: Jessica D. Schiffman and Caroline L. Schauer, Drexel University
Crunch. The satisfying sound of a crushed cockroach comes from the destruction of its chitin-based exoskeleton. The white, fanglike circles in this electron micrograph of squid suckers are also chitin, but they are not so easily crushed. Their scant 400-micrometer diameter belies the true power of the suckers. A squid uses them to latch onto prey and force the unfortunate creature to its beak, where it is readily slurped down. "They're just tiny things, but they really keep the beast alive," says Jessica Schiffman, a doctoral student in material science engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She compiled the image while researching chitin properties in the lab of Caroline Schauer. The iconic film Little Shop of Horrors inspired the color scheme, she says.

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They look like they were knitted in green, white, and burgundy yarn, with papoer-mache teeth. Maybe Miss Skatje could help you with a model. heh.

By speedwell (not verified) on 28 Sep 2008 #permalink

Audrey III?

I still say Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

There's kind of a "when muppets turn on their masters" quality about them.

Am I the only one thinking "Don't Panic!"?

By whoneedscience (not verified) on 28 Sep 2008 #permalink

Remind me never to get eaten by a squid.

By Nick Gotts (not verified) on 28 Sep 2008 #permalink

Wow. Imagine having the inside of your arms lined with Langoliers!

"You cannot escape my embrace, my tender morsel. Never!"

By Crudely Wrott (not verified) on 28 Sep 2008 #permalink

What?! I thought that was a photo of the Molly winners.

*ducks*

Hehe. They're hilarious.

Nom nom nom nom

What?! I thought that was a photo of the Molly winners.

naw, like I said before, I have more rows of teeth than that.

Two comments saying they look like Cthulhu? Do you even know what Cthulhu's supposed to look like??? NOTHING like this.

False-colored SE micrographs like this piss me off. Once you start making decisions about a "color scheme" it doesn't count as science any more, in my book.

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 28 Sep 2008 #permalink

Don't be such a curmudgeon, Sven.

If the color scheme was intended to help analyze or convey information, then it might be science. If it was intended to please the eye, then it is art.

This is art. Based on science. What's wrong with that?

Did anyone notice the "Visualizing The Bible" honorable mention in the Illustration category? What does that have to do with visualizing science?

Hey I saw that picture a few days ago and my first thought was to send you the link, but after never hearing back from you on the last pic I sent or seeing it here I figured you'd never see the email anyway. You need a super secret atheist email addy.

That's just an awesome picture. Thanks!

By Sleeping at th… (not verified) on 28 Sep 2008 #permalink

I had to immediately check the comments to see how many other people thought of the Langoliers when they saw this.

Escuerd - I was thinking exactly the same thing. heh

That was...odd.

I have no problem with "art" of any kind. I just don't think it's the same thing as "visualizing science."
But I'll cop to the curmudgeon thing.

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 29 Sep 2008 #permalink