Human femoral bone, AFM

False-colour, atomic force micrograph (AFM) showing the topography (surface contours) of a section of healthy femoral bone (femur or thigh bone). This image was acquired over an area of 20 x 20 micrometres and coloured depending on the height of the features with a height difference of 4 micrometres between the lowest (red) and highest (white) areas. The microstructure of the bone reveals layers that are composed of collagen and mineral. This femoral bone section was removed from a medieval male, whose skeletal remains are curated in the School of Anthropology and Conservation at the University of Kent.