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Hand-drawn illustration depicting a lady sitting on a chair talking to a therapist during a counselling session. Positive (yellow) and negative (blue) thoughts are depicted on the faces of the people in her thoughts.


One individual suffering from social anxiety disorder said: "I have had therapy in the form of counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), but as it was government funded it was time limited. The counselling helped me realise that what happened to me was not my fault and the reasons why my social anxiety is so severe, but it hasn't helped with getting past it."



This image is part of a communication design project on social anxiety disorder which aims to show anxiety as it is experienced in everyday life: where the anxiety comes from, what it feels like and what people have tried to do to overcome it.

Counselling for social anxiety disorder, illustration

False-coloured scanning electron micrograph of the mouth parts of a salmon sea louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis), a species of copepod that lives on salmon. This parasite affects both farmed and wild salmon, and has had a devastating economic impact on the salmon farming industry. X1000 magnification of image.

Salmon sea louse mouth, fish parasite

False-coloured scanning electron micrograph of pollen grains from a venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). This carniverous plant eats insects and other small bugs. Pollen grains contain the male gamete and are produced in the anther. They are transferred from one flower to another (pollination) so that fertilisation of the female gametes can occur (sexual plant reproduction). Pollen is a common trigger of hay fever or seasonal allergies. Pollen grains are 100 microns in size across.

Venus flytrap pollen grains, SEM

the syrup cools the blood, helps surfets and may safely be given in Frenzies, Feavers and hot Agues'. Here Culpeper is using the Doctrine of the Humours, in that an excess of a poisonous plant causes death and for the body to become cold, so a smaller dose will be good for fevers. He points out that eating too much bread can make one ill. Culpeper (1652) writes ‘... is good to prevent the falling sickness [epilepsy] ...’ for ‘procuring rest and sleep’, for curing coughs and sore throats, treating menorrhagia, agues (aches), frenzies (delirium), pleurisy and toothache and if applied as a poultice for reducing inflammations and erysipelas (St. Anthony’s Fire). 'Poppy seeds ease pain and provoke sleep. Your best way is to make an emulsion of them with barley water.’ Contains rhoeadine and thebaine which are both mild analgesics and sedative. Latter is toxic and used to make oxycodone and oxymorphone which are opiate analgesics, and naloxone an antidote to opiates – displaces them from ?-opioid receptors in the brain. Thebaine can cause addiction, convulsions and death. It is mainly used to make powerful ?-opioid agonists, called Bentley compounds, some being 10,000 times more powerful than morphine. One is Etorphine, a ?, ?, and ? opioid receptor agonist 3,000 times more potent than morphine. It is only licensed for use on elephants and other large animals. It is fatal to humans. It is almost instantaneous in action and is almost instantaneously reversed by naloxone and/or diprenorphine. Dihydroetorphine is 12,000 times the strength of morphine. The petals were used to make a sedative for children (Sowerby, 1818). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.

Papaver rhoeas L. Papaveraceae Corn Poppy, Flanders Poppy. Distribution: Temperate Old World. Dioscorides (Gunther, 1959) recommended five or six seed heads in wine to get a good night's sleep the leaves and seeds applied as a poultice to heal inflammation, and the decoction sprinkled on was soporiferous. Culpeper (1650) ' ... Syrup of Red, or Erratick Poppies: by many called Corn-Roses. ... Some are of the opinion that these Poppies are the coldest of all other - believe them that list [wishes to]: I know no danger in this syrup, so it be taken in moderation and bread immoderately taken hurts

Painting titled "Loss" by artist and cancer patient Michele Angelo Petrone (1963-2007). Two figures are depicted: one sits on the floor using scissors to cut the hair of the second figure which is lying down.



"I moved from diagnosis to treatment. Delilah cut Samson's hair and sapped his strength. My doctors didn't need to cut my hair: the chemotherapy just made it fall out, and my strength just fell out too. Was it just my hair they cut off or was I castrated as well? The chemotherapy took my fertility away. OK, so I don't want any children just now - but I might do in time. Will the few drops of frozen sperm really be enough to produce a family? The journey of illness is not only about the physical illness but also the emotional response. My doctor is attempting to cure me, but who is going to help me deal with the emotional aftermath, to try and heal that side of me, and heal all of me? It's not easy, but counselling offers a space, a place, some time and a face, a person to listen to me. Someone who will not be frightened by me and help me heal emotionally."



This painting forms part of a series of work "The emotional cancer journey", which explores the emotions and feelings the artist experienced during his cancer journey. Michele was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1994. He founded the MAP foundation in 2002 to promote expression, communication and understanding of serious illness and dying.

Loss, emotional cancer journey, artwork

This is the double form of the spring flowering member of the Papaveraceae (poppy family) from the woodlands of eastern North America. Daniel Austin (2004) reported that it was initially called Chelidonium majus canadense acaulon as the leaves and colourful sap were reminiscent of Chelidonium majus, the European greater celandine. Native Americans – Chicksaw, Creek, Seminole, Cherokee and Timacua – used the orange sap as a dye for painting heads and garments. Creek and Yuchi women (red spot on each cheek for Yuchi) painted their faces red if they wished to grant sexual favours. Ponca men put it on their hands and shook hands with a woman to get her to marry them in five to six days. 



It is cytotoxic when applied to the skin, causing burning and scarring, so has been used for treating warts, and makes the legends of Native American use as a cosmetic unlikely. Robert Bentley at Kings College Hospital reported in 1861 how it had been applied topically to fungating breast cancers, but was useless. It is still used topically by a few herbalists with disastrous results ranging from local scarring to total destruction of the nose. The sap contains toxic benzylisoquinoline alkaloids – chiefly sanguinarine – which intercalates DNA and blocks the sodium pump in cell membranes, causing mutations, foetal abnormalities, cell death and cancers. Sanguinarine was used as an additive to toothpaste for many years and caused leucoplakia, a precancerous lesion of the inside of the mouth.



Millspaugh (1974) reports the effects of ingestion include nausea, vomiting, burning of mucous membranes on contact, faintness, vertigo, coma, bradycardia, terrible thirst, abdominal pain, difficulty in breathing, dilatation of the pupils, and death from ‘cardiac paralysis’.

Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot, Pucoon or Indian paint)

Dog (canine) brain as viewed from above. A haemorrhage (stroke) affecting the cerebrum (the main brain region) has resulted in bleeding in the front right-hand region of the brain (bottom left of image). Cerebrovascular accidents are rare in dogs but this type of haemorrhage can occur as a result of tumour growth, blood clotting defects or poisoning.

Canine brain affected by cerebral haemorrhage

Title of Image: 'Beneath the Surface'. 

Cortical bone mapping of hip from computed tomography (CT).


This image depicts a novel image analysis technique called 'cortical bone mapping'. This technique can measure the thickness of cortical bone (the dense outer shell-like layer) at many thousands of points around the hip from clinical CT scans, plotting the results as a colour wash on a 3D model here viewed from the front. The following colour scale corresponds with these approximate cortical bone measurements: red 0.0 mm; orange 1.2 mm; yellow 2.4 mm; green 3.6 mm; blue 4.5 mm; purple 5 mm+.



These measurements can be used to test whether individuals are at risk of a hip fracture if the bone is too thin, or if they might be developing osteoarthritis if too thick. Using a mesh in this case to display results rather than a more usual surface representation reveals the complex framework that is the basis for 3D sampling of the underlying CT imaging data.

Cortical bone mapping of hip from computed tomography (CT)

Macro image of a typical lesion on the buccal mucosa seen in Lichen Planus.

Lichen Planus is an inflammatory, pruritic disease of the mucous membranes, which can be either generalized or localized. It is characterized by distinctive purplish, flat-topped papules. The lesions may be discrete or coalesce to form plaques. Histologically, there is a "saw-tooth" pattern of epidermal hyperplasia and vacuolar alteration of the basal layer of the epidermis along with an intense upper dermal inflammatory infiltrate composed predominantly of T-cells.

Lichen Planus Buccal Mucosa

Bird's eye (superior) view of connections in the brain of a healthy 29 year old female human. The front of the brain is facing the right side of the image and the back of the brain is on the left. Brain cells communicate with each other through these nerve fibres, which have been visualised using diffusion imaging tractography. Diffusion weighted imaging is a specialised type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan which measures water diffusion in many directions in order to reconstruct the orientation of bundles of axons. Tractography is used to indirectly model these bundles of axons (nerve fibres), which transmit information between cortical regions at the brain's surface. Since these images are in 3D, colours have been used to represent the direction of the neural tracts. For example, connections that run from the motor cortex and somatosensory cortex down to the corticospinal tract in the brain stem are visible in blue/purple. The brain measures approximately 18 cm from front to back.

Healthy adult human brain viewed from above, tractography

Watercolour and ink on paper illustration of HIV assembly and budding. Once additional viral RNA and proteins have been made inside an infected target cell (usually CD4 T cells, a type of white blood cell found in the immune system), they are assembled and packaged together into new virus particles (virions) ready for release. HIV Gag protein and gag-pol (red) form an ordered arrangement below the cell membrane (white/grey) capturing the HIV genome (yellow). Viral proteins Vpr and Vif (purple; lower middle) are also incorporated. The assembled virus then pinches off from the cell picking up cell membrane on the way to create the viral envelope. Width of image is approximately 100 nm.



This image forms part of a series of illustrations which capture HIV at eight different points in the viral life cycle as it infects a cell and replicates.

HIV assembly and budding, HIV viral life cycle, illustration

The condition has been visualised using thermal infrared which allows us to see thermal energy or radiation more commonly referred to as heat.

The image shows the hand of a person experiencing symptoms of Raynaud's against that of a person who is unaffected



The hand affected with Raynaud's is on the right, the other hand is unaffected. This image shows both hands after exposure to cold water for 2 minutes, both hands appear to emit low levels of radiation. This image illustrates how the unaffected hand warms considerably quicker and begins to emit higher levels of radiation (heat) soon after exposure whilst the affected hand continues to emit lower levels.



Thermal Infrared is found within the Infrared region on the electromagnetic spectrum.



The different colours in the images represent different levels of thermal energy being emitted from the skin's surface. In this image the yellow and orange colours show a high level of thermal energy and the blue and purple a lower level. 



Raynaud's phenomenon (also referred to as Raynaud's syndrome or Raynaud's disease) affects the bodily extremities, most commonly the hands and feet. On exposure to cold or stress, the blood vessels at the extremities constrict or narrow restricting the flow of blood, this is called vasoconstriction. When this happens in the hands then the fingers will often change colour becoming very pale as less blood reaches the surface of the skin, this means there is also less radiation of heat from the affected area.

Raynaud's Phenomenon

These specialised cells named Purkinje cells (red) are found in a part of the brain called the cerebellum. They send out vast numbers of branches that make connections with other cells in the cerebellum. This part of the brain co-ordinates your voluntary movements and keeps you oriented in space. It also plays a part in learning physical skills - like riding a bike or playing the piano. Biomedical Image Awards 2006.

Purkinje cells in the cerebellum

Six circular gouache paintings of Hindu gods.

Top centre: Krishna and Radha, playing the flute in the garden. Gouache painting by an Indian artist.

Bottom centre: Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning and knowledge and the wife of Brahma.

Bottom right (?): Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity and the wife of Lord Vishnu.

Gouache painting by an Indian artist.

Six circular gouache paintings of Hindu gods, 19th century

Photomacrograph of a juvenile male black widow spider (Latrodectus hesperus) molting. The black widow or western widow spider is a venomous spider commonly found across North America. Males are usually half the size of females and are light brown in colour (as opposed to the characteristic black colouring with red hourglass-shaped marking on females) with three diagonal stripes on each side of their abdomen. Only bites by the female spider cause harm to humans and contrary to popular belief, bites to humans are rarely fatal. Symptoms (nausea, profuse sweating, severe pain, muscle aches, hypertension and respiratory difficulties) usually subside within several days. An antivenom (antivenin) is available but can cause acute hypersensitivity reactions in some individuals. Width of image is 0.6 cm.

Male black widow spider (Latrodectus hesperus) molting

Calf kidneys presenting with lobular (lumpy) anatomy. The kidneys are swollen with red-pink discolouration of the cortical zones that is typical of acute nephritis (kidney inflammation). This is often secondary to a bacterial infection in young farmed animals. 


There are several types of acute nephritis, which can lead to inflammation in different areas of the kidneys including the spaces between the kidney lobules (interstitial nephritis), ureters (pyelonephritis, and which is usually caused by E.Coli) and the glomeruli (glomerulonephritis), the clusters of capillaries acting as the filters of the kidney.

Acute nephritis in calf kidneys

All animals possess unique anatomic variations that help them adapt to their environment. The Grey Parrot Anatomy Project has been established in part to improve upon and create technology that allows the world to study anatomy of any animal. By understanding what is normal, we are better positioned to identify and ultimately treat the abnormal. Discoveries made through the project have already been used on a large variety of animals including humans. 



BriteVu®, a novel contrast agent developed out of the project allows researchers to see vasculature (with the aid of a CT scan) down to the capillary level. In this image, the rat heart (top), iris (middle) and kidney (bottom) are perfused with BriteVu® revealing the microvasculature of each organ. By seeing the vasculature, researchers can study the effect of cancer, diabetes mellitus, infections, autoimmune disorders and much more on the blood vessels.

Microvasculature of rat heart, iris and kidney

An 8 day old 3D cluster of cells (embryoid body) formed from mouse embryonic stem cells. The cells were grown in factors to encourage development of the nervous system (neural differentiation). Mature neurones (beta-tubulin, green) are seen extending across the surface of the embryoid body which is made up of immature neural cells (nestin, red). Imaged by fluorescence immunocytochemistry. Image width is 2.28 mm.

Neurone development, embryoid body

Our colour vision uses three different pigments to detect red, green and blue light.

Colour vision

Density-dependent colour scanning electron micrograph of the surface of human heart (mitral valve) tissue displaying calcification in the form of spherical particles. The blue colour identifies denser material (calcified material composed of calcium phosphate), while structures that appear in green and red are less dense (corresponding to the organic component of the tissue). Micrographs were coloured in post-processing by combining images acquired by three modes of image acquisition that use different kinds of electron microscope detector (Secondary electron and Backscatter electron detectors). Horizontal field width is 16 microns.

Human heart (mitral valve) tissue displaying calcification

The hand has been visualised using thermal infrared which allows us to see thermal energy or radiation more commonly referred to as heat.


Thermal Infrared is found within the Infrared region on the electromagnetic spectrum.



The different colours in the images represent different levels of thermal energy being emitted from the skin's surface. In this image the yellow and orange colours show a high level of thermal energy expected in a hand with a regular healthy blood flow.

Thermogram of normal hand

A lichen arises from the composition of algae, cyanobacteria and fungus. They occur in many colors, sizes, and forms and in many locations.


Cellular level art, paint on silk, digitised.

Pink lichen

Photograph of blood from the menstrual phase of a woman's monthly menstrual cycle (menstruation or menstrual period). The menstrual cycle is regulated by hormones secreted from the pituitary gland (follicle stimulating hormone, FSH, and luteinising hormone, LH), which control the production of other hormones (oestrogen and progesterone) in the ovaries. During the menstrual phase levels of oestrogen and progesterone fall which cause the lining of the uterus (endometrium) to be shed. 



This image is one in a series of images which have been created as part of a conceptual art project "Beauty in Blood" which aesthetically examines female menstrual blood. To create these images, menstrual fluid was collected in a menstrual cup and then introduced into fresh water in a clean toilet bowl. Using the toilet bowl as a canvas, menstrual fluid is poured, dripped and drizzled into the water to create intricate designs which are then photographed.

Menstrual blood, artwork title "Red Dress 2"

The image shows the 'heat signature' left behind of the hand of a person experiencing symptoms of Raynaud's against that of a person who is unaffected



The hand affected with Raynaud's is on the right, the other hand is unaffected. This image shows the heat pattern left behind once the hands are lifted from the surface.



Thermal Infrared is found within the Infrared region on the electromagnetic spectrum.



The different colours in the images represent different levels of thermal energy being emitted from the skin's surface. In this image the yellow and orange colours show a high level of thermal energy and the blue and purple a lower level. 



Raynaud's phenomenon (also referred to as Raynaud's syndrome or Raynaud's disease) affects the bodily extremities, most commonly the hands and feet. On exposure to cold or stress, the blood vessels at the extremities constrict or narrow restricting the flow of blood, this is called vasoconstriction. When this happens in the hands then the fingers will often change colour becoming very pale as less blood reaches the surface of the skin, this means there is also less radiation of heat from the affected area.

Filter by

Counselling for social anxiety disorder, illustration

Salmon sea louse mouth, fish parasite

Venus flytrap pollen grains, SEM

Loss, emotional cancer journey, artwork

Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot, Pucoon or Indian paint)

Canine brain affected by cerebral haemorrhage

Cortical bone mapping of hip from computed tomography (CT)

Lichen Planus Buccal Mucosa

Healthy adult human brain viewed from above, tractography

HIV assembly and budding, HIV viral life cycle, illustration

Raynaud's Phenomenon

Raynaud's Phenomenon

Purkinje cells in the cerebellum

Six circular gouache paintings of Hindu gods, 19th century

Male black widow spider (Latrodectus hesperus) molting

Acute nephritis in calf kidneys

Microvasculature of rat heart, iris and kidney

Neurone development, embryoid body

Colour vision

Human heart (mitral valve) tissue displaying calcification

Thermogram of normal hand

Pink lichen

Menstrual blood, artwork title "Red Dress 2"

Thermal hand prints

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Filter by

Counselling for social anxiety disorder, illustration

Salmon sea louse mouth, fish parasite

Venus flytrap pollen grains, SEM

Loss, emotional cancer journey, artwork

Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot, Pucoon or Indian paint)

Canine brain affected by cerebral haemorrhage

Cortical bone mapping of hip from computed tomography (CT)

Lichen Planus Buccal Mucosa

Healthy adult human brain viewed from above, tractography

HIV assembly and budding, HIV viral life cycle, illustration

Raynaud's Phenomenon

Raynaud's Phenomenon

Purkinje cells in the cerebellum

Six circular gouache paintings of Hindu gods, 19th century

Male black widow spider (Latrodectus hesperus) molting

Acute nephritis in calf kidneys

Microvasculature of rat heart, iris and kidney

Neurone development, embryoid body

Colour vision

Human heart (mitral valve) tissue displaying calcification

Thermogram of normal hand

Pink lichen

Menstrual blood, artwork title "Red Dress 2"

Thermal hand prints

Be the first to know

Wellcome collectionWellcome Collection

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Wellcome collection