Image: Eureka Prize: Great balls of fire

Eureka Prize: Great balls of fire

For promotion of New Scientist Eureka Prize for Science Photography only.

Dana Bradford
© Dana Bradford


Great balls of fire: newborn nerve cells navigate their universe - Some microscope images could have come from a powerful telescope. This neurosphere was cultured from an adult mouse brain in a project aiming to determine how new brain cells are born in the adult brain. With nascent neurons (yellow) navigating amongst associated astrocytes (red), it reminds me of a meteorite in the night sky and highlights the mirror relationship between microcosm and macrocosm. In the century old words of Cajal: As long as our brain is a mystery, the universe, the reflection of the structure of the brain will also be a mystery.


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