Photographers, using special equipment and techniques, have been able to make visible many marvels of the human body. Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson is one; he worked closely with doctors over a period of years to make an extraordinary series ot photographs that trace the development of the human embryo. The photograph at right shows an 11-week-old fetus only moments after its mother miscarried. The blood-rich placental mass, here partially cut away to reveal the two-and-one-half-inch long fetus curled within, was suspended by Nilsson in a clear fluid so that he could photograph it in as close an approximation of the natural state as possible. Whereas a similar fetus preserved as a specimen in a laboratory bottle would repel most beholders, Nilsson's painstaking technique has lent an awesome beauty to this view of life at its beginning.
In the picture opposite, research scientist Don Ross used a process called multispectral analysis to make a remarkable contour map of the human skull showing contrasts of bone and tissue that the eye would otherwise miss. He converted shades of gray into shades of color, turning an ordinary X-ray of a human skull into a stunning pattern of many hues that simplified interpretation of the X-ray.
photo by LENNART NILSSON
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