These trippy images reveal the colorful inner lives of bones
Osteoclasts (in red) make way for new bone growth in a mouse femur. Typically, each cell has multiple nuclei, but a mutation in this specimen has rendered the count to one. (Paul R. Odgren, Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Medical School/NIH/) For February, we’re focusing on the body parts that shape us, oxygenate us, and power us as we take long walks on the beach. Bony bonafide bones. These skeletal building blocks inspire curiosity and spark fear in different folks—we hope our stories, covering everything from surgeries and supplements to good old-fashioned boning, will only do the first. Once you’ve thoroughly blasted your mind with bone facts, check out our previous themed months: muscle and fat.Don’t judge a bone by its calcified cover. Seriously. Though your skeleton might look bare and bleached on the outside, in reality, it’s packed with diverse cells, tissues, and molecules you can only glimpse through magnified images....