Images Dated 1st December 2004

Visualisation of primordial quark/gluon plasma

Visualisation of the early universe. This image depicts particles in the quark-gluon "soup" which existed less than one millionth of a second after the Big Bang. Quarks are shown in red, green and blue; anti-quarks are cyan magenta and yellow. Other colours are gluons. The grey particles are electrons and electroweak force bosons. Gluons are the carriers of the strong nuclear force, but at the high energy density of the universe at this time (a million billion degrees temperature), quarks would not have been confined by the force. As the universe continued to expand, and the temperature dropped, the quarks were able to combine into baryons such as protons and neutrons

© ARSCIMED/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Sand food plant

Flowering sand food plant (Pholisma sonorae). This mushroom-shaped parasitic plant is native to the deserts of south-western USA and Mexico. It is found growing on shifting sand dunes. Its scaly stem was eaten raw or cooked by Native Americans. It contains no chlorophyll and therefore cannot produce its own food. Instead, its stem, which extends 1-2 metres below the ground, is attached to the roots of a nearby host plant. The sand food's flowers are always arranged in a ring on its cap. This unusual plant has become endangered. It is threatened by off-road vehicles and the development of the desert. Photographed in the Algodones wilderness, California, USA

© DR TORSTEN WITTMANN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

African Elephant - Bull

TOM-830
African Elephant - Bull
Lake Kariba, Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe, Africa
Loxodonta africana
Tom & Pat Leeson
Please note that prints are for personal display purposes only and may not be reproduced in any way

© ? Tom & Pat Leeson/ardea.com

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