Images Dated 10th March 2004

Hair, SEM

Hair fracture. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a fractured hair (yellow and pink). The surrounding layer of facial skin (brown) has a typically scale-like surface. Hairs grow from follicles in the underlying layer of the skin (the dermis). The portion of the hair emerging from the skin is made up of dead tissue. The outside of the hair, the cuticle (yellow), is covered in modified overlapping scales and protects the central cortex. The central cortex is made up of the fibrous protein keratin (pink), which acts as a structural element. Hair grows at a maximum rate of 15 centimetres a year

© STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Quantum entanglement equipment

Quantum physicists with equipment used in a quantum entanglement experiment. Entanglement is a property of a pair of particles in which a change to one has an instantaneous effect on the other, no matter how far apart they are. Researchers at Vienna University, Austria, split entangled photon pairs and sent each photon to a separate receiver. They performed this both in fibre optic wires and through the air. Entanglement was confirmed by the detectors in both cases. It is hoped that this entanglement will find uses in cryptography, quantum computing and satellite communications. Photographed in 2003. The double exposure effect illustrates the oddness of the quantum world

© VOLKER STEGER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY