this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] JayDee@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

Most SEMs use a vacuum chamber to get their photos. Also, it's not uncommon to sputter a conductive coating onto the surface you're scanning.

How the hell did they get this photo?

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

Put a needle in someone, freeze them solid with liquid nitrogen, then take a picture. Throw body out with rest of specimens.

Easy peasy.

[–] Pulptastic@midwest.social 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Environmental SEMs do not require vacuum and can be used for nonconductive samples. The beam ionizes the air which prevents the sample from charging. Magnification is limited but it is more than enough for this.

You can tell it is SEM and not optical by the depth of field. An optical image at this magnification would have much less DoF so the peaks/valleys would be blurry.

[–] JayDee@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 2 months ago

That's very cool. I had not heard of ESEMs till you commented. I'll have to look into them more.

[–] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 2 months ago

I'm more intrigued by the fact there's no blood, they must've taken this milliseconds after the needle was removed? Or it's a dead body.

[–] Duckingold@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

It likely wasn't done on an electron microscope, or at least there is no reason to. There is no scale bar, but quick look online tells me a very fine needle is about 0.016in. 500x magnification optical lens would give you more than enough resolution for a photo like that.