2021 RMS Digital Calendar
Why not download the RMS digital calendar? - each month you can have a new scientific image as your computer wallpaper or desktop.
Or if you'd prefer you can download:
All the images used were submitted to our annual calendar image competition, congratulations to those selected. You can download the 2021 images here:
January
Sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus) collected in Aegean sea near Athens, Greece
The sockets on the right are where the urchins long spines are attached. The element map (4076 x 3072 pixels, 0.42 µm pixel size) was acquired with an annular Bruker XFlash® FlatQUAD SDD at 6 kV for 51sec. without sample preparation. (Annular Bruker XFlash® FlatQUAD silicon drift detector)
Max Patzchke, Bruker Nano Analytics
Download the image in the dimension format which best fits your screen; 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10.
February
To keep you awake
Polarized light photomicrograph of a drop of solution of caffeine and hot water, left to dry on a glass slide. The needles are crystals of caffeine precipitated from the solution. Width 1,3 mm. (Nikon D5500 on Zeiss Axioscop 40pol. Crossed polarizers and lambda plate)
Bernardo Cesare, Geosciences, Padua University
Download the image in the dimension format which best fits your screen; 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10.
March
Gold Dendritic Nanostructure
Gold dendritic nanostructures have grown on the paper fibers by an electrodeposition process. The prepared paper modified by Au dendrites has been used as an efficient electrode for the non-enzymatic oxidation of glucose. (TESCAN Vega3)
Elmira Rafatmah, Shiraz University
Download the image in the dimension format which best fits your screen; 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10.
April
Wild Pollen Coloured
Pollen grain inside stamen of Papaver Nudicaule Iceland Poppy (Hitachi SU8230 Ultra high-resolution Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM), with a PP3010 cryo-preparation chamber (Quorum Technologies, Laughton, UK))
Mark Taylor, Quorum Technologies
Download the image in the dimension format which best fits your screen; 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10.
May
Sprig of moss Cirriphyllum piliferum
This moss has thick cell walls that are birefringence. Therefore, it is well suited for shooting in polarized light. When using polarizing filters and a retardation plate, the petals start to sparkle in different colours (Biolam R-11 microscope, smartphone camera)
Andrei Savitsky
Download the image in the dimension format which best fits your screen; 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10.
June
Airborne: Ilex 1
Pollutant particulates on the surface of a holly leaf. The image was collected using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry to isolate elements of Aluminium, Magnesium, Calcium, Iron, Oxygen and Carbon. From a collaborative art and science project exploring air pollution on leaves with Rob Kesseler and Louise Hughes (Ultim Extreme EDS detector mounted onto a Tescan S 8000. EDS maps were layered over the BSE image using AZtec (version 4.1, Oxford Instruments))
Rob Kesseler, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London & Louise Hughes, Oxford Instrument
Download the image in the dimension format which best fits your screen; 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10.
July
Mustache shrimp
TauContrast reveals fine morphological details in the minute crustacean Derocheilocaris remanei, using the endogenous fluorescence signal of cuticle and internal tissue (STELLARIS confocal microscope, Leica Microsystems)
Dr Martin Fritsch, Leica Microsystems GmbH
Download the image in the dimension format which best fits your screen; 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10.
August
A Fossilized Starfish?
Resembling a fossil of an ancient sea star called Ophiosamus kelheimensis from the Jurassic period, this is in fact an image of a thin crystalline film of an anti-inflammatory medication imaged in compensated polarised light microscopy (Olympus BX-51 with Sony A7 RII mounted on the trinocular port)
Karl Gaff, TU Dublin
Download the image in the dimension format which best fits your screen; 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10.
September
Pseudoscorpion Chernes cimicoides
Despite their appearance, these tiny creatures are perfectly harmless to humans, being minus the stinging tail of the true scorpions. They are common in the UK but under-reported on account of their small size (TESCAN MIRA 4 SEM, using the secondary electron detector in Depth Mode. Background masked and scale bar moved using Adobe Photoshop)
Jeremy Poole
Download the image in the dimension format which best fits your screen; 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10.
October
Entangled
Image of a blood platelet entangled in silk fibers obtained for a study on the interaction of biological samples and fiber materials. The image has been colorized using MountainsSEM® software. (JEOL JSM-6490LV SEM and MountainsSEM® Software) It was acquired by Simone Lauciello from the Italian Institute of Technology in collaboration with Giovanni Perotto from Smart Materials group.
Digital Surf/S. Lauciello
Download the image in the dimension format which best fits your screen; 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10.
November
Stretched Cell
Stem cell labelled for focal adhesion points (in yellow) and a specific receptor (in blue), plus nuclear staining (in magenta) (Zeiss Elyra PS.1 Super-resolution microscope)
Leandro Lemgruber, University of Glasgow
Download the image in the dimension format which best fits your screen; 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10.
December
Crystal of low-sodium salt (sodium-potassium chloride), magnified 25x
Revital Katznelson
Download the image in the dimension format which best fits your screen; 4:3, 16:9 or 16:10.