Australian Science Illustrated – Issue 51 2017

68 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

One of the most scary creatures of the forest

floor is the centipede. During the night, it

hunts small insects, which are captured and

paralysed by venom, delivered by fang. The

hunting weapon is located right by the

mouth, doubling as the front pair of legs of

the long, segmented body. The toxin from

the fangs is normally not very dangerous

tohumans, but in South America, species

with very painful bites exist.

A cup of ordinary coffee includes 1,000+ different chemicals, the

most prominent of which is caffeine: the most frequently used

psychoactive ingredient in the world thanks to the popular drink.

Caffeine has a beneficial effect on long-term memory

improvement and reduced risk of developing type II diabetes.

Among the other active ingredients are chlorogenic acid, which

functions an antioxidant in the body, and trigonelline: an

alkaloid, which blocks the spread of cancer cells and reduces

blood sugar and cholesterol levels. In the image, you see an

espresso stain. The extreme enlargement reveals how all the

ingredients of coffee are organized in a crystal structure.

Centipede has fangs

like a vampire bat

Coffee stain looks

like exotic snake

Enlarged:^16 TIMES

Enlarged:

UNKNOWN

VIN & SANAE KITAYAMA/NIKON SMALL WORLD

SHUTTERSTOCK

WALTER PIORKOWSKI/NIKON SMALL WORLD & N. & K. TAYLOR/GETTY IMAGES & STEPHEN DALTON/NATUREPL

NATURE MICROSCOPY