Before Chemistry, There Was Alchemy: The Secret Science That Changed the World

For publishers and educators building content on the history of science, chemistry, and medicine

Some of the most consequential scientific discoveries in history were written in symbols no one alive can fully read. The alchemists who made them worked in secret — not out of academic caution, but out of genuine fear of execution. Political and religious authorities across medieval and early modern Europe viewed alchemy with deep suspicion, associating its fires, vapors, and cryptic inscriptions with witchcraft and heresy. The price of transparency could be death.

So the alchemists encoded their findings. They developed elaborate systems of symbols — for elements, processes, celestial bodies, and transformations — that obscured their work from hostile eyes. Because secrecy was survival, they rarely shared those findings. Discoveries overlapped. Researchers identified the same substances independently, multiple times, without knowing others had been there first. Some findings were lost entirely, sealed in manuscripts that remain only partially decoded to this day.

What survived, however, was extraordinary. The practice we now regard as a failed attempt to turn lead into gold was also the crucible in which the laboratory was invented, elements were isolated, medicines were developed, and the habits of mind that would become the scientific method were slowly, painfully forged. Alchemy did not fail to become chemistry. It became chemistry — and along the way, it laid unexpected foundations for modern medicine as well.

Gallery of Alchemy History Stock Images

At Science Source, our historical science collection includes alchemical laboratory scenes, manuscript illustrations, alchemical symbol charts, and portraits of the figures who shaped this long transition. For publishers building content on the history of science, the origins of chemistry, or the development of scientific methodology, these images offer a depth of historical authenticity that generic illustration cannot provide.

The Origins of Alchemy: Ancient Egypt to Medieval Europe

Alchemy did not begin in a medieval dungeon. Its roots reach back to Greco-Roman Egypt — to Alexandria in the early centuries of the common era, where Greek natural philosophy, Egyptian metalworking traditions, and Babylonian astrology converged into a practice concerned with the transformation of matter. The foundational premise was not purely mercenary: it drew on a genuine philosophical conviction that metals, like living things, developed and matured within the earth, and that human art might accelerate or perfect those natural processes.

Among the earliest figures whose name has survived is Zosimos of Panopolis, a Greek-speaking Egyptian alchemist writing around 300 CE, whose texts represent some of the oldest alchemical manuscripts in existence. Zosimos described laboratory apparatus — distillation equipment, furnaces, vessels for sublimation — that would have been recognizable to chemists centuries later. He also framed alchemy in deeply spiritual terms, as a practice concerned as much with the transformation of the practitioner as with the transformation of metals.

Characters and symbols used by alchemists to represent chemicals, elements, and other objects and processes. © Gregory Tobias/Chemical Heritage Foundation / Science Source

The quest at the center of alchemy — the philosopher's stone — was understood to be both material and transcendent. As a substance, it was theorized to transmute base metals into gold. As a medicine, the same stone, dissolved into a drinkable elixir, was believed capable of curing disease and extending life indefinitely. The dual promise of wealth and immortality drove centuries of investigation, some of it fraudulent, much of it earnest, and a surprising amount of it genuinely productive.

As alchemy moved through the Islamic world and into medieval Europe, it accumulated new practitioners, new hazards, and new secrecy. The Church's suspicion made discretion essential. Rulers alternately patronized alchemists, hoping for gold, and persecuted them when results failed to materialize. Working in this environment, alchemists developed the symbolic language that makes their manuscripts so difficult to interpret today: a system of glyphs, allegories, and coded references that protected their work and, in doing so, partially sealed it from history.

What Alchemists Actually Did: Laboratory Practice and Accidental Discovery

Strip away the mysticism, and the alchemical laboratory was a serious working environment. Alchemists developed and refined techniques that remain fundamental to chemistry: distillation, sublimation, calcination, filtration, crystallization. They built furnaces capable of sustained high temperatures. They worked with acids, salts, sulfur, mercury, and a widening range of metallic compounds. The apparatus Zosimos described in Alexandria—the alembic, the kerotakis, the water bath still known in France as the bain-marie, named for the Jewish alchemist Maria Hebrea, credited with its development,were genuine laboratory innovations.

The discoveries that emerged from this practice were often accidental, frequently dangerous, and occasionally world-changing. Berthold Schwarz, a German friar working in the 14th century, is credited in some accounts with refining the gunpowder formula that would reshape warfare across Europe, a discovery with consequences its maker almost certainly did not anticipate. Albertus Magnus, the 13th-century philosopher and theologian, documented the isolation of arsenic and contributed systematic observations of chemical processes that influenced the practitioners who followed him.

Maria Zieglerin, a 16th-century German alchemist, represents one of the rare documented female practitioners of the period. Working under the patronage of Duke Julius of Brunswick, she claimed to possess the secret of the philosopher's stone and was involved in producing what she described as lion's blood, an alchemical medicine. Her story ended in execution, accused of fraud and sorcery, a fate that illustrates with terrible clarity the environment in which alchemical work was conducted.

The most viscerally memorable discovery of the alchemical era belongs to Hennig Brand, a Hamburg merchant-alchemist who in 1669 became the first person in recorded history to isolate a chemical element through deliberate experimentation. His method was neither elegant nor pleasant: Brand collected and reduced enormous quantities of human urine—estimates suggest as many as 1,500 gallons over the course of his work—believing that urine's golden color might hold a clue to the transmutation of gold. It did not yield gold. After prolonged heating, what emerged from his retort was a waxy white substance that glowed in the dark and burst into flame on contact with air. Brand named it phosphorus, from the Greek for light-bearer. He had isolated the element now known to be essential to DNA, bone structure, and cellular energy transfer — and he had nearly asphyxiated himself with carbon dioxide in the process of finding it.

Key Figures in Alchemy History: From Mysticism to Scientific Method

The transition from alchemy to chemistry did not happen cleanly or quickly. It was driven by a handful of figures who, working within the alchemical tradition, began to insist on observation, repeatability, and documentation over mystical interpretation.

Robert Boyle (1627-1691) was an Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist and inventor. Credit Science Source

Robert Boyle, the 17th-century Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, is the figure most often credited with marking the boundary. His 1661 work The Sceptical Chymist directly challenged the Aristotelian framework of four elements — earth, air, fire, water — that had underpinned alchemical theory for nearly two thousand years, and proposed instead that elements should be defined experimentally, as substances that could not be further decomposed. Boyle retained some alchemical interests throughout his life, but his insistence on experimental evidence over received doctrine made him a pivotal figure in the emergence of chemistry as a discipline.

Isaac Newton is less often discussed in this context, but his engagement with alchemy was extensive and serious. Newton devoted a significant portion of his intellectual life to alchemical investigation — his surviving manuscripts on the subject run to nearly a million words — and pursued the philosopher's stone with the same intensity he brought to optics and celestial mechanics. He kept this work almost entirely private, aware of both the professional risk and the legal exposure. Newton's alchemy did not produce the breakthroughs his physics did, but it reflects something important: that the boundary between alchemy and natural philosophy in the 17th century was far more porous than later history suggested.

Antoine Lavoisier, working in France in the late 18th century, completed the transformation Boyle had begun. By isolating oxygen, demonstrating the conservation of mass in chemical reactions, and systematizing chemical nomenclature, Lavoisier effectively closed the alchemical chapter and opened the modern one. He was guillotined during the French Revolution in 1794 — a reminder that even as the era of alchemy's most dangerous associations was ending, the hazards of working at the intersection of knowledge and power had not entirely disappeared.

From Alchemical Symbols to the Scientific Method: The Legacy of Alchemy in Modern Chemistry and Medicine

The philosopher's stone was never found. No alchemist transmuted lead into gold. The elixir of immortality remains, as it always was, a metaphor. And yet the alchemical tradition's legacy in modern science is both real and surprisingly specific.

The laboratory itself — as a dedicated space for controlled experimentation with specialized apparatus — is an alchemical inheritance. Distillation, the technique that gave Brand his phosphorus and still underpins many pharmaceutical purification processes today, was refined in alchemical workshops over centuries. The systematic investigation of acids, alkalis, salts, and metallic compounds that defines inorganic chemistry has direct roots in alchemical practice. Several elements — phosphorus, bismuth, zinc, antimony — were first isolated or carefully described by alchemists working centuries before the formal establishment of chemistry as a discipline.

The contribution to medicine is equally significant, though arrived at differently. Paracelsus, the 16th-century Swiss physician-alchemist, broke decisively with the Galenic medical tradition by insisting that diseases had specific chemical causes and could be treated with specific chemical remedies. His introduction of mineral compounds into medical practice was the beginning of pharmaceutical chemistry. The idea that a substance could be isolated, characterized, and administered in a controlled dose to produce a predictable therapeutic effect is an alchemical idea, refined into the foundational logic of modern pharmacology.

What alchemy ultimately contributed to science was not gold, but method — imperfectly, haltingly, across centuries of secrecy, fear, and misdirection. The habit of observing matter carefully, recording what happened, and attempting to reproduce results did not spring fully formed from the Enlightenment. It was practiced, fitfully and under dangerous conditions, in the smoke-filled workshops of people who believed, not unreasonably, that the universe was knowable and that knowing it mattered.

Alchemy and History of Science Stock Images for Publishers and Educators

For publishers building content on the history of chemistry, the origins of the scientific method, or the development of pharmaceutical science, the visual record of alchemy is remarkably rich — and remarkably underused. The iconography of the alchemical laboratory, the manuscript pages dense with symbolic notation, the portraits of figures poised between mysticism and empiricism: these images carry historical weight that generic science illustration cannot replicate.

Science Source's historical science collection includes imagery across the full arc of this story:

• Alchemical laboratory scenes — period engravings and hand-colored etchings showing furnaces, retorts, alembics, and the working environment of alchemical practice

• Alchemical symbol charts and manuscript illustrations — the encoded visual language of alchemy, essential for the history of science and philosophy of science publishing

• Portraits and etchings of key figures — Zosimos, Boyle, Newton, Lavoisier, and others at the intersection of alchemy and early chemistry

• Historical chemistry apparatus — early laboratory equipment documenting the material transition from alchemical workshop to chemical laboratory

• Contemporary chemistry imagery — connecting the historical narrative to modern laboratory practice and pharmaceutical science

An 18th-century chemical laboratory in Paris, showing instruments, furnaces, chemical vessels, and chemists. Credit Science Source

The search for the philosopher's stone produced neither gold nor immortality. But it produced phosphorus, laboratory technique, pharmaceutical chemistry, and the beginnings of the scientific method — a return on investment that any publisher covering the history of science would recognize as extraordinary. The imagery that documents that journey is available, accurate, and waiting to be licensed.

Browse Science Source's history of science and alchemy collection at sciencesource.com

Isaac Newton and the Physics of Color: How a Prism Changed Everything

Before Isaac Newton understood color, he tried to feel it. In one of the more startling footnotes in the history of science, the young Newton pressed a bodkin — a blunt needle — between his eye and the bone of his eye socket, probing whether pressure on the eye would produce the same color effects as light. It did produce colors, as it happens, along with considerable risk to his vision. Newton recorded the experiment in his notebook and moved on, apparently undeterred.

He eventually found a safer method. In a darkened room in 1666, he directed a narrow beam of sunlight through a glass prism and watched it fan out across the wall in a band of color — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Then he passed that spectrum through a second prism. The colors did not divide further. They recombined into white light.

Gallery of Isaac Newton and Optics Images for Licensing

With that, Newton established one of the foundational principles of optics: white light is not pure. It is a mixture, and a prism does not add color to light — it reveals the colors already present within it. It was a conclusion so counterintuitive it met immediate resistance. Nevertheless, it remains a cornerstone of physics more than 350 years later.

For publishers, educators, and science communicators building content around the physics of color and light, Newton's prism experiment is one of the most-illustrated moments in the history of science — and one of the most frequently mis-illustrated. At Science Source, our collection spans historical engravings, scientific portraits, and contemporary optics photography, offering imagery that is accurate to both the history and the physics.

Prism demonstrating refraction and reflection effect. © David Parker / Science Source

Newton's Prism Experiment: What Actually Happened

The experiment Newton conducted in 1666 — which he later refined and published in his landmark 1704 work Opticks — was deceptively simple in setup and radical in conclusion. The key elements were:

• A darkened room with a small hole in the shutter, admitting a single narrow beam of sunlight

• A glass prism positioned to intercept the beam and refract it onto the opposite wall

• A second prism used to recombine the dispersed spectrum back into white light

• Careful observation that each color refracted at a slightly different angle — what we now call dispersion

The insight Newton drew from this was that different colors of light have different degrees of refrangibility — they bend by different amounts when passing through a medium. Red light bends least; violet bends most. This is why a prism separates white light into a spectrum, and why a rainbow forms when sunlight passes through raindrops. The prism does not create the colors. It unmixes them.

Newton identified seven colors in the spectrum — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet — a number he arrived at partly by observation and partly, historians suspect, by analogy with the seven notes of the musical scale. The decision to include indigo as a distinct color between blue and violet has been debated ever since. Most modern treatments of the visible spectrum treat it as a continuum rather than seven discrete bands, but Newton's seven-color framework remains the one most people learn first.

Isaac Newton and Optics: The Science Behind the Rainbow

A portrait of Sir Isaac Newton, physicist. © Science Source

Newton's color work did not exist in isolation. It was part of a broader investigation into the behavior of light that occupied him for decades and produced some of the most consequential ideas in the history of physics. Understanding what Newton established — and why it was controversial — matters for publishers building accurate educational content around optics and the physics of color.

The central debate of Newton's era was whether light was a wave or a particle. Newton argued for a corpuscular theory — that light was made up of particles — which put him in direct conflict with the wave theories of his contemporaries, including Christiaan Huygens. The wave theory would eventually prevail, and then be complicated further by quantum mechanics in the 20th century, which revealed that light behaves as both. But Newton's corpuscular theory was not simply wrong; it was a productive framework that made accurate predictions about reflection, refraction, and color.

His work on optics also led directly to a practical invention: the reflecting telescope. Frustrated that refracting telescopes produced chromatic aberration — color fringing caused by lenses dispersing light just as prisms do — Newton designed a telescope that used a curved mirror rather than a lens to focus light. The Newtonian reflector remains a standard design in amateur and professional astronomy to this day.

Illustrating the Physics of Light and Color: Stock Images for Publishers and Educators

Newton's prism experiment is among the most-requested subjects in science publishing, appearing in physics textbooks, history of science publications, museum exhibition materials, and digital learning platforms. Publishers working in this space need imagery for various purposes:

• Historical context — engravings, portraits, and period illustrations that place Newton in the intellectual landscape of the 17th century

• Experimental documentation — accurate depictions of the prism experiment itself, showing apparatus, beam path, and spectral output

• Contemporary optics — modern photography of light dispersion, refraction, diffraction, and color phenomena that connect Newton's discoveries to current science

• Conceptual and diagrammatic imagery — illustrations of the visible spectrum, wavelength relationships, and the electromagnetic spectrum for educational publishing

At Science Source, our Newton and optics collection spans all four of these categories. Our historical material includes original engravings and portraits from the 17th through 19th centuries — the period when Newton's ideas were being disseminated, debated, and canonized across Europe. Our contemporary optics photography documents the same principles Newton investigated: dispersion, refraction, reflection, diffraction, and the relationship between light and color.

Why Scientific Accuracy in Historical Science Imagery Matters

Historical science imagery carries a particular accuracy burden that generic illustration cannot meet. A depiction of Newton's prism experiment must be correct not just aesthetically but experimentally—the geometry of the prism, the angle of the beam, the order of colors in the spectrum, and the presence of a second prism if the recombination experiment is shown. Errors in these details are not merely aesthetic; in educational publishing, they misrepresent the physics.

License Newton and Optics Images for Physics and History of Science Publishing

Light refraction through a glass of water. © Turtle Rock Scientific / Science Source

The hand-colored engraving that opens this post has served science publishers for nearly two centuries — it is one of the most reproduced images in the history of optics illustration, and for good reason. It captures Newton's experiment with the clarity of a diagram and the richness of a period document, placing the viewer in the darkened room where one of physics' great insights unfolded.

At Science Source, we hold an extensive collection of Newton and optics imagery — historical portraits and engravings, experiment documentation, contemporary light physics photography, and diagrammatic illustrations of the visible spectrum and electromagnetic radiation. Whether you are building a physics textbook, a museum exhibition, a digital learning platform, or a general science publication, our collection is searchable, licensable, and documented for educational and commercial use.

The physics of color has not changed since 1666. The quality of imagery available to illustrate it has.

Browse Science Source's Newton and optics collection at sciencesource.com

Why Younger Adults Are Getting Shingles

We still don't know exactly what triggers a shingles outbreak. But researchers are noticing a pattern: a growing number of people in their 30s and 40s are developing shingles, and factors like chronic stress, poor sleep, and earlier-onset diabetes, asthma, and chronic kidney disease may all play a role. Increased use of immunosuppressant drugs and steroids may be contributing as well. So despite effective vaccines existing for both chickenpox and shingles, this remains a strikingly relevant disease for publishers to cover — one whose risk profile is shifting in real time.

View our featured gallery: Shingles & Herpes Zoster →

An Old Virus, Reawakened

Varicella zoster virus. © Steve Gschmeissner / Science Source

Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus responsible for chickenpox. After a childhood chickenpox infection resolves, the virus doesn't leave the body. Instead, it retreats into nerve tissue near the spinal cord and brain, where it can lie dormant for decades before reactivating later in life as shingles.

Here's a detail that surprises a lot of people: you can't catch shingles from someone who has it. What you can catch, if you've never had chickenpox or been vaccinated against it, is chickenpox itself, from direct contact with an active shingles rash. It's the same virus wearing two very different faces, depending on whether it's a first infection or a reactivation.

What Shingles Actually Looks Like

Shingles typically announces itself before any rash appears: burning, tingling, or aching pain along one side of the body, often mistaken for a pulled muscle or pinched nerve. Within a few days, a band of painful blisters usually follows, generally confined to one side of the body and tracing the path of a single affected nerve (a pattern called a dermatomal distribution, one of the more visually distinctive presentations in dermatology).

Shingles, or herpes zoster, rash on a patient's torso. © Dr. Harout Tanielan / Science Source

For some patients, the pain doesn't fully resolve even after the rash clears, a lingering condition called postherpetic neuralgia that can persist for months. It's a big part of why shingles is taken seriously as more than just a temporary rash.

A Shifting Risk Profile

Age has always been the dominant risk factor for shingles; the older the patient, the higher the risk, generally attributed to a natural decline in immune function over time. But that picture has been getting more complicated. Cases among people in their 30s and 40s have been rising for at least the past two decades, and researchers have started identifying why.

• Chronic conditions at younger ages: diabetes, asthma, and chronic kidney disease have each been linked to elevated shingles risk, even in adults well below the traditional risk age.

• Stress and sleep disruption: both are associated with immune suppression broadly, and specifically implicated in a number of shingles studies.

• Immunosuppressant drugs and steroid use: medications that dampen immune response can also make viral reactivation more likely.

• Sex differences — across most age groups, women appear to face higher shingles risk than men, though researchers haven't settled on a single explanation.

• Age — still the single strongest risk factor overall, even as younger cases climb.

Taken together, it's less a story about age alone and more a story about anything that quietly wears down immune defenses over time.

The Numbers Behind the Trend

A medical illustration of the shingles virus rash. © Monica Schroeder / Science Source

The scale of this is worth pausing on: roughly 1 in 3 unvaccinated people will develop shingles in their lifetime. That's a substantial figure for a disease many people still associate almost exclusively with older age.

Vaccines exist for both chickenpox and shingles, and most physicians recommend vaccination as the primary tool for reducing risk — a point worth noting for context, though decisions about vaccination are naturally between a patient and their physician. From a publishing standpoint, shingles is still evolving in who it affects, which keeps it relevant well beyond any single demographic.

A Disease With Two Very Different Faces

Part of what makes shingles compelling to illustrate is the contrast between its visible and invisible sides. In its active phase, it's one of the most visually distinctive conditions in dermatology; a clearly bordered band of blisters, often dramatic in appearance, confined to one side of the body. But its cause is entirely invisible to the eye: a virus reactivating deep within nerve tissue, nowhere near the skin where the rash eventually appears. Few conditions offer quite this contrast between a hidden mechanism and such an unmistakable physical presentation.

A Story Best Told With the Right Imagery

That contrast is exactly why strong imagery matters here — readers need to see both sides of the story: the dramatic, recognizable rash and the underlying viral mechanism they'd otherwise never picture.

Our collection covers both extensively, from patient photography spanning mild to severe presentations to detailed micrographs of the virus itself, backed by accurate metadata and more than sixty years of experience helping editors and picture researchers find exactly what a piece needs — at no charge, as part of the research support we offer every client.

Browse our Shingles & Herpes Zoster gallery →

Understanding Gout: A Growing Form of Inflammatory Arthritis

Gout is the most common inflammatory form of arthritis worldwide, and its prevalence has been climbing steadily for decades — global cases have risen by more than 20% since 1990, and researchers project the number of people affected will approach 100 million by 2050. It has a reputation as an old-fashioned, almost historical disease (it's been nicknamed "the disease of kings" for centuries, thanks to its long association with rich food and drink), but it's very much a present-day phenomenon. Attacks tend to strike suddenly, often overnight, with intense pain and swelling most commonly in the big toe. The cause, as it turns out, is a strikingly visual one: sharp, needle-shaped crystals forming directly inside the joint.

Featured gallery: Gout Inflammatory Arthritis →

A Crystal Problem, Not Just a Chemistry Problem

Gout tophus swelling on a woman’s finger. © Dr P. Marazzi / Science Source

Gout begins with uric acid — a waste product the body normally processes through the kidneys and excretes in urine. When uric acid builds up in the bloodstream faster than the kidneys can clear it, a condition called hyperuricemia, it can begin to form monosodium urate crystals within joints. Those crystals are what actually trigger a gout attack: the immune system recognizes them as foreign material and mounts an inflammatory response, producing the sudden pain and swelling gout is known for.

A fun fact worth knowing: those urate crystals are distinctly needle-shaped, and under polarized light microscopy they're not just visible but genuinely striking to look at — sharp, birefringent needles that shift color depending on their orientation to the light. Gout is one of the few joint diseases that can be diagnosed by identifying its literal cause under a microscope.

It's also worth noting why the big toe is so often the first joint affected. Urate crystals form more readily at lower temperatures, and the big toe — being farther from the body's core and closer to the skin's surface — tends to run slightly cooler than most other joints, making it a preferred site for crystal formation.

What a Gout Attack Actually Looks Like

A gout attack, or flare, tends to announce itself abruptly, frequently waking someone in the middle of the night with intense pain in the affected joint. The joint typically becomes swollen, red, and hot to the touch, sometimes sensitive enough that even the weight of a bedsheet is uncomfortable.

Gout swelling in big toes. © Biophoto Associates / Science Source

While the big toe is the classic presentation, gout can affect other joints as well, including the ankles, knees, and hands — and involvement in the hands, in particular, can meaningfully limit fine motor tasks during a flare. Early in the disease, attacks tend to resolve on their own within days to a couple of weeks. Left unmanaged, however, flares tend to become more frequent and longer-lasting over time, and repeated attacks can eventually lead to visible deposits of urate crystals under the skin, known as tophi.

Who's Most at Risk?

Several factors influence uric acid levels and, in turn, gout risk:

• Diet — purine-rich foods such as anchovies, sardines, and tuna, along with beer and fructose-sweetened beverages, can raise uric acid levels.

• Obesity — associated with both higher uric acid production and reduced excretion.

• Hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease — all frequently co-occur with gout, and each can independently affect uric acid handling.

• Certain medications — including some diuretics and beta-blockers, which can raise uric acid levels as a side effect.

• Demographics — gout disproportionately affects middle-aged men and postmenopausal women, likely related to the uric-acid-lowering effect of estrogen, which declines after menopause.

A Disease You Can Actually See

Gout in the feet, 3D CT scan. © Steven Needell / Science Source

Compared to many chronic diseases, gout has an unusually direct visual signature. The crystals themselves are visible under the microscope. During a flare-up, the inflamed joint is visibly swollen and discolored. Advanced cases produce visible tophi. Few conditions offer this much to work with visually, from the molecular cause to the physical presentation.

A Story Best Told With the Right Imagery

This visual range is exactly what makes gout such a compelling subject to illustrate — crystal micrographs, joint imaging, and patient photography can each tell a different part of the same story, from cause to consequence.

Our collection spans it all, backed by accurate metadata and more than sixty years of experience helping editors and picture researchers find exactly the piece they need. This is all part of the research services we offer every client.

Browse our Gout & Inflammatory Arthritis gallery →

Type 2 Diabetes: The Cellular Story Behind a Growing Epidemic

More than 40 million Americans are living with diabetes, and roughly 90% of them have type 2 — a number that has climbed steadily for two decades and shows no sign of leveling off. It's often described in simple terms: too much sugar in the blood. But the underlying biology is considerably more interesting than that shorthand suggests, and understanding it helps explain why type 2 diabetes affects nearly every organ system in the body, not just blood sugar itself.

View our featured gallery: Type 2 Diabetes and Its Complications →

It Starts With a Cell That Stops Listening

Schematic illustration of the islets of Langerhans in diabetes. © Ilusmedical / Science Source

Type 2 diabetes begins with insulin resistance — a state in which cells throughout the body, particularly in muscle, fat, and liver tissue, become less responsive to insulin's signal to absorb glucose from the bloodstream. Insulin itself is produced by beta cells clustered in small structures within the pancreas called the islets of Langerhans, and in early insulin resistance, those beta cells respond by producing more insulin to compensate, keeping blood sugar roughly in range.

Over time, though, that compensation becomes harder to sustain. Beta cells can lose function under the sustained demand, insulin output falls short of what's needed, and blood glucose levels begin to climb — the point at which type 2 diabetes is typically diagnosed.

An interesting fact worth knowing: the islets of Langerhans are named for Paul Langerhans, who identified these clusters of cells in 1869 — as a 22-year-old medical student, decades before anyone understood they produce insulin or had anything to do with diabetes.

Why Blood Sugar Is Only Part of the Story

Chronically elevated glucose doesn't just sit passively in the bloodstream. Over months and years, excess glucose molecules attach to proteins throughout the body in a process called glycation, altering how those proteins function and gradually damaging blood vessels, nerves, and tissue. This is the mechanism that connects "high blood sugar" to the much longer list of complications associated with type 2 diabetes — it's a systemic disease that happens to be diagnosed through a blood sugar number, not a localized one.

Who's Most at Risk?

Medical visualization of a stroke. © TheVisualMD / Science Source

Type 2 diabetes risk is shaped by a mix of factors, some modifiable and some not:

• Obesity: the single strongest modifiable risk factor, closely associated with insulin resistance.

• Age: risk rises significantly after age 45, as beta cell function tends to decline over time.

• Family history and genetics: a first-degree relative with type 2 diabetes meaningfully raises individual risk.

• Sedentary lifestyle: physical inactivity is independently associated with insulin resistance, separate from its effect on body weight.

• Hypertension: frequently co-occurs with type 2 diabetes and compounds vascular risk.

• History of gestational diabetes: significantly raises the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

• Ethnicity: CDC data shows higher prevalence among American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic populations compared to non-Hispanic white populations.

The Complications That Follow

Because glycation and vascular damage accumulate throughout the body, type 2 diabetes complications tend to cluster around a few organ systems that are especially vulnerable to blood vessel and nerve damage:

• Diabetic retinopathy: damage to the small blood vessels of the retina, and a leading cause of vision loss in adults.

• Diabetic neuropathy: nerve damage, most commonly affecting the hands and feet, that can progress from numbness to significant pain or loss of sensation.

• Diabetic nephropathy: progressive kidney damage, and one of the leading causes of chronic kidney disease in the U.S.

• Cardiovascular disease: elevated risk of heart attack and stroke, driven by the same vascular damage mechanisms discussed in our earlier post on COVID-19 and cardiovascular risk.

• Impaired wound healing and peripheral vascular disease: reduced blood flow to the extremities that slows healing and raises infection risk, a complication with real relevance to dermatologic and wound-care imagery.

Not every patient develops every complication, and severity varies considerably. But the length of this list is itself instructive — it's a reminder that type 2 diabetes is rarely, if ever, a single-organ disease.

A Disease Written at Multiple Scales

Diabetic Nephropathy. Illustration of a kidney damaged by diabetes. © Monica Schroeder / Science Source

What makes type 2 diabetes a genuinely interesting subject to illustrate is how it plays out across such different scales at once. At the molecular level, it's a story about glucose molecules and insulin receptors. At the cellular level, it's about beta cells losing function and vessel walls accumulating damage. At the level of the whole patient, it's retinas, kidneys, nerves, and hearts. Few diseases require imagery spanning that wide a range — from micrograph to whole-organ illustration — to tell the full story accurately.

A Story Best Told With the Right Imagery

A disease that plays out at this many scales is difficult to capture in a single image — which is exactly why a strong collection matters. From islet cell illustrations to retinal photography to kidney micrographs, the visual range needed to tell this story accurately is broad by nature.

Our collection covers it comprehensively, with accurate metadata behind every asset and more than sixty years of experience helping editors and picture researchers find exactly what they need— at no charge, as part of the research support we offer every client.

Browse our Type 2 Diabetes and Its Complications gallery →

The History of Astronomy Part 2: Kepler, Galileo, Newton, and the Birth of Modern Astronomy

Copernicus proposed a heliocentric model in 1543, but a proposal isn't proof. It took nearly a century of observation, instrumentation, and mathematics — carried out by Kepler, Galileo, and Newton — to turn Copernicus's model into demonstrated fact and, along the way, to transform astronomy into modern physics.

Gallery of Post-Copernican Astronomy

Kepler and the Laws of Planetary Motion

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)., German mathematician and astronomer. © Album / Science Source

When Tycho Brahe died in 1601, his assistant Johannes Kepler inherited roughly two decades of the most precise naked-eye astronomical observations recorded to date. Kepler's initial goal was straightforward: fit the orbit of Mars to a circle, since every astronomer since antiquity had assumed planetary orbits were circular. The data wouldn't fit. After years of calculation, Kepler concluded that planetary orbits were elliptical, not circular — a finding he published in Astronomia Nova in 1609.

That discovery became the first of Kepler's three laws of planetary motion. The second and third laws followed, with the third appearing in Harmonices Mundi in 1619. Together, the three laws described planetary motion with a level of predictive accuracy the Ptolemaic and even the original Copernican models had never achieved. Kepler hadn't just supported Copernicus's model; he had corrected and completed it.

Galileo and the Telescope

The first practical telescopes appeared in the Netherlands in 1608. Galileo Galilei did not invent the instrument, but he built substantially improved versions of it and, within a year, turned one toward the sky.

Famous astronomers in history. © Science Source

His observations were direct and difficult to reconcile with the geocentric model. The moon showed mountains and craters rather than a smooth, perfect sphere. The sun had spots. Jupiter had four moons of its own, meaning at least some celestial bodies clearly did not orbit Earth. And Venus showed a full cycle of phases, a pattern only possible if Venus orbited the sun. Galileo published these findings in 1610 in Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry Messenger), and the observations of Venus and Jupiter's moons in particular gave the Copernican model its first strong observational support.

The conflict that followed with the Catholic Church, culminating in Galileo's 1633 trial and exile by the Inquisition, is well documented and requires no embellishment. What matters for the history of astronomy is that his observations, not just his arguments, were what made the geocentric model untenable.

Newton and Universal Gravitation

Kepler had described how planets move. Isaac Newton, in his 1687 Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, explained why. Newton's law of universal gravitation proposed that a single force — gravity — governs the motion of falling objects on Earth and the orbits of planets around the sun alike. The often-cited story of an apple prompting the insight is likely simplified or apocryphal, but the underlying physics is not: Newton showed that terrestrial and celestial motion obey the same mathematical law. With that, astronomy became a branch of physics rather than a separate discipline built on observation alone.

Better Telescopes, Bigger Discoveries

John Herschel, an English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, and experimental photographer/inventor. © LOC / Science Source

The century following Newton was shaped largely by improvements in instrumentation. The reflecting telescope, which used mirrors rather than lenses, allowed astronomers to observe fainter and more distant objects than Galileo's design permitted. William Herschel, a musician who took up astronomy, used a reflecting telescope to discover Uranus in 1781 — the first planet identified that wasn't known to ancient observers. Herschel and his sister and collaborator, Caroline Herschel, went on to catalog thousands of nebulae and double stars. Star catalogs grew more comprehensive during this period, and transit observations improved distance measurements within the solar system, setting the stage for the observational astronomy that followed.

Why Post-Copernican Astronomy Images Matter for Publishers

This period is well documented visually because much of the science was recorded as it happened: Galileo's own lunar drawings, illustrations of Jupiter's moons and the phases of Venus, Kepler's orbital diagrams, and engravings from Newton's Principia. Publishers covering the history of science, physics education, or the Scientific Revolution more broadly rely on this material regularly — in textbooks, museum exhibits, documentaries, educational publishing, and anniversary coverage tied to Kepler, Galileo, or Newton. Accurate period imagery, rather than a modern telescope photograph standing in for the era, is usually what separates well-researched coverage from generic coverage.

Historical Astronomy Images from Science Source

Our collection includes portraits of Kepler, Galileo, Newton, and Herschel; early telescopes and observational instruments; Galileo's lunar drawings and his observations of Jupiter's moons; historical star maps; and engravings connected to Newton's Principia. Many of these are original period engravings, and a number are hand-colored prints we've carefully colorized in-house where appropriate, giving publishers access to versions of this material that aren't available elsewhere.

License Astronomy History Images and Illustrations

Browse our full astronomy history gallery for portraits, instrument illustrations, and diagrams spanning Kepler through Herschel.

Reach out to our licensing team directly if you need help locating a specific image for a history-of-astronomy feature — we're glad to help.

The History of Astronomy Part 1: From the Astrolabe to Copernicus

Before Copernicus, astronomy had fourteen hundred year history of measurements, inventions, and institutions. Ancient Greek astronomers built tools, Islamic scholars perfected them and Medieval European universities made astronomy a required course. By the time Copernicus proposed a sun-centered universe in 1543, astronomy was already a mature, cumulative study — he was building on it, not starting it.

Ancient Greek Astronomy: The Astrolabe and Ptolemy's Geocentric Model

Ancient Greek Astronomer, Hipparchus in his observatory in Alexandria. Hipparchus (190-120 BC). © Science Source

Ancient Greek astronomers developed the astrolabe, an instrument used to locate and track the position of celestial bodies by measuring the angle between a star or planet and the horizon. It let observers tell time at night, determine latitude, and predict the position of the sun and stars at a given date — a single device functioning as clock, calendar, and star map.

Greek astronomy's most consequential achievement came later, around 150 CE, when Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria compiled centuries of observation into a single mathematical system: the geocentric model, placing Earth at the center of the universe with the sun, moon, planets, and stars orbiting around it. Ptolemy's model, recorded in the Almagest, was accurate enough to predict planetary positions and eclipses, and it remained the standard reference for astronomers for roughly the next 1,400 years.

The Islamic Golden Age: Advancing Astronomical Instruments and Observation

Islamic scholars inherited Greek astronomical texts through translation and expanded on them substantially, from roughly the 8th through the 14th centuries. They refined the astrolabe's design and manufacturing precision, and developed additional instruments including quadrants and celestial globes, extending what earlier tools could measure and improving their accuracy.

They also built some of the first permanent astronomical observatories, such as the Maragheh Observatory in Persia in the 13th century. These institutions allowed for sustained, systematic recording of stellar positions over years rather than isolated observations, and Islamic astronomers used this data to measure Earth's axial precession (the slow wobble of Earth's rotational axis) with a precision that improved meaningfully on earlier Greek calculations.

This astronomical work also had a direct religious application. Astrolabes were widely used to determine the qibla, the direction of prayer toward Mecca, and to calculate the correct prayer times, which are tied to the sun's position in the sky. Astronomy in this era wasn't a purely academic pursuit; it was embedded in daily religious practice.

Astronomy in the Christian Middle Ages: Calendars, Curriculum, and Classical Texts

Bronze astrolabe used by astronomers and navigators. © Tomsich / Science Source

In medieval Europe, one of the primary drivers of astronomical study was a very practical problem: calculating the correct date for Easter, a calculation known as the computus, which depends on both solar and lunar cycles. The Venerable Bede, an English monk, wrote extensively on lunar cycles and timekeeping in the early 8th century to support this calculation. Centuries later, the 13th-century scholar Johannes de Sacrobosco identified specific defects in the Julian calendar's handling of the solar year, and by the 16th century the Jesuit mathematician Christopher Clavius was the principal author of the Gregorian calendar, adopted in 1582 to correct the drift Sacrobosco and others had identified.

Astronomy also held a formal place in medieval education. Starting in the 11th century, it was one of four required subjects in the quadrivium — alongside arithmetic, geometry, and music — that students at medieval universities had to master before advancing to theology. That coursework relied heavily on classical Greek astronomy, particularly Aristotle and Ptolemy, transmitted to medieval scholars through Latin and Arabic translations.

Copernicus and the End of the Pre-Copernican Era

Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish clergyman and astronomer, published De revolutionibus orbium coelestium in 1543, proposing a heliocentric model with the sun, rather than Earth, at the center of the solar system. It was a direct challenge to the Ptolemaic system that had stood for over a millennium, and it marks the conventional end of the pre-Copernican period.

The technological shift that would eventually help confirm Copernicus's model followed closely after. The first practical telescope was invented in the Netherlands in 1608, with competing credit typically given to Hans Lippershey, Zacharias Janssen, and Jacob Metius. Within a year, that instrument would be in the hands of Galileo Galilei — a story we cover in Part 2 of this series.

Why Pre-Copernican Astronomy Images Matter for Publishers

Armillary sphere, Ptolemaic system, geocentric model. © Science Source

This period spans multiple distinct visual traditions — Greek and Islamic scientific instruments, medieval manuscript illumination, and early printed astronomical texts — which gives publishers more range than a single "ancient astronomy" image search typically turns up. Coverage of the history of science, medieval studies, Islamic Golden Age scholarship, and the history of religious practice all draw on this material, and getting the instruments and texts right matters. An astrolabe, a quadrant, and an armillary sphere are different tools with different visual signatures, and a publisher's audience often includes readers who will notice the difference.

Historical Astronomy Images from Science Source

Our collection includes illustrations and photographs of astrolabes, quadrants, and celestial globes; portraits and manuscript imagery connected to Bede, Sacrobosco, and Clavius; illustrations from medieval texts on the quadrivium and computus; and portraits of Copernicus alongside period illustrations and title pages from De revolutionibus. Many of these images are original engravings and manuscript reproductions, including hand-colored prints we've carefully colorized in-house where appropriate.

License Pre-Copernican Astronomy Images and Illustrations

Browse our full astronomy history gallery for instruments, manuscripts, and portraits spanning ancient Greece through Copernicus.

Reach out to our licensing team directly if you need help locating a specific image for a history-of-astronomy feature — we're glad to help.

The 1927 Solvay Conference Photo: The History Behind Science's Most Famous Image (Now in Color)

Every field has one image that does more work than any textbook chapter. For quantum physics, it's a single photograph taken in Brussels in October 1927: 29 physicists and chemists arranged in three tidy rows, 17 of whom either held a Nobel Prize already or would collect one shortly after. Einstein sits dead center, arms folded, wearing the expression of a man who has heard an argument he does not intend to lose. Marie Curie sits beside him — the only woman in the room, and, not incidentally, the only person ever to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences. It is, by wide consensus, the most reproduced "smartest room ever assembled" photograph in existence, to the point that most publishers could probably sketch it from memory.

Gallery of 1927 Solvay Conference of Physics Stock Images

What Was the Solvay Conference? The 1927 Meeting That Changed Physics

Niels Bohr, Danish Physicist. © Science Source

The Solvay Conferences began in 1911, underwritten by Ernest Solvay, a Belgian industrial chemist whose fortune came from an efficient new method of producing soda ash — and who decided that fortune should also fund a standing invitation for the world's leading physicists to argue in one room. By the fifth conference, the subject was "Electrons and Photons," and the invitation list amounted to a working index of modern physics: Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Dirac, de Broglie, Born, Compton, Planck, Curie, Einstein.

The real substance of that week happened off camera. Einstein spent the conference contesting the emerging Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, unwilling to accept a universe governed by probability rather than certainty — the position behind his famous remark that God does not play dice with the universe. Bohr's reply, that it was not Einstein's place to tell God what to do, became the opening exchange in a debate the two men never fully resolved and that physicists still cite as foundational. The photograph was taken at the close of that week, which is part of why it holds up as an image: it's a portrait of people who had just spent several days disagreeing, rigorously and in person, about the nature of reality.

Why the Solvay Conference Photo Still Matters for Publishers and Editors

A well-written paragraph can explain the uncertainty principle. A photograph of the room where it was argued into existence does something a paragraph cannot: it makes the history feel adjudicated by actual people, not abstracted into a diagram. That's why editors keep reaching for the Solvay photo across physics textbooks, science history retrospectives, museum wall text, and documentary title sequences — it is rigorous enough to withstand a caption written by a physicist and recognizable enough to function as a cultural reference on its own.

The complication is that nearly everyone is reaching for the identical black-and-white scan. When a single frame has appeared in a hundred prior publications, using it again reads as the default choice, not a deliberate one. An alternate treatment — or an alternate frame from the same event — is often the more defensible editorial decision, not merely the more decorative one.

Exclusive Hand-Colorized Solvay Conference Images from Science Source

Erwin Schrodinger, Austrian Physicist. © Science Source

Our hand-colorized version of the full Solvay group portrait is a genuine rarity in this market: true archival colorization requires research into period materials, lighting, and tone alongside real restoration skill, and few collections have invested in doing it well. Beyond the group image, we hold individual archival portraits of the conference's most notable attendees — several also available colorized. Together, these give a publisher the material to build a visual narrative around the conference rather than relying on the one image everyone has already seen.

License Solvay Conference Photos and Historical Science Images

We've assembled a gallery of notable Solvay attendees — individual portraits, colorized selections, and related illustrations — for browsing in one place.

Browse the full collection at sciencesource.com, or contact our licensing team directly — we're glad to help track down the exact image a project needs.

Hidradenitis Suppurativa: An Underdiagnosed Skin Condition That Needs Better Imagry

The Condition Nobody's Heard Of — And Why Publishers Need to Change That

It affects up to 4% of the population. It's more common than multiple sclerosis. It causes painful, recurring lesions in some of the most sensitive areas of the body, can burrow beneath the skin creating tunnels, and leaves lasting scars — yet most people have never heard its name. Hidradenitis suppurativa, mercifully shortened to HS, is arguably the most underrepresented chronic inflammatory skin disease in medical publishing relative to how many people actually live with it. It also goes by another name — acne inversa — not because it's related to acne, but because it appears in the inverse locations: the skin folds rather than the face. For publishers, educators, and pharmaceutical communicators working in health communications, the gap between HS's prevalence and its visibility in medical media represents both a challenge and a significant opportunity. Science Source has the licensable imagery to help close it.

Hidradenitis Suppurativa Gallery Intended for medical, educational, and publishing professionals; images depict significant disease progression.

What Is Hidradenitis Suppurativa?

HS is a chronic inflammatory condition affecting the apocrine glands — specialized sweat glands concentrated in the armpits, groin, under the breasts, and inner thighs. When these glands and their surrounding hair follicles become blocked and inflamed, the result is painful, recurring abscesses that can rupture, tunnel beneath the skin, and cause significant scarring over time.

It is not caused by poor hygiene — a persistent and deeply damaging misconception that contributes to the stigma patients carry along with the condition itself. HS is an immune-mediated disease, driven by an overactive inflammatory response rather than anything a patient did or didn't do.

Clinicians categorize HS using the Hurley staging system, which describes three progressive levels of severity:

Stages of hidradenitis suppurativa. © Monica Schroeder / Science Source

• Hurley Stage I — single or multiple abscesses without tunneling or significant scarring

• Hurley Stage II — multiple abscesses with the beginning of tunneling and scarring

• Hurley Stage III — extensive abscesses, advanced tunneling, and deep scarring across large areas of the body

That progression — from isolated lesions to a complex landscape of tunnels and scars — is one of the most important visual stories in dermatology, and one that demands more than a single image to tell.

HS in Context: The Most Underdiagnosed Condition in Dermatology

Despite its prevalence, patients with HS wait an average of seven to ten years for a correct diagnosis. In that time, they are frequently told they have recurring boils, infected ingrown hairs, or even sexually transmitted infections — misdiagnoses that delay treatment and compound the condition's psychological toll.

HS disproportionately affects women and people with darker skin tones, two groups historically underrepresented in dermatology photography and clinical research alike. The condition also carries an outsized psychosocial burden — chronic pain, wound care, scarring in intimate body areas, and persistent stigma around a condition many patients are too embarrassed to discuss with anyone, including their doctors.

Growing patient advocacy is beginning to shift that silence. Awareness campaigns, patient communities, and increasing media coverage are driving demand for model-released imagery that reflects who actually lives with HS — across genders, skin tones, and stages of disease. For medical publishers and medical affairs teams alike, that demand is both a responsibility and a market signal.

The pharmaceutical market for HS treatments was valued at $1.2 billion in 2024 and is projected to nearly double by 2033 — a growth curve that will generate sustained demand for pharmaceutical communications, promotional medical education, and continuing medical education resources, all of which require accurate, rights-managed imagery that picture researchers can license with confidence.

A Treatment Landscape Finally Catching Up

TNF Alpha molecule, illustration. © Molekuul / Science Source

For most of its documented history, HS was managed with antibiotics, retinoids, and surgery — approaches that helped manage symptoms but rarely resolved the underlying inflammatory process. The past decade has brought a fundamental shift in understanding, and with it, a new generation of targeted therapies.

The science begins with the immune system. In HS, the body's inflammatory response goes into overdrive, driven by specific proteins called cytokines that signal immune cells to attack. Two cytokines in particular — TNF-alpha and members of the interleukin-17 (IL-17) family — have emerged as central drivers of the chronic inflammation that causes HS lesions to form, persist, and recur.

Biologic therapies work by targeting these specific proteins directly. TNF-alpha inhibitors bind to and neutralize the TNF-alpha protein, interrupting the inflammatory signal before it can trigger a flare. IL-17 inhibitors work along a different but related pathway — blocking the IL-17 proteins that activate immune cells, recruit neutrophils, and drive the cascade of inflammation that leads to abscess formation and tunneling. Some of the most recent biologics target both IL-17A and IL-17F simultaneously, blocking the inflammatory signal at two points in the pathway rather than one.

For patients who don't respond to biologics, a newer class of oral medications — JAK inhibitors — offers an alternative approach, interrupting inflammatory signaling at an earlier stage within the immune cell itself. Each of these mechanisms has a distinct visual story — from molecular pathway diagrams and immune cascade illustrations to clinical photography documenting treatment response — and pharma marketing and medical journal publishers increasingly need imagery that explains not just what these treatments do, but how they work at the cellular level.

Why Accurate HS Imagery Is So Hard to Find — And So Important

HS presents unique challenges for publishers and picture researchers that go beyond the clinical complexity of the condition itself.

Hidradenitis suppurativa on the left submammary fold. © PDC / Science Source

The condition affects intimate body areas, which means photography requires careful patient recruitment, significant sensitivity, and clinical expertise that most generalist photographers simply don't have. Stigma compounds the problem — patients who have spent years being misdiagnosed are understandably reluctant to participate in medical photography projects.

The result is a chronic shortage of quality HS imagery in most stock libraries, at precisely the moment when demand is accelerating. Publishers covering the new wave of biologic approvals, patient advocacy organizations producing awareness campaigns, and pharmaceutical companies developing educational materials for healthcare providers are all searching for imagery that most agencies cannot supply.

Staging matters enormously. Hurley Stage I looks nothing like Hurley Stage III, and publishers need the full spectrum. Skin tone representation is particularly critical, given the condition's disproportionate impact on people with darker skin. And medical illustration is essential alongside photography — staging diagrams, anatomical cross-sections showing tunneling beneath the skin, body location maps, and immune pathway illustrations are all in active demand for clinical and pharmaceutical publishing.

What Science Source Brings to the Table

Science Source has built one of the most comprehensive HS collections available for licensing — developed specifically to serve the needs of picture researchers and publishers working in a space where accurate imagery is scarce and the stakes are high.

The collection includes rights-managed clinical photography across Hurley stages and body locations, including model-released images of underarm, breast, and groin presentations. Medical illustrations document the three progressive stages of the condition with clinical accuracy, including cutaway diagrams showing the tunneling beneath the skin that defines more advanced disease. Body silhouette illustrations map affected areas clearly — ideal for patient education materials, health communications campaigns, and pharmaceutical communications that need to convey complex information accessibly.

Skin tone diversity is represented across the collection, reflecting the real patient population that lives with this condition and the publishing industry's growing commitment to inclusive medical imagery.

Whether you are producing a pharma marketing campaign, a promotional medical education module, a clinical dermatology journal feature, or a continuing medical education resource, Science Source has the depth, the range, and the scientific accuracy to support that work.

Hidradenitis Suppurativa Gallery Intended for medical, educational, and publishing professionals; images depict significant disease progression.

Questions? Our picture research team is here to help. Contact us

COVID-19 and Cardiovascular Risk

Conventional wisdom holds that COVID-19 is a respiratory disease — a virus that colonizes the lungs and, for most patients, stays there. The epidemiological picture emerging several years into the pandemic complicates that view considerably. A substantial and expanding body of population-level research now links SARS-CoV-2 infection to elevated cardiovascular risk: heart attack, stroke, and related vascular events. Persisting well beyond the acute phase of illness. The mechanism, as it turns out, begins not in the lungs but at a single cell-surface receptor.

View our featured gallery: COVID-19 and Cardiovascular Disease →

It Starts With a Receptor, Not the Lungs

The link between SARS-CoV-2 and cardiovascular pathology begins with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a protein expressed on the surface of cells throughout the body, where it normally helps regulate blood pressure. ACE2 also happens to be the virus's entry point: the spike protein binds to it with notable specificity, in essentially a lock-and-key fashion.

The lungs draw the most clinical attention because alveolar cells are especially rich in ACE2 and tend to be where infection first becomes symptomatic. But ACE2 is expressed just as prominently on the endothelial cells lining blood vessels throughout the circulatory system — which is precisely what reframes this from a purely respiratory illness into a systemic vascular one.

Artery fully blocked, atherosclerosis, scanning electron micrograph. © NYPL / Science Source

A small etymological aside, for anyone who appreciates one: "corona" is Latin for crown, a reference to the ring of spike proteins studding the viral envelope, which under electron microscopy genuinely does resemble a coronet. A fitting name, given how much of the pathology traces back to that structure.

What Happens to Blood Vessels During Infection

Blood vessels are lined by a single layer of cells, the endothelium, which is, remarkably, thinner than a sheet of paper yet performs an outsized physiological role: keeping blood flowing smoothly, regulating clotting, and controlling what passes into surrounding tissue.

When SARS-CoV-2 infects or provokes inflammation in endothelial cells, the resulting condition, endothelial dysfunction, alters vessel behavior in several consequential ways:

• Increased endothelial "stickiness," raising the likelihood of platelets and clotting factors adhering to vessel walls

• A broader systemic inflammatory response, which further irritates vascular tissue

• Disruption of the normal balance between clot formation and clot breakdown

None of this occurs in isolation. It's the underlying reason COVID-19 has been associated with elevated rates of clotting events — not only during acute infection, but for months afterward.

Who's Most at Risk?

Transient ischemic attack (TIA). © Sue Seif / Science Source

Cardiovascular risk following COVID-19 isn't uniformly distributed across a population. Several well-established factors appear to compound it, and readers with any familiarity with cardiovascular health will recognize most of them immediately:

• Age: older adults carry elevated risk both during acute infection and in its aftermath.

• Obesity: independently associated with more severe COVID-19 illness and, separately, with cardiovascular risk generally.

• Diabetes: a known contributor to vascular damage on its own, which appears to compound COVID-related vascular stress rather than merely coexist with it.

• Hypertension: among the most frequently observed comorbidities in COVID patients who go on to experience cardiac or cerebrovascular events.

• Pre-existing cardiovascular disease: a prior heart attack, stroke, or diagnosed cardiac condition raises baseline risk considerably.

• Smoking: a well-documented contributor to endothelial damage that appears to layer onto, rather than operate independently of, COVID-related vascular effects.

None of these risk factors are unique to COVID-19; they're the same variables that appear in cardiovascular health conversations more broadly. What's notable is how consistently they recur across COVID-cardiovascular research specifically — suggesting the virus may be amplifying existing vulnerabilities rather than introducing an entirely new risk pathway.

Stroke, Heart Attack, and the Long Tail of "Long COVID"

The cardiovascular effects of COVID-19 show up in more than one form, and across more than one timeline.

Myocardial infarction: partial destruction of the heart muscle, due stenosis, angiography. © James Cavallini / Science Source

Ischemic stroke — the result of a blood clot obstructing blood flow to the brain — is the subtype most consistently associated with COVID-19, consistent with the virus's broader tendency to promote clotting. Stroke medicine has a well-known saying, "time is brain," reflecting how quickly neural tissue is affected once blood flow is interrupted — part of why any stroke symptoms warrant immediate emergency evaluation.

Cardiac involvement extends well beyond stroke:

• Heart attack (myocardial infarction): resulting from blocked coronary blood flow, via the same clotting mechanism implicated in ischemic stroke.

• Myocarditis: inflammation of the heart muscle, reported at elevated rates following SARS-CoV-2 infection.

• Arrhythmia: irregular heartbeat, another effect linked to post-COVID inflammatory processes.

• Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism: clotting conditions affecting the legs and lungs, respectively, both consistent with COVID-19's broader effect on clotting.

Timing is a meaningful variable here. Some events occur during or shortly after acute infection, while hospitalized patients are already under close monitoring. Others manifest considerably later, often discussed under the "long COVID" umbrella, underscoring that cardiovascular risk isn't confined to the acute or most severe phase of illness.

A Story Best Told With the Right Imagery

None of this is visible to the unaided eye: a spike protein engaging a receptor, an inflamed vessel wall, a clot forming inside an artery. That's where strong imagery does what prose can't.

Our collection covers this topic in full: micrographs of clots and damaged endothelium, precise illustrations of stroke and heart attack, and diagnostic imaging of real clinical presentations, all backed by accurate metadata. With more than sixty years sourcing and vetting science and medical imagery, we're also glad to help track down exactly what a piece needs — free of charge, as part of the research support we offer every client.

Browse our COVID-19 and Cardiovascular Disease gallery →

Chemistry Experiment Images That Teach Science Well

Here's something chemistry teachers have known for decades: students remember the day something caught fire. Not the equation on the board, but the magnesium ribbon burning with an intense white light. Not the definition of surface tension, but the paper clip somehow floating on water.

Chemistry is one of the few sciences that can consistently get an audible reaction from an audience. Yet it's also one of the sciences most often illustrated with generic lab photos—a gloved hand holding a flask, a beaker of brightly colored liquid, or a periodic table hanging on the wall. For publishers, that disconnect is a real challenge. The right image doesn't just fill space on a page; it helps explain the science.

Gallery of Stock Chemistry Experiment Images

At Science Source, we've built our collection of chemistry experiments with that goal in mind. A well-chosen photograph can do more than illustrate a reaction—it can help readers understand the underlying principle. In this article, we'll look at some of our most-licensed chemistry experiment images, what makes them effective, and why publishers, educators, and science communicators continue to rely on them.

Classic Chemistry Experiment Photography: Reactions That Teach

Nitrogen triiodide detonating (4 of 4) as a balloon is dropped onto it. © SPL / Science Source

Certain chemistry demonstrations have been classroom favorites for generations because they make invisible chemical principles easy to see. Our high-speed photography captures these reactions in ways that standard lab photography cannot, freezing the split-second moments that help explain what's actually happening. Some of our most frequently licensed images in this category include:

• Rubidium reacting with water: isolates the ignition moment that makes alkali metals react dramatically, illustrating ionization energy.

• Nitrogen triiodide explosion: one of the most contact-sensitive reactions in chemistry, captured at high speed.

• Magnesium ribbon burning: the brilliant white flame of combustion, a classroom classic.

• Hydrogen balloon exploding: used extensively to illustrate combustion, gas properties, and energy release.

Even simple demonstrations have strong educational value. Reactions such as lemon juice and baking soda, beet juice or red cabbage pH indicators, and the classic vinegar and baking soda experiment are staples of introductory chemistry because they clearly illustrate fundamental concepts. We photograph these experiments with the same attention to scientific accuracy as our more dramatic reaction photography. The color changes are genuine, the reactions are authentic, and the images accurately represent the chemistry taking place.

Crystal Formation, Precipitation, and the Visual Side of Chemistry

Some of our most-licensed chemistry images aren't dramatic reactions at all. Instead, they reveal the structure and behavior of matter in ways that are both scientifically informative and visually striking. For art directors, these images work equally well as compelling visuals and as accurate scientific illustrations.

• Precipitation of lead iodide — a sudden yellow cloud forming as two clear solutions meet. As close to visual poetry as chemistry gets.

• Crystal growth in a supersaturated solution — the geometry of matter organizing itself in real time.

• Iodine crystals sublimating — solid to vapor, with no liquid phase, captured as a still.

• Dispersion of white light — the spectrum emerging from a prism, accurate in its wavelength rendering.

• Food coloring diffusing in water — slow, deliberate, and deeply useful for illustrating diffusion and entropy.

One of the best examples is our surface tension series, including the classic paper clip floating on water and step-by-step photographs of the experiment. It illustrates a concept that seems to defy common sense, using real photography rather than a diagram to show what's happening.

Everyday Chemistry Experiments: Stock Images for Introductory Publishing

Not every chemistry image a publisher needs features bubbling beakers or colorful reactions. Much of our collection focuses on chemistry in everyday life—the science behind familiar materials, foods, household products, and common phenomena. These images are especially useful for introductory textbooks, science journalism, and general-interest publications that want to make chemistry relatable while remaining scientifically accurate.

Denaturation of Protein, Egg Cooking. © Science Source

• Denaturation of protein through egg cooking — a legitimate biochemistry demonstration in a domestic setting.

• Boyle's Law with marshmallows in a vacuum — a real experimental demonstration of gas behavior under pressure, not a simplification.

• Viscosity comparison between liquids — clean, comparative, and immediately useful for physical chemistry contexts.

• Potato battery — electrochemistry made tangible for younger audiences or introductory publishing.

• Food science experiment — bridges chemistry and biology for nutrition, health, and consumer science publishers.

Our historical chemistry collection serves a different purpose. Images such as 18th-century engravings of Henry Cavendish's experiments on "factitious air" and illustrations from the 1856 Chemistry of Combustion and Illumination help publishers place modern chemistry in its historical context. They are frequently used in textbooks and articles covering the development of the scientific method, the history of chemistry, and the transition from alchemy to modern chemical science.

Why Scientific Accuracy in Chemistry Stock Photography Matters

Conductivity. Demonstration of the electrical conductivity of potassium chloride (KCl) solution. © Charles D. Winters / Science Source

Chemistry is one of the disciplines where an inaccurate image can do more than weaken a page—it can mislead the reader. Publishers, educators, and science communicators need visuals that accurately represent the science, not just the look of a laboratory. That means paying attention to details such as:

• The color of a flame test, which identifies the element being tested.

• The stage of a reaction being photographed, since timing can affect what the image represents.

• Laboratory apparatus that reflects an actual experimental setup rather than a stylized prop.

• Current and correctly assigned chemical hazard pictograms.

Our photographs of Hoffman's apparatus are among our most frequently licensed chemistry images because they accurately depict electrolysis for textbooks, digital learning platforms, and reference publications. The same is true of our series of chemical equilibrium experiments and our hazard pictogram imagery, including potassium dichromate and nickel nitrate.

For picture researchers and art directors, the question isn't simply, "Does this look like chemistry?" It's, "Does it represent the chemistry correctly?" That's where scientifically accurate image collections make a difference.

License Scientifically Accurate Chemistry Images

Many classic chemistry demonstrations remain popular because they clearly illustrate fundamental scientific principles. The iodine clock reaction, for example, is widely used to demonstrate chemical kinetics. After a predictable delay, the solution suddenly turns deep blue, providing a memorable visual example of how reaction rates can be controlled and measured.

The same philosophy guides our chemistry collection. Whether documenting a dramatic reaction, a simple classroom experiment, or historical laboratory equipment, our goal is to provide images that are both visually engaging and scientifically accurate. The collection is used by textbook publishers, educational media, science journalists, and corporate communicators who need chemistry imagery they can trust.

If you're developing a chemistry textbook, educational resource, article, or digital learning platform, we'd be happy to help you find the right images for your project.

Browse Science Stock Image Galleries

Eczema: The Itch That Rewrites Daily Life and the Images That Tell Its Story

If you've ever watched a baby scratch relentlessly at their own skin, or seen an adult with raw, cracked hands try to explain why they can't simply "stop itching," you already understand something essential about eczema: it is far more disruptive than it looks, and it looks different on everyone. Formally known as atopic dermatitis, eczema affects an estimated 230 million people worldwide — making it one of the most prevalent chronic skin conditions on the planet. And yet, for all its reach, it remains one of the most visually underserved topics in medical publishing. That gap is closing fast, and the demand for accurate, diverse, clinically credible imagery has never been greater.

Eczema — Atopic Dermatitis Stock Images

What Is Eczema? The Short Version

• Chronic inflammatory skin condition characterized by dry, itchy, inflamed skin that flares and remits over time

• Not contagious, caused by a combination of genetic, immune, and environmental factors that compromise the skin's barrier function

• Approximately 50% of cases begin during the first year of life and 85% by age five, but it can develop or persist at any age, including in older adults

• Affects all skin tones, ages, and body types, but presents very differently depending on skin tone, age, and body location

• Common presentation sites include the inner elbows, backs of knees, hands, face, neck, and scalp, though it can appear anywhere

• Part of the "atopic triad": eczema frequently occurs alongside asthma and allergic rhinitis, reflecting its systemic immune roots

• Symptoms range from mild dryness and irritation to severe, widespread inflammation that disrupts sleep, work, and quality of life

Eczema in Context: Who Gets It and Why It's Undercovered

Eczema on the neck of an 89 year old female patient. © Dr. P. Marazzi / Science Source

• Prevalence rates in the US are estimated at 8% to 18% in children and up to 10% in adults, making it one of the most common conditions a medical publisher will ever need to illustrate

• Disproportionately affects urban populations and higher-income countries, though the reasons remain an active area of research

• Despite its prevalence, eczema has been chronically underrepresented in medical imagery, particularly in children and across diverse skin tones

• On darker skin, eczema may appear brown, violet, or gray rather than the classic red, and lichenification (skin thickening from chronic scratching) can be more pronounced, distinctions that are clinically meaningful and visually distinct

• Significant stigma around visible skin conditions, combined with the particular sensitivity around photographing infants and children, has historically made quality eczema photography scarce

• Growing patient advocacy and regulatory pressure for diverse representation in medical education are driving urgent demand for imagery that reflects real patient populations

A Treatment Revolution — Still in Progress

Eczema on a three-year-old girl's legs. © Dr P. Marazzi / Science Source

Eczema was once managed almost exclusively with moisturizers, topical corticosteroids, and broad immunosuppressants that had significant long-term side effects. The past decade has brought a remarkable transformation:

• Dupilumab (approved 2017) — the first biologic approved for atopic dermatitis, targeting the IL-4 and IL-13 pathways, it changed the standard of care for moderate to severe disease and opened the door to a new era of targeted therapy

• Lebrikizumab (approved 2024) — an IL-13 inhibitor with a monthly maintenance dosing schedule after an initial loading phase, making it the most convenient long-term biologic option currently available

• Nemolizumab (approved December 2024) — the first biologic to specifically target IL-31, the key cytokine responsible for the intense itching that is often more debilitating than the visible rash itself

• JAK inhibitors — oral and topical options (abrocitinib, upadacitinib, ruxolitinib) providing additional pathways for patients who don't respond to biologics

• Ongoing clinical trials continue to identify new immune targets, making atopic dermatitis one of the most active areas in all of dermatology publishing

Each new approval generates a fresh wave of pharmaceutical communications, patient education materials, continuing medical education content, and journal coverage — all of which require current, accurate, licensable imagery.

Why Accurate Eczema Imagery Matters for Publishers

Atopic dermatitis on the back of a black male patient. © Richard Usatine Md / Science Source

Eczema is deceptively difficult to illustrate well. The condition is highly variable and deeply personal, carrying an emotional weight that generic imagery consistently fails to capture.

Childhood Eczema Gallery

• Age range is critical: eczema in infants looks nothing like eczema in adults, and pediatric imagery requires particular care around model releases and sensitivity

• Skin tone diversity is non-negotiable: the clinical presentation differs significantly across skin tones, and educational materials that show only one presentation do a disservice to patients and clinicians alike

• Body location matters: inner elbows and knees are the classic teaching images, but hands, face, scalp, and eyelids are all common sites with distinct visual and editorial needs

• Severity spectrum: mild, moderate, and severe presentations serve entirely different publishing contexts, from consumer health magazines to clinical dermatology journals to pharmaceutical approval submissions

• The itch is invisible: medical illustration plays an essential role in explaining the immune cascade, skin barrier dysfunction, and nerve pathway involvement that drives the itch-scratch cycle; photography alone cannot tell this story

• Complications require their own imagery: eczema herpeticum (a serious viral complication), infected eczema, and contact dermatitis overlapping with atopic dermatitis all represent distinct clinical scenarios with real publishing demand

What Science Source Brings to the Table

Science Source offers one of the most extensive eczema and atopic dermatitis collections available for licensing, built specifically to serve the needs of medical publishers, pharmaceutical communicators, and healthcare educators.

• Clinical photography spanning infants, children, and adults — including model-released images across a range of ages, skin tones, and body locations

• Images documenting mild through severe presentations, including eczema herpeticum and other complications

• Diverse skin tone representation, including clinical photography on darker skin tones where the condition's presentation differs meaningfully from textbook imagery

• Medical illustrations explaining skin barrier dysfunction, immune pathway involvement, and the mechanisms targeted by modern biologic therapies

• A knowledgeable picture research team is available to help you find exactly what your project needs. No obligation

Severe Eczema Clinical Gallery

(Intended for medical, educational, and publishing professionals; images depict significant disease progression)

Whether you're producing a patient education brochure, a pharmaceutical campaign for a new biologic, a pediatric dermatology textbook, or a continuing medical education module, the visual demands of covering eczema are specific, and the stakes for accurate representation are high. Science Source has the depth, the diversity, and the scientific credibility to support that work at every level.

Questions? Our team is here to help. Contact us

A Comprehensive Resource for Psoriasis Visuals

For more than 2,500 years, physicians have been trying to understand psoriasis. Ancient Egyptian medical texts described skin conditions that may have been psoriasis. Greek physicians later gave the disease its name, derived from psora, meaning itch. For centuries, psoriasis was confused with other skin disorders, including leprosy, reflecting just how little was known about the condition.

Today, psoriasis is recognized as a chronic immune mediated disease that affects an estimated 125 million people worldwide. Yet despite its prevalence, psoriasis remains widely misunderstood. It is often dismissed as a cosmetic issue when, in reality, it can affect multiple body systems, impact mental health, and significantly reduce quality of life.

As awareness grows and treatment options continue to expand, publishers, healthcare communicators, educators, and pharmaceutical companies need visual content that accurately reflects the many faces of psoriasis. A single image cannot tell the whole story.

What Is Psoriasis?

Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes the immune system to mistakenly accelerate skin cell production. Instead of shedding and renewing over the course of several weeks, skin cells accumulate in just a few days, creating thickened areas of inflamed skin known as plaques.

The condition is not contagious and can affect people of all ages, genders, and ethnic backgrounds.

There are five major forms of psoriasis, each with a distinct appearance:

• Plaque psoriasis: The most common form, characterized by raised, scaly patches that often appear on the elbows, knees, scalp, and lower back.

• Guttate psoriasis: Small, drop shaped lesions that frequently develop after infections such as strep throat.

• Inverse psoriasis: Smooth, inflamed patches found in skin folds, including the underarms and groin.

• Pustular psoriasis: White pustules surrounded by reddened skin.

• Erythrodermic psoriasis: A rare but serious form that can affect large areas of the body and may require urgent medical care.

Psoriasis typically follows a cycle of flare ups and periods of remission. Symptoms may improve for months or even years before returning.

The disease also extends beyond the skin. Up to 30 percent of people with psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis, an inflammatory joint condition that can cause pain, stiffness, swelling, and long term joint damage. For many patients, psoriasis is a systemic disease rather than simply a skin disorder.

Psoriasis Clinical Photography and Medical Illustration

Psoriasis in Context: Who Gets It and Why It’s Undercovered

Psoriatic arthritis affects far more than the skin. This illustration shows characteristic symptoms, including joint inflammation, nail changes, and dactylitis — the distinctive finger and toe swelling that signals the disease has moved beyond the surface symptoms. © Evan Oto / Science Source

Psoriasis affects an estimated 125 million people worldwide, including about 8 million people in the United States. While it can develop at any age, it is most often diagnosed during two peak periods, in a person’s 20s and again in their 50s.

Despite its prevalence, psoriasis has historically been underrepresented in medical media and educational imagery. Stigma surrounding visible skin conditions can make patients less likely to participate in photography and awareness campaigns. Dermatology photography has also long lacked representation across diverse skin tones, even though psoriasis may appear quite differently on darker skin, often presenting as violet, gray, or brown rather than red.

As publishers, healthcare organizations, and advocacy groups work to address these gaps, demand is growing for more accurate, inclusive, and compassionate visual representation. Better imagery not only reflects the diversity of patients living with psoriasis, it also supports improved education, awareness, and diagnosis.

A New Era of Psoriasis Treatment

The treatment landscape for psoriasis has changed dramatically over the past two decades.

Traditional therapies such as topical corticosteroids, moisturizers, phototherapy, and systemic medications continue to play important roles in treatment. However, advances in immunology have transformed care for many patients with moderate to severe disease.

Biologic therapies have been particularly significant. These injectable medications target specific components of the immune system, including TNF alpha, IL 17, and IL 23 pathways. By focusing on precise immune mechanisms, biologics can dramatically reduce symptoms while improving long term disease management.

Newer oral medications, including JAK inhibitors and other targeted therapies, are providing additional options for patients, especially those with psoriatic arthritis.

For healthcare communicators, this rapid pace of innovation creates a constant need for current, scientifically accurate visual content.

Why Accurate Psoriasis Imagery Matters

Psoriasis presents unique challenges for publishers because there is no single image that represents the condition.

A patient education brochure, a dermatology textbook, a pharmaceutical marketing campaign, and a clinical journal article may all require very different visual approaches.

Skin Tone Representation

Psoriasis on the ankles of an adult patient. On deeper skin tones, psoriasis may appear violet or brown rather than red — a distinction that makes diverse clinical photography essential for accurate medical education. © SPL / Science Source

Psoriasis can appear differently depending on skin tone. While inflammation often appears red on lighter skin, it may appear violet, gray, brown, or darker than the surrounding skin in people with more melanin. Diverse clinical photography helps ensure that educational materials accurately reflect real patient populations.

Disease Severity

The visual appearance of mild psoriasis differs dramatically from severe disease. Publishers often need imagery spanning a broad spectrum of presentations, from localized plaques to extensive body involvement.

Body Location

Psoriasis affects many areas of the body, including the scalp, nails, hands, feet, face, and skin folds. Different locations create different visual and educational needs.

Psoriatic Arthritis

As awareness grows regarding the systemic nature of psoriasis, demand is increasing for imagery that illustrates joint involvement. Clinical photographs, diagnostic imaging, and anatomical illustrations help tell a more complete story of the disease.

Psoriatic Arthritis Photography and Medical Illustrations

Medical Illustration

Photography alone cannot explain the complex immune processes underlying psoriasis. Medical illustrations remain essential for textbooks, patient education materials, pharmaceutical communications, and scientific publications. Cross sections of skin, immune pathway diagrams, and treatment mechanism illustrations help make complex concepts accessible.

Historical Context

For academic publishing, long form journalism, and documentary projects, historical medical illustrations and archival photography provide valuable context. These materials help trace how understanding and treatment of psoriasis have evolved over time.

A Comprehensive Resource for Psoriasis Visuals

Science Source offers a broad collection of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis imagery for healthcare, educational, and publishing projects. The collection includes clinical photography across a range of disease severities, body locations, skin tones, and patient demographics, along with diagnostic imaging, medical illustrations, and historical artwork. From patient education materials and clinical journals to pharmaceutical communications and medical textbooks, these visuals help accurately represent the many ways psoriasis affects the body. Science Source provides the depth, diversity, and scientific accuracy needed to tell a more complete story of this complex disease.

Severe Psoriasis: Clinical Image Gallery — These images are intended for medical, educational, and publishing use and depict significant disease progression

Visualizing Fragile X Syndrome

Under the microscope, it appears as a thread on the verge of breaking. A narrow constriction near the tip of the X chromosome's long arm. This distinctive chromosomal feature, known as a "fragile site," gave Fragile X syndrome its name and provided one of the earliest visual clues to a disorder that would transform our understanding of genetics, neurodevelopment, and inherited intellectual disability.

Today, Fragile X syndrome remains the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability and one of the most common known single gene causes of autism spectrum disorder. While diagnosis has moved from the cytogenetics laboratory to molecular genetic testing, visual representations of the disorder continue to play a vital role in medical education, scientific publishing, and patient communication.

What Is Fragile X Syndrome?

Fragile X syndrome is an X-linked genetic disorder caused by an expansion of CGG trinucleotide repeats within the FMR1 (Fragile X Messenger Ribonucleoprotein 1) gene on the X chromosome. In unaffected individuals, the gene typically contains fewer than 45 CGG repeats. When the repeat expansion exceeds approximately 200 copies, a full mutation, the gene becomes hypermethylated and transcriptionally silenced.

The loss of FMR1 expression results in a deficiency of fragile X messenger ribonucleoprotein (FMRP), an RNA-binding protein essential for synaptic development, neuronal plasticity, and normal cognitive function. Without sufficient FMRP, neural circuits develop differently, contributing to the cognitive, behavioral, and developmental features associated with the condition.

Fragile X syndrome affects an estimated 1 in 4,000–7,000 males and approximately 1 in 6,000–11,000 females worldwide. Because males possess only one X chromosome, they are generally more severely affected, whereas females often exhibit a broader range of clinical outcomes due to X-chromosome inactivation.

Gallery of Fragile X Syndrome visuals available for licensing.

The Challenge of Visualizing a Variable Disorder

Fragile X syndrome presents with remarkable clinical variability. Some individuals experience mild learning disabilities, while others have significant intellectual impairment, developmental delays, autism spectrum features, anxiety, attention deficits, sensory sensitivities, or social communication challenges.

Medical literature frequently describes characteristic physical findings, including an elongated face, prominent ears, a high-arched palate, and, after puberty in males, macroorchidism. Yet no single photograph can fully represent the diversity of people living with Fragile X syndrome.

Fragile X Phenotype

A medical illustration describing common physical and cognitive traits. © Monica Schroeder / Science Source

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This variability highlights the importance of scientifically accurate medical illustrations, infographics, and educational graphics. Well-designed visuals can communicate core clinical and genetic concepts without implying that every individual shares the same appearance or experiences the same symptoms.

From Cytogenetics to Molecular Genetics

The syndrome's name originates from a striking cytogenetic observation. When cells were cultured under specific laboratory conditions, researchers observed a constriction or apparent break at Xq27.3, the chromosomal location of the FMR1 gene. For many years, identifying this fragile site was an important diagnostic technique.

Today, molecular testing has largely replaced cytogenetic methods. DNA based assays can determine CGG repeat number, identify methylation patterns, and distinguish between normal, intermediate, premutation, and full-mutation alleles with far greater accuracy.

As diagnostic technologies have evolved, so too have the images used to explain the disorder. Contemporary educational materials increasingly rely on molecular diagrams, chromosome illustrations, gene maps, repeat-expansion graphics, and pathway based visualizations that help readers understand the underlying biology.

Why High-Quality Fragile X Visuals Matter

Chromsome Map

An illustration showing the location of the FMR1 gene on a human chromosome. © Monica Schroeder / Science Source

More Information

For publishers, educators, and healthcare communicators, Fragile X syndrome presents a unique visual challenge: conveying complex genetic mechanisms while accurately representing a highly variable human condition.

Medical textbooks require imagery that reflects current scientific understanding. Continuing education materials benefit from graphics that clarify inheritance patterns and molecular mechanisms. Genetic counseling resources rely on visuals that make abstract genomic concepts more accessible to patients and families.

The most effective imagery does more than illustrate a diagnosis. It provides context, communicates scientific accuracy, and supports learning without oversimplification or sensationalism.

Sourcing Scientifically Accurate Fragile X Syndrome Imagery

When selecting visual content, accuracy should extend beyond aesthetics. Chromosomal diagrams should correctly identify the FMR1 locus at Xq27.3. Molecular illustrations should accurately depict CGG repeat expansion and gene silencing. Clinical imagery should be accompanied by an appropriate context that reflects the condition's broad phenotypic spectrum.

For scientific publishers, healthcare organizations, and educational institutions, the professionally curated stock imagery at Science Source offers an efficient alternative to unverified online sources. Carefully reviewed medical illustrations, infographics, and research-based visual assets help ensure consistency, accuracy, and compliance with publication standards.

As our understanding of Fragile X syndrome continues to evolve, the need for precise, evidence-based visual communication grows alongside it. Whether illustrating a chromosome, a molecular pathway, or the lived experience of affected individuals, high-quality imagery remains an essential tool for translating complex genetics into meaningful understanding.

Grace Hopper and the First Computer Bug: A Legendary Legacy

Did you know that the first instance of “debugging” a computer involved an actual insect? In 1947, engineers working on the Mark II computer at Harvard University discovered a moth trapped in a relay, causing a malfunction. Grace Hopper, a pioneering computer scientist, recorded the incident in the logbook—coining the now-famous term “debugging.” Ever since, “debugging” has become a standard part of computer science vocabulary.

Grace Hopper, affectionately known as “Amazing Grace,” achieved numerous milestones in computer science. She was the first to use a compiler to translate English into computer code, making programming more accessible. Hopper invented COBOL, one of the first and most influential programming languages still in use today, and she played a key role in developing the UNIVAC—the first commercially produced computer designed for business and data processing.

Gallery of Grace Hopper Images

Hopper’s academic journey was equally impressive. She earned her Ph.D. in mathematics and mathematical physics from Yale University and taught at Vassar College. During World War II, she sought to join the WAVES, the women’s branch of the U.S. Naval Reserve. Though her mathematical talents were deemed too valuable for typical service, she was granted a special commission and assigned to the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard as a lieutenant, junior grade.

Grace Hopper’s distinguished career continued for decades. She finally retired at the age of 79 as a Rear Admiral, making her the oldest active-duty officer in the U.S. Navy at the time. Her groundbreaking work was recognized with many honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

From the first computer “bug” to revolutionizing how we communicate with machines, Grace Hopper’s legacy continues to inspire generations of scientists, engineers, and innovators.

ScienceSource.com is here to provide you with the visual resources you need for your science communication. Whether it’s historical or cutting-edge, we’re here for you.

CAR T-Cell Therapy: Engineering the Immune System to Fight Cancer

What if your own immune cells could be trained to recognize and destroy cancer?

This is no longer a futuristic idea—it’s happening right now.

In 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved CAR T-cell therapy, a groundbreaking treatment often described as a “living drug.” Since then, more than 35,000 patients have received it, offering new hope where traditional therapies have failed.

GALLERY OF CAR T-CELL THERAPY IMAGES

How It Works

Diagram of the (CAR) T-cell Therapy Process

A diagrammatic illustration of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. The process begins with the extraction of blood from the patient. Through leukapheresis, T-cells are isolated. © Monica Schroeder / Science Source

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CAR T-cell therapy harnesses the power of your immune system in a highly personalized way:

First, doctors collect a blood sample and isolate T-cells—white blood cells that play a central role in immune defense. In the lab, these cells are genetically modified to produce Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CARs), which allow them to recognize specific cancer cells.

Once reprogrammed, the cells are multiplied and infused back into the patient’s body. From there, they actively seek out and destroy cancer cells with precision.

A Targeted Approach

A cancer patient's own blood is drawn, modified in a lab, and returned weeks later as a living treatment. It sounds like something out of a near-future film. It's actually standard practice at cancer centers around the world, and it's been since 2017, when the FDA approved the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, tisagenlecleucel, for a form of pediatric leukemia.

Today there are seven FDA-approved CAR T-cell therapies on the market, covering several types of leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. For publishers covering oncology, immunology, or biotechnology, it's one of the more visually compelling stories in modern medicine — and one that depends heavily on good imagery to explain, since the mechanism is almost entirely invisible to the naked eye.

What CAR T-Cell Therapy Actually Does

The "CAR" in CAR T-cell therapy stands for chimeric antigen receptor — chimeric meaning made of parts from different sources, much like the mythological chimera that lent the term its name. That's a fitting description, because the receptor itself is an engineered hybrid: part antibody, part T-cell signaling machinery, stitched together to give an ordinary immune cell a new and very specific job.

The process starts with leukapheresis, a procedure that filters T-cells out of a patient's blood. Those T-cells are sent to a lab, where a disarmed virus is used to insert the gene for the CAR into the cell's DNA. The receptor that results is built to recognize a particular protein on the surface of cancer cells — CD19 on many leukemias and lymphomas, BCMA on multiple myeloma. Once the modified cells are grown into the millions and infused back into the patient, they circulate through the body, latch onto cancer cells displaying that target protein, and trigger their destruction.

It's worth noting how different this is from chemotherapy, which works by killing rapidly dividing cells broadly, healthy and cancerous alike. CAR T-cells are trained for one target. That precision is the whole point, and it's also why the therapy is often called a "living drug" — it isn't a compound that clears the body in hours, but a population of cells that can persist and keep working for years.

A Surprisingly Durable Effect

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy.

Engineered receptor (light blue) on the surface of a T-lymphocyte bind specifically to CD19-antigen molecules (red) on a leukemia cell. © Juan Gaertner / Science Source

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One of the more striking findings to come out of long-term CAR T-cell follow-up studies is just how durable remission can be. Patients in some of the earliest trials, treated more than a decade ago, still have detectable CAR T-cells circulating in their blood and remain cancer-free. That kind of staying power was not a given — many immune therapies fade over time as the engineered cells die off or the body clears them.

Researchers are still working out why some patients respond this way and others don't, which has made CAR T-cell biology one of the more active corners of cancer research. It also explains why this therapy, originally developed for blood cancers, is now being tested far beyond them — in early trials for solid tumors such as glioblastoma and pancreatic cancer, and even in autoimmune diseases like lupus, where the same "seek and destroy" logic is being redirected at malfunctioning immune cells rather than cancer cells.

Why This Story Is Hard to Tell Without the Right Images

CAR T-cell therapy is a genuinely difficult subject to illustrate. There's no tumor to photograph shrinking on a scan, no visible wound, no obvious before-and-after. The actual event being described — a re-engineered T-cell recognizing and binding to a cancer cell — happens at a scale measured in microns. For editors and writers working on this topic, that creates a real gap between the science and what a reader can see.

T-cells Surrounding an Apoptotic Hela Cervical Cancer Cell.

Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of T-cells (small round) and an apoptotic cervical cancer cell (HeLa). T-cells are a component of the body's immune system. © Steve Gschmeissner / Science Source

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This is where electron micrographs and medical illustration do work that prose alone can't. A scanning electron micrograph showing a T-cell physically attached to a cancer cell makes the abstract idea of "targeted immune attack" concrete in a way no diagram of arrows and labels really can. A well-rendered 3D illustration of the receptor itself helps readers understand that a CAR isn't a drug in the traditional sense, but a piece of engineered molecular architecture sitting on the surface of a living cell.

Because this is a fast-moving field — new approvals, new targets, expansion into solid tumors and autoimmune disease — publishers also need imagery that won't read as dated or oversimplified next to the current science. Generic "cells under a microscope" stock photography tends to flatten a nuanced mechanism into something generic. Accurate labeling, correct cell morphology, and captions that reflect current terminology matter more here than in most science topics, simply because so few readers (or writers) have a strong mental picture of what a T-cell or a chimeric receptor actually looks like to begin with.

A Field Still Being Written

CAR T-cell therapy isn't a finished story. New CAR designs are in trials that aim to reduce side effects like cytokine release syndrome, "off-the-shelf" allogeneic versions are in development to make treatment faster and cheaper, and researchers are racing to crack the solid-tumor problem that has so far limited this approach mostly to blood cancers. Each of those threads will need its own visual vocabulary as the science evolves — which is part of why an imagery collection in this space needs to be maintained as carefully as the science itself.

GALLERY OF CAR T-CELL THERAPY IMAGES