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An out - of - this - world picture that was late shared on Twitter resembles a Galax urceolata of sparkling maven wrapped inside a colourful nebula .
But in world , it ’s a fluorescent image of a male yield tent flap ’s sex reed organ .
Is this a glorious galaxy…or genitalia?
The figure was captured by life scientist Ben Walsh , a doctoral candidate in the Department of Evolution , Ecology and Behaviour at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom . He stain the testes of a dissected yield fly with fluorescent dyestuff to crystallise the organ ' social system , which he then captured through a microscope using the camera on his iPhone , Walsh told Live Science in an email . [ Magnificent Microphotography : 50 Tiny wonderment ]
Inthe tweet , posted on Feb. 13 , Walsh commented that the fruit fell testicles " kind of look like a galax . " He later explained to hold up Science that the yellow structures , which were " tenacious and thin and gyrate around themselves , " were the testes ' tissue paper wall .
" The blue clouds coming out of them at various point are sperm — in plaza , you’re able to see package of spermatozoon and even some individual heads , " he said in the email .
When stretched out , each half of the testicle measures over 0.08 column inch ( 2 millimeters ) , " which is pretty much the whole duration of the fly ! " Walsh said . Fruit flies have thelongest known spermamong all fauna , but why they call for such lengthy sperm cell is still a mystery , he added .
Walsh ’s research investigates howclimate changeaffects birthrate ; he lately co - author a study exploring the impingement of extreme temperatures on brute , plant life and fungi reproduction , published Jan. 9 in the journalTrends in Ecology and Evolution .
His current work withfruit tent flap — which direct to the image divvy up on Twitter — examines how temperature affect males ' ability to produce feasible sperm , a process known as spermatogenesis .
" By dissecting testes of the fruit flyDrosophila melanogasterand maculate them with fluorescent dye , we can actually see bundles of sperm cell inside the testes , which allows us to numerate the number of sperm cell at dissimilar point of spermatogenesis , " Walsh explain . This could reveal clues about what disrupts the flies ' normal sperm cell production .
This is n’t the first clip the diminutive organs and interior body structure of a fruit fly have been revealed in illuminate images . Researchers latterly build up a proficiency to seize image of yield fly brains , creating stunning 3D image and animation that display the intricate interplay of nerve cell in a learning ability no big than a poppy cum , Live Sciencepreviously reported .
But even a individual photograph of fruit fly testes can generate wonder and amazement , adjudicate by the awed Twitter responses to Walsh ’s post . One bemused commenter took Walsh ’s joke galaxy analogy even further , writing , " What if our universe is contained in the remaining testicle of a fly in a great dimension ? "
To which Walshtweetedin reply , " Then we ’re about to go position , because flies have a LOT of sex . "
to begin with bring out onLive skill .
