Images Dated 31st March 2005

Jupiter with moons and their shadows

Jupiter and its moons, infrared Hubble Space Telescope image. This image shows a rare alignment, in which two moons are visible on the face of Jupiter, and the shadows of three fall across it as well. The white dot just above centre is Io, and Io's shadow is directly to its left. The blue dot at upper right is Ganymede, whose shadow is directly left of it on the left limb. At upper right is the shadow of Callisto. Callisto itself is out of frame at right. This image was taken by the Near Infrared Camera and Multi Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) on the HST on 28th March 2004

© NASA/ESA/STSCI/E.KARKOSCHKA, U.ARIZONA/ SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Black-chinned Hummingbird, Archilochus alexandri, male in flight feeding on Claret Cup Cactus

Black-chinned Hummingbird, Archilochus alexandri, male in flight feeding on Claret Cup Cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus), Uvalde County, Hill Country, Texas, USA

© Rolf Nussbaumer / DanitaDelimont.com

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Researcher and snake

Snake research. Researcher holds a Malaysian pit viper (Calloselasma rhodostoma) before milking its venom. The venom contains an anticoagulant drug which is being studied for use in treating stroke patients. The drug, Ancrod, improves blood flow by reducing the amount of fibrinogen (a clotting protein) in the blood plasma. Strokes occur when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off by a blockage or bleeding in the brain. They can lead to brain damage and are a leading cause of death. Ancrod may reduce the extent of brain damage and lower the mortality rate. This work is being done by Knoll AG, a division of BASF Pharma, in Ludwigshafen, Germany

© VOLKER STEGER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY