Tag Archives: Spider Skin

Spider skin image winner of FEI/National Geographic contest

In a July 4, 2012 posting, I described an FEI/National Geographic image contest “Explore the Unseen” which was then open for entries. FEI, a microscopy company, runs the contest annually and in 2012 partnered with National Geographic to offer a grand prize that featured two coach class tickets to a US destination of the winner’s choosing and inclusion of their image in a special gallery promoting National Geographic’s film, “Invisible Worlds.”

The grand prize winner has been announced in a Feb. 13, 2013 news item on Azonano,

FEI is proud to announce that María Carbajo of the Electron Microscopy Unit in the Research Support Services of the University of Extremadura has been awarded the grand prize in the 2012 FEI Owner Image Contest for her entry “Spider Skin”.

FEI asked vistors to their website to vote for their favorite image among the monthly winners. A total of nearly 1000 votes were received and María Carbajo’s image, Spider Skin, narrowly beat out other worthy images.

María’s entry shows the texture of the skin of a spider, with a hair root and brochosomes from a leafhopper preyed upon by the spider.

The following “Spider Skin” image and its technical details were downloaded from FEI’s 2012 contest winners (undated) news release,

Image Details: Instrument used:QUANTA 3D FEG Magnification: 12000x Horizontal Field Width: 24.9 Vacuum: 2.7e-3 Pa Voltage: 10kV Spot: 5 Working Distance: 10 Detector: ETD Credit: María Carbajo of the Electron Microscopy Unit in the Research Support Services of the University of Extremadura

Image Details:
Instrument used:QUANTA 3D FEG
Magnification: 12000x
Horizontal Field Width: 24.9
Vacuum: 2.7e-3 Pa
Voltage: 10kV
Spot: 5
Working Distance: 10
Detector: ETD
Credit: María Carbajo of the Electron Microscopy Unit in the Research Support Services of the University of Extremadura

You can find more images that were submitted to the contest here.