The magazine Science published the results of the 2012 Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, and among the images mentioned was the one below of plant seeds. The images were made by combining high-resolution high-contrast X-ray radiography of plant seeds with images taken by microscopy and the application of these non-destructive micro-imaging techniques is relatively new to botany. The investigative value of this imaging on seeds isn’t quite obvious to me, but I very much enjoy looking at them for their own sake.

Credit: Viktor Sykora; First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, and Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Czech Technical University; Jan Zemlicka, Frantisek Krejci, and Jan Jakubek; Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Czech Technical University Image via LiveScience.com

They remind me a bit of the snake drawings from The Little Prince and the mysteries of what we can and can’t see with the naked eye.

From: The Little Prince
If you haven’t read the book, the top image is mistaken at first for a drawing of a hat. It is only when the second drawing is shown that the first image is revealed to be that of a sated snake.