My Birthday Wishlist: A Histological Study

Smooth Muscle Isolated Fibers

My 30th birthday is in three months and nine days. And let me tell you, I'm counting down every one of those days. Not because I'm particularly eager to be 30 - though it doesn't bother me at all that I'm about to hit the three-decade mark - but because I've discovered what I want for my birthday. All of the Etsy.com science items I recently posted go on my wish list, of course (although I want the colored pencil chemistry labels, rather than the crayon ones I listed - I don't own crayons anymore). But today I found something else: microbiology posters.

Neurons: Human Brain
Cognition Synapse

No, I'm not joking. And so to answer the question burning in your mind: Yes, the nerdiness continues. I love it.

Ever since last summer, when I started at the research lab, I have been fascinated with stained slides. One of my tasks last summer was to count cell nuclei (which were stained blue, by the way) for Olga. It was pretty tedious, whish one of the reasons she asked me to do it (she admitted as much), but I didn't mind. I knew I was contributing something. And honestly, the images were just gorgeous.

Blood Clot Formation:
Showing Trapped Red Blood Cells
(Erythrocytes) in Fibrin

So today, after I posted that image of the pancreatic cells, I got to thinking: I wonder whether there are posters of such images that one can purchase? I assumed it must be so, in this day and age of Internet shopping. I tried a bunch of keywords on Google, and finally came across Allposters.com. It took me a little while to find the site's microbiology subsection, but when I did, I knew I had hit the jackpot. I ended up e-mailing myself more than 20 fantastic posters of green-, red-, and blue-stained neurons; a blood clot formation; red- and teal-stained muscle cells; a purple-, pink-, and blue-stained neuromuscular synapse; and so much more.

The Neuromuscular Synapse:
The Junction Between a
Nerve Fiber and a Muscle Fiber

My living room decor is set, as is that of my bedroom. But the walls in my office / music studio are glaringly blank. In the taupe-y sense. They are just begging for me to hang framed prints of erythrocyes and collagen protein on them. I figure I've got space for five or so prints, frames included. It would be so perfect: to study biology, genetics, and chemistry amid such poignant, beautiful, and educational imagery. And what conversational pieces they would be!