An image of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer has been seen in a human brain.
Staff at Newcastle University scanned a brain to study the inner workings of neurons in the hippocampus region, which is responsible for spatial awareness and long-term memory.
However they were amazed when the blood vessels seemed to form an image of Rudolph. And yes, he DOES have a red nose in the image!
Claudia Racca, of the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University, who performed the experiment with colleague David Cox, said: 'Biology can throw up things like this, but it was a nice surprise to find this image."
Rudolph the red-nosed brain-deer! Scientists find festive image in head scan
By Daily Mail Reporter
22nd December 2010
Daily Mail
Maybe the subject of this head scan had Christmas on the brain. Or maybe the scientists who examined it did as well.
Either way, the close-up image of a blood vessel reminded researchers of Father Christmas' most-famous reindeer as they studied the inner workings of neurons in the hippocampus region of the brain.
Staff at Newcastle University decided the picture looks like a reindeer with antlers flying through the starry sky. Even its eye and tail are visible as part of the pin head-sized vessel.
Brain-deer: The Rudolph-shaped blood vessel was seen by Newcastle University scientists who were examining a brain scan
The blob for a nose happened by chance when the experts were labelling the image. They then overexposed the image to make it show up red.
Claudia Racca, of the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University, who performed the experiment with colleague David Cox, said: 'Biology can throw up things like this, but it was a nice surprise to find this image.
'We were looking at a section of the tissue and noticed this strange but familiar shape.
'It was intriguing and we noticed the similarity to a reindeer.
'We then took an overexposed picture of it and the red blob for the nose and the white antlers showed up even better.
The image was located in the Hippocampus region of the brain, responsible for spatial awareness and long-term memory
'We got distracted from the science at that point and had a bit of fun with the pictures of Rudolph instead.
'It may not be very valuable scientifically but it looks nice on the eye.'
The hippocampus region of the brain is responsible for spatial awareness and long-term memory.
dailymail.co.uk
Staff at Newcastle University scanned a brain to study the inner workings of neurons in the hippocampus region, which is responsible for spatial awareness and long-term memory.
However they were amazed when the blood vessels seemed to form an image of Rudolph. And yes, he DOES have a red nose in the image!
Claudia Racca, of the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University, who performed the experiment with colleague David Cox, said: 'Biology can throw up things like this, but it was a nice surprise to find this image."
Rudolph the red-nosed brain-deer! Scientists find festive image in head scan
By Daily Mail Reporter
22nd December 2010
Daily Mail
Maybe the subject of this head scan had Christmas on the brain. Or maybe the scientists who examined it did as well.
Either way, the close-up image of a blood vessel reminded researchers of Father Christmas' most-famous reindeer as they studied the inner workings of neurons in the hippocampus region of the brain.
Staff at Newcastle University decided the picture looks like a reindeer with antlers flying through the starry sky. Even its eye and tail are visible as part of the pin head-sized vessel.
Brain-deer: The Rudolph-shaped blood vessel was seen by Newcastle University scientists who were examining a brain scan
The blob for a nose happened by chance when the experts were labelling the image. They then overexposed the image to make it show up red.
Claudia Racca, of the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University, who performed the experiment with colleague David Cox, said: 'Biology can throw up things like this, but it was a nice surprise to find this image.
'We were looking at a section of the tissue and noticed this strange but familiar shape.
'It was intriguing and we noticed the similarity to a reindeer.
'We then took an overexposed picture of it and the red blob for the nose and the white antlers showed up even better.
The image was located in the Hippocampus region of the brain, responsible for spatial awareness and long-term memory
'We got distracted from the science at that point and had a bit of fun with the pictures of Rudolph instead.
'It may not be very valuable scientifically but it looks nice on the eye.'
The hippocampus region of the brain is responsible for spatial awareness and long-term memory.
dailymail.co.uk
