Gorgeous Deadly Viruses.

Viruses are usually depicted as ugly, scary, almost weapon-like blobs just waiting to meddle inside of your body, but Luke Jerram sees them as something different. There isn't really a color to viruses after all — they're smaller than the wavelength of visible light — and as mere smears when viewed under a microscope, there's plenty of room left open when deciding how to illustrate them.

Since 2004, Jerram has been turning viruses and other pathogens into stunning glass sculptures that are just as eerie as they are beautiful as part of an ongoing series titled "Glass Microbiology." He chooses some of the most feared and deadly subjects out there too, making chilling portraits of everything from HIV to malaria.

Though his sculptures can appear exaggerated, with weapon-like barbs and eerie bulges, they're actually all made entirely to scale. Of course, they're vastly larger than their original forms: his virus sculptures are around 1 million times their actual size.

While Jerram creates plans for the sculptures, they're sent off to one of several professional glassblowers to build them. Five models are made of each design, and as he's added more, the sculptures have toured the world through museums and galleries.

Ed.71 - Hand, foot and mouth disease

Swine Flu

Papilloma

HIV

Malaria

E.Coli

Ebola

Or, you could have just gotten them in adorable plushie form from Giant Microbes.

Swine Flu

T4 Bacteriophage

Sars Corona

HIV (2011)

Adenovirus

Posted by 2N3R
Or, you could have just gotten them in adorable plushie form from Giant Microbes.

Didn't even know that existed 😄. I love sculpture, glass and detailed work...having a mentalgasm right now.

These sculptures are quite beautiful. Even though they're see through, they look like something you would see in Steampunk.

A Cancer friend of mine is obsessed with Steampunk. I could write of thesis on that, since she never shuts up about it.

I'm into it because I'm mechanically inclined, plus some of the stories are really interesting and that tone of brown is rather ugly, yet they make it beautiful. Have you shown these to her? They(the sculptures) also remind me of Threshold(sci fi show about aliens, and the only one I've been able to stand) because of all the symbols they'd show.

very cool stuff...love the E. Coli..hahaha