Just a random image.

i-360b0b4dc5a6a32d87bc8e6f1ca18e24-2007_10_19t160159_450x345_us_superbug_mrsa.jpg

A colorized scanning electron micrograph depicts a group of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The bug made headlines this week because of a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association that it caused 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths in 2005 - most of them in hospitals. (Source: Janice Carr/CDC/Handout/Reuters)

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This is really interesting, is it color accurate?

I posted a comprehensive post on MRSA and CA-MRSA a couple of days ago. I'm working on a Living with MRSA/CA-MRSA post right now. It's a lot of info and a lot of i-misinformation to plow through...

www.theskinofmyteeth.com

David B.

"A colorized scanning electron micrograph ... "

By John Lynch (not verified) on 20 Oct 2007 #permalink

What is not emphasized enough is that this is a human caused "bug".

David B. If this is an electron beam image, what would the meaning of color be?

I work with Janice on this machine as I am her service engineer and so I keep the SEM working properly. The colorization of electron images is done soas to provide focus on details without changing the information provided. In short...the measurements and details are accurate and the only 'added' information is color of which provides focus for users to see what is the 'subject area' versus simply 'non areas of interest'. The color is chosen based upon greyscale data (which is all that SEM works in).