Beauty of science: inside a toothpick

The picture reveals different filling states of the cells thanks to the high sensitivity of synchrotron-based microtomography in combination with hard X-ray phase contrast. This sample was scanned at beamline ID19 within a study to compare laboratory-based phase contrast computed tomography (CT) with synchrotron-based imaging.

Such imaging techniques are highly beneficial in the study of water transport in plants in order to understand plant behaviour such as embolism repair.

Three cross-sectional views of a toothpick, approximately 5 mm in diameter (Credit: A. Rack and A. Bonnin).

Top image: Cropped region showing detail within the cross section image below, left.