A fascinatingly ordered structure that reminds us of a horsetail.

However: it’s a hair from the undercoat of a mouse. It is so tiny that only a scanning electron microscope reveals the filigree structure.

Remember: if you don’t know the correct scale of a photography, you run the risk of completely misinterpreting an image or structures.

So, how wide is such a mouse hair?

https://www.structem.eu/tools/measure/?lang=en&collection=hair&id=strucTEM-SEM-animal-hair-24-mouse-203-031

Interesting facts about mice:

They are the smallest mammals in the world. But they have the largest sperm. Who would have thought it!

Part 5/7: Hairs in the strucTEM microscope

A hair image series from strucTEM, specialist for microscopic hair analysis.