The title says it all, really. Behold, some viruses made out of glass.

Who says you can’t get a crystal structure of a whole virus?

The sculptures are the work of artist Luke Jerram, in collaboration with a team of Bristol scientists and glass blowers. Each piece represents a different killer virus, including HIV, SARS and swine flu. Jerram notes that his sculptures are uncoloured, in contrast to the usual representations of viruses.

If some images are coloured for scientific purposes, and others altered simply for aesthetic reasons, how can a viewer tell the difference? How many people believe viruses are brightly coloured? Are there any colour conventions and what kind of ‘presence’ do pseudocoloured images have that ‘naturally’ coloured specimens don’t?

Interesting question. Anyone have any opinions? I wouldn’t have thought choice of colour would make much difference to my understanding of a virus, but here are some examples of HIV wrapped up in different hues.

Close up of E. coli

A solo exhibition of Luke’s delicate glass sculptures runs at the new Smithfield Gallery in London from 22 September to 3 October. Just don’t wear a large rucksack.

Images pulled in from Luke’s website, which is really worth a read.