Multimedia Gallery
A Tour of the Cell
Although the cell is the smallest unit of life, it is by no means simple. The human body is made up of tens of trillions of cells like this one, that have developed a highly synchronized set of components to carry out the processes that keep the organism alive, allow it to reproduce and adapt to changing environments. New research suggests such complex cells, which scientists call eukaryotes, arose from the fusion of two, single-celled organisms in a symbiotic effort to survive. An ostrich egg is the largest known single cell, but most individual cells are too small to see without a microscope.
This image is actually an interactive graphic in the National Science Foundation (NSF) overview for biology on the NSF website. You can learn more about the various parts of the image Here, or see the full biology overview Here (Date of Image: 2010)
Credit: Nicolle Rager, National Science Foundation
Images and other media in the National Science Foundation Multimedia Gallery are available for use in print and electronic material by NSF employees, members of the media, university staff, teachers and the general public. All media in the gallery are intended for personal, educational and nonprofit/non-commercial use only.
Images credited to the National Science Foundation, a federal agency, are in the public domain. The images were created by employees of the United States Government as part of their official duties or prepared by contractors as "works for hire" for NSF. You may freely use NSF-credited images and, at your discretion, credit NSF with a "Courtesy: National Science Foundation" notation.
Additional information about general usage can be found in Conditions.
Also Available:
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (2.3 MB)
Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.