Whatever shape you imagined, it's probably brightly coloured, right? Well, that's the kind of false impression that scientific imagery can foster. So how do we know when a picture has been coloured for purely aesthetic reasons?

    It's an issue that artist Luke Jerram explores in his series Glass Microbiology. These glass model of viruses were designed as truer visualisations with help from virologists at Bristol University, and you can see his work – which includes recreations of the H1N1 （see image）, smallpox, e-coli, HIV and Sars viruses – at the Smithfield Gallery from September 21 to October 3.

    "The question of pseudo-colouring in biomedicine and its use for science communicative purposes, is a vast and complex subject," says Jerram. "Are there any colour conventions? What kind of presence do pseudo-coloured images have that naturally coloured specimens don't? And how does the choice of different colours affect their reception?"

    你可能以为病毒的形状是千奇百怪的，颜色是五彩缤纷的，对不对？然而，这只是科学为我们培育的一种虚假印象。当一张图片纯因美学的原因而被涂以颜色，我们又如何得知其真实的情况呢？

    英国艺术家路加。杰兰特将在他的系列《玻璃微生物学》中给我们解释这一课题。杰兰特在布里斯托尔大学病毒学家的帮助下，将这些病毒设计成更加直观形象的玻璃雕塑，在他的作品中你可以看到包括创造出来的H1N1流感病毒、天花病毒、大肠埃希菌、艾滋病毒以及SARS病毒--这些你将在史密斯菲尔德画廊（9月21日至10月3日）看到。

    杰兰特说，"关于生物医学虚假染色的问题以及其科学交流目的问题是一个庞大而复杂的主题。""有一些关于染色的规定惯例吗？这些呈现出来的假颜色的形象没有他们这是颜色的样品吗？选择不同的颜色会形象他们的接受度吗？"