Think you’re prone to heartbreak? Be glad you don’t have one of these glass ones.
Models like this, which show the heart and its surrounding tendrils that reach out to the lungs, as well as all kinds of other vascular maps of brains and other body parts, are made by Farlow’s Scientific Glassblowing in a pursuit that’s as much art as it is science. All these glass veins and arteries can be used to accurately simulate blood flow, which makes them invaluable for designing catheters and such, but they also just look incredible.
Each section is made with connectors at the ends of the tubes, so you can build yourself a full body if you want, but it’ll run you close to $US25,000, a bit much for whatever stupid thing you could possibly use it for. You can see more pictures over at Wired, or just take a minute to ponder the fleshy, Lovecraftian monstrosity that’s pulsating in your chest, keeping you alive. On second though, just do that first one. [Wired via My Modern Metropolis]