Blood Clots Are Ready for Their Close-Up [Slide Show]
A new cutting-edge computer simulation of clot formation could improve treatments for stroke and heart attacks
![Blood Clots Are Ready for Their Close-Up [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/8880888A-DEA1-4C2E-ABCE3108E5A15D94.jpg?w=590&h=393)
Blood Clots Are Ready for Their Close-Up [Slide Show]
- Clinging to Life: Millions of platelets cling to a damaged arterial wall in this multi-scale visualization of a blood clot. The yellow particles are activated, clot-forming platelets whereas the red ones are nonactivated, free-flowing platelets... Courtesy of Joseph A. Insley and Michael E. Papka, Argonne National Laboratory/Leopold Grinberg, Brown University
- Follow the Leader: Activated cells (blue) adhere to the walls of a blood vessel, stopping non-active cells (red) and leading to a stoppage of blood flow. The clotting process can be lifesaving in the case of injury... Courtesy of Joseph A. Insley and Michael E. Papka, Argonne National Laboratory/Leopold Grinberg, Brown University
- The Big Picture: The four main arteries in the brain's circulatory system are pictured on the left (the right and left carotid, basilar and cerebral). At the top right is the location of an aneurysm researchers modeled to show platelet and blood cell aggregation forming a blood clot... Courtesy of Joseph A. Insley and Michael E. Papka, Argonne National Laboratory/Leopold Grinberg, Brown University
- An Unprecedented Visualization: Multi-scale modeling helps scientists forecast weather, model tornado formation and understand complex biological processes that have important features at multiple scales. Researchers at Brown University and Argonne National Laboratory used more than 300,000 computer processors to create this parallel computing model that simulates a blood clot forming in a ruptured aneurysm... Courtesy of Joseph A. Insley and Michael E. Papka, Argonne National Laboratory/Leopold Grinberg, Brown University
