What do a micrograph of a cell and a Persian rug have in common? At first glance, both are geometric representations of a fabric, a weave of chromatic patterns. 

In this instalment of Snapshot of the Month, we’ll discover how this metaphor is connected through the symbolism of cinema and what the study to which the image belongs has actually revealed. For behind the apparent stillness of this image lies a cellular ‘battle’ worthy of a film script, with its heroes, its villains and a narrative tempo that sets the pace. In this case the actors are senescent cells, veritable ‘zombie cells’ that stop dividing but don’t die.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. But what happens when we broaden the scope of this definition and examine it from different disciplines and perspectives? And how can such health be achieved? 

Beyond the obvious, health has many frontiers which are constantly being explored. The Colombian doctor Héctor Abad Gómez, a public health specialist and human rights activist, once said that “clean water saves more lives than the best of surgeons”. Because, if health is wellbeing, then it’s not only achieved by doctors and hospitals; it’s also shaped by those who design more in cities,

At first glance, the image looks like an improvised drawing: meandering lines, recurring loops and shapes floating in a greyish space. It could be an abstract doodle or the sketch of an impossible architectural design. However, what we’re actually seeing is the inside of a heart during a pioneering medical procedure.

This snapshot captures a key moment in research that has demonstrated, for the first time, that it’s possible to replace a previously implanted mechanical heart valve without the need for open-heart surgery. A breakthrough, published in the European Heart Journal, which could change the treatment of many elderly patients with valvular heart disease.

To explore this image from two complementary perspectives,

By definition, a rare disease affects fewer than 1 in 2,000 people. 

That’s why they’re called ‘rare’. However, when we consider that there are 7,000 different types of rare disease affecting 300 million people (a number close to the population of the United States), perhaps they’re not so rare after all.

With these figures in mind, in 2025 the 194 member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) unanimously approved a historic resolution: a document that recognises these diseases as a global health priority and establishes a 10-year action plan. The goal? To incorporate them into national agendas, increase investment in research and promote the sharing of data between countries.

If we could perceive it, what sound would ageing make? What notes would represent the changes in shape, structure and colour that occur over the years? And, conversely, what signals would our body emit if it were capable of reversing that process?

Perhaps such a sound exists but we’re simply not capable of hearing it. Something similar occurs in our latest Snapshot of the Month. As if we were experiencing sensory synaesthesia, the scientific image in question awakens seemingly unconnected or even contradictory sensations: a changing stillness or a deafening silence. And the discovery behind it is no less disconcerting: it reveals a key mechanism involved in the ageing,