Human Femur Figure Venus and Mars (provided as a pair)

Collage of polarized light montages of human thighbone midshafts.

These images, from the middle of the thighbone of thirty females and males through the adult age range, represent colorized versions of circularly polarized light images, highlighting regions of collagen fibers of differing orientation. Areas assigned warm colors (yellows, pinks and reds) represent collagen fiber orientations resistant to compressive forces during life. Areas assigned to cool colors (dark blues, light blues and greens) represent collagen fiber orientations resistant to tensile forces. We use these color maps to document between-individual variation in walking and way of life, about which you can see there is considerable variability.

Individuals in their twenties are at the base of the Venus and Mars figures. The tip of the male figure is comprised of individuals in their eighties, while the top of the female group comprises women from their mid-fifties to seventies, equivalent in age to the men’s stem of the arrow.