It may look like a strange insect , but this is actually a CT image revealing the delicate structures underlying the human nose.

The multicolored pockets, seen in a cutaway from below the nose looking up, are the paranasal sinuses—the air-filled spaces in the skull that are the bane of many an allergy sufferer.

Kai-hung Fung of Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Hong Kong captured the image, a co-winner in the photography category of the 2007 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, while examining a 33-year-old Chinese woman for thyroid disease.

This is the fifth year that the prizes have been awarded.

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