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Microphotography allows all of us to get a glimpse into the amazing worlds of very small things that are all around us. Every year, Nikon holds the Small World competition to showcase those people who not only study things we cannot see with the naked eye, but also record images of them that are works of art. Pictured here is a water flea with balls of algae. See more of the finalists in this year’s competition in a collection of photographs called Lives Within a Drop of Water, at Neatorama’s Spotlight Blog. Link
(Image credit: Dr. Ralf Wagner/Nikon Small World)
Micrograph by Martin Oeggerli
Zebra longwing butterfly egg (Heliconius charithonia)
The orange hue of this zebra longwing butterfly egg may warn predators: "Eat me if you dare." The threat would not be idle. The egg contains cyanide and other toxins ingested by adults from the plants
they eat.
We don’t have to look far to find alien-looking lifeforms, as the September 2010 issue of National Geographic shows. All you need is a microscope and a few insect eggs.
Links: Article by Rob Dunn | Photo Gallery by Martin Oeggerli in cooperation with Prüftechnik Uri and School of Applied Sciences, FHNW
The winners of the 2009 Olympus BioScapes Photo Digital Imaging Competition were just announced yesterday. Here are some of the wonderful winning and honorable mention images:
1st Place Winner:
Water flea Daphnia atkinsoni. This specimen has a "crown of thorns," a defensive trait induced in offspring only when the parents sense chemical cues released by one of their main predators, the tadpole shrimp Triops cancriformis. The water flea´s exoskeleton (exterior structure, green) and subcellular details within the organism (nuclei – tiny blue dots) are both visible – Dr. Jan Michels, Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, Germany.
5th Place Winner:
Unicellular alga Penium, treated with the microtubule poison oryzalin – by David Domozych, Skidmore College.
Ma. Ivy Clemente of Pulilan, Philippines, got an honorable mention in this year’s competition, but I think her entry is the most stunning. Behold, the cancer alphabet:
Spelling out the diagnosis: Glandular structures from fibroadenoma and nodular prostatic hyperplasia cases – by Ma. Ivy Clemente, Pulilan, Philippines
Fetal cat coronal section – by Mike Peres, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York.
Squid embryo – by Rachel Fink, Mount Holyoke College, Massachussetts
Link: Winners Gallery of the 2009 Olympus BioScapes
Granted, it’s not as useful as the USB missile launcher, but this 150x microscope could come in handy around the office. It’s currently available only in Japan, so you may have to content yourself with the missile launcher for now.
Previously on Neatorama: The 10 Weirdest USB-Powered Devices
As an assignment, Professor Daniel Fletcher of the University of California at Berkeley instructed students to build a functional microscope from a cell phone and a few lenses. When they completed the project, Fletcher and his students realized that they had a useful product, which they named the Cellscope. They hope to use the instrument in impoverished areas of the world where malaria, sickle-cell anemia, and tuberculosis are widespread. In such places, large numbers of microscopes are necessary for diagnosis, but remain very expensive. The Cellscope can be a cheaper alternative to fit this need.
