Diatoms: the tinker toys of the microbial world. MacGyver could build a bomb out of the components on this slide. A modern microscopic image of diatoms, artfully arranged. Image by Wipeter, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. Click for link.
There aren’t many things about the Victorian world I would have liked, but their impulse to combine nature and art is one thing I could get solidly behind. Don’t miss this slide show over at SEED Magazine highlighting the work of Victorian prepared slide makers. This was a time when the general public actually enjoyed scientific pursuits like looking at things under a microscope in their spare time, so much so that they could actually support an entire diatom art sweatshop industry. Seriously. It happened.
Enjoy!
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In fairness to the great Richard Dean Anderson, MacGuyver could’ve made a bomb out of floss and an aspiren….. once he combined it with copious quantities of C4.
Wait. Am I confusing MacGuyver with Stargate again? DANG!