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Interesting, Hidden Designs in Nature: A Closer Look at Sand Crystals

By Rain Noe - January 17, 2012

in Object Culture | Photography

They look like Japanese snacks, but can you guess what these things really are?They're blow-ups of sand crystals, shot by UK-based artist, inventor and scientist Dr. Gary Greenberg. The shutterbug doctor, who holds a PhD in biomedical research, invented his own high-definition light microscope to tote with him around the world photographing sand from different locations: Hawaii, Japan, Ireland, California, Bermuda, Minnesota. Who knew that what looks to be beige, boring crushed-up rocks held such a bizarre diversity of shapes, colors and patterns?

Greenberg's even shot sand from the moon, brought back by the Apollo 11 mission. With no water to wear it down, just periodic meteor impacts, the stuff looks pretty bizarre:

Check out Greenberg's website for more trippy microscopic photography encompassing food, flowers, and stuff inside the human body.

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powers

12 years ago

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Those would make cool posters.
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Phil

12 years ago

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Beautiful photographs. We all take sand for granted, but I found myself wondering how much excitement would be generated if a Mars explorer found a single microscopic fossil in a sample of Martian dust?
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