These Images Are Not What They Seem

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One of my favourite moments of elementary-school science class was “microscope day,” a model of show-and-tell the place youngsters introduced in on a regular basis objects to marvel at beneath the lens. I raided my household’s kitchen—salts, sugars, spices, chilies, peppercorns—whereas many others lower off tufts of aggrieved siblings’ hair. Someone introduced a wriggling worm. Someone else merely picked from his nostril in entrance of the microscope when it was his flip (our instructor let this proceed). Absolutely nothing seemed like what we anticipated. The bare eye, I first realized on these days, was just one manner of seeing the world.

My colleague Alan Taylor, who seems to be at a whole lot, generally 1000’s, of photographs a day to compile the picture essays you could already know and love, lately revealed a range from the Nikon Small World 2025 photomicrography competitors that took me all the way in which again to science class. These images present geometry and colour; they aren’t what they appear.

Before clicking by to see the solutions within the picture captions, attempt guessing what every of the photographs under is depicting:

See extra photographs from the competitors right here.

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Still Curious?

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Other Diversions

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P.S.

I lately requested readers to share a photograph of one thing that sparks their sense of awe on the planet. “I took this photo in 2011 of Tipsoo Lake, while hiking in Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington state,” Norma Johnson, from Northampton, Massachusetts, writes. “It still evokes the feelings I had when I came upon this small alpine lake … a true gem of nature. My hiking days are over (I am 90+) but the memory of that day is mine forever!”

I’ll proceed to function your responses within the coming weeks.

— Isabel Fattal