Everyday objects in close-up

Several items brought to life at a MILLION times magnification

Images showing the everyday objects taken for granted by householders have been brought to life at a MILLION times magnification. Using the world's most expensive kind of microscope - a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) - scientists have revealed the characteristics in miniature, giving a tour of the home as a tiny new world. Stunningly detailed 3D pictures as you've never seen before reveal the hidden secrets of items found around the home. 

Picture: used dental floss
Picture: Steve Gschmeissner / SPL / Barcroft Media

Included in the collection are items you'd find in different rooms, including grooming implements from the bathroom, condiments from the kitchen, makeup from the bedroom and equipment from the study.

Picture: a mascara brush

Picture: Power And Syred/SPL/Barcroft Media

Every tiny contour of salt and ground pepper corns are revealed in this image.

Picture: Thomas Deerinck / SPL / Barcroft Media

  

Included are images unveiling the little elements of the home office, including a computer hard drive, the core of a graphite pencil and a postage stamp. 


Picture: a torn postage stamp

Picture: Power And Syred/SPL/Barcroft Media

From the bathroom: a cotton bud with earwax on the end of it

Picture: Steve Gschmeissner / SPL / Barcroft Media

SEMs - far more powerful than regular light microscopes that can only magnify by up to 1000 times - build extreme close-ups of anything that can fit inside the 4ft high device by bombarding it with electrons. The electrons send back messages which help to build up a super-accurate image - revealing every tiny feature of the pollen grains down to the last cranny - in wondrous fashion.

Picture: a needle and thread

Picture: Susumu Nishinaga / SPL / Barcroft Media

Microscopists like retired scientific photographer Steve Gschmeissner, 61, from Bedfordshire are able to magnify their favourite specimens by up to a million times.

Picture: a computer hard drive

Picture: Power And Syred/SPL/Barcroft Media

A rotary blade on an electric razor with minuscule hairs near the blades

Picture: Power And Syred/SPL/Barcroft Media

Gschmeissner said: "For anyone involved in microscopy the SEM is the ultimate boy's toy. Costing between £150,000 and £500,000, there are only a handful of people around the world who have access to this for fun. To be able to use equipment like this when I am retired is a dream come true." 

Picture: the writing point of 'superwound' guitar string
Picture: Power And Syred/SPL/Barcroft Media

A hooks and loops fastener

Picture: Power And Syred/SPL/Barcroft Media

A piece of toilet paper

Picture: Susumu Nishinaga / SPL / Barcroft Media

A graphite pencil core

Picture: Susumu Nishinaga / SPL / Barcroft Media

Sugar crystals: a refined sugar crystal and a raw sugar crystal

Picture: Power And Syred/SPL/Barcroft Media

The tip of an unburnt match

Picture: Susumu Nishinaga / SPL / Barcroft Media


Source : Everyday-objects-in-close-up-items-brought-to-life-at-a-MILLION-times-magnification

Last Week in Pictures .... worldwide ...

Ship wrecks around the world photographed by Alexander Mustard

British photographer Alex Mustard has travelled the world snapping pictures of wrecked ships lying on the sea bed.

A pair of divers explore the wreck of the Giannis D, Abu Nuhas reef, Strait of Gubal, Red Sea, Egypt

The 36-year-old diving enthusiast has made many strange discoveries while exploring beneath the surface of the sea. A diver discovers a British World War 2 motorbike inside the wreck of the Thistlegorm, Egypt.

"The VW Beetle was purposely sunk for divers and it's particularly bizarre, it's the last thing you would expect to see underwater..."

A VW Beetle, purposely sunk at Capernwray Quarry in Lancashire

One particularly fascinating wreck for Alex is the HMS Thislegorm - a British cargo ship that was carrying military supplies when it was sunk by a German bomber in the Red Sea in 1941

World War II Bedford truck inside the hold of the Thistlegorm. Sha'ab Ali,Sinai, Egypt

Pictures: ALEXANDER MUSTARD / SOLENT

Source: Ship wrecks around the world photographed by Alexander Mustard