#miscroscopic

Decided to pull out the old microscope and take a look at some feathers! Unfortunately this microscope is pretty beat, the lamp is broken so I had to power it by using the UV bulb and a mirror to get light up through the stage and the other two lenses aren’t functional so I couldn’t get a good close up of the hamuli.

Rachis - Stiff shaft that runs down the length of a feather (visible by naked eye)

Barb - Hair-like branches extending from the rachis (visible by naked eye)

Barbules - Filaments connected to the barbs, opposing barbules interlock to hold feather shape (sometimes visible by the naked eye)

mind-blowing what exists just beyond our vision. does this little guy look tough?

these images are of a microscopic creature called a water bear, or tardigrade... which despite its fuzzy-sounding name is one of the toughest animals on the planet.

their appearance (eight chubby legs, round, bulgy body, and probe-like head) doesn't at all suggest their weird resilience: they are virtually indestructible. they can withstand being boiled, frozen, squeezed under pressure, or desiccated.  they can be completely dried out for years, then come back to life as if nothing happened. recently scientists dried out 3,000 of these tiny creatures and fired them into space to see if they could withstand cosmic rays, a near vacuum, and freezing cold temperatures. they survived, making them the first animals to survive exposure in space without protection.

talk about tough. these things are crazy. 

xx