#xanthidium

"Just think about it: if you were asked to draw a cell, what would you draw? Maybe your imagination is better than mine, but I would probably sketch out a vaguely round thing, maybe add some extra hairs on the outside if I'm feeling creative. Nature has a lot more clever ideas though. Trumpets and spirals and floral arrangements, all made out of single cells."

Journey to the Microcosmos- The Diversity of Shapes in the Microcosmos

"It's also easy to look at the existence of a living thing and assume that every detail of its being has been optimized through eons of mutations and selection for a specific and there is an extent to which that's true. The world places all sorts of demands on life: the need for food, for reproduction, for warmth, for light, for dark, for movement. We respond in kind by prioritizing and balancing those needs, and shape is one way we do that."

Journey to the Microcosmos- The Diversity of Shapes in the Microcosmos

Images Originally Captured by Jam's Germs

Journey to the Microcosmos: Desmids: The Symmetrical Algae That’s Full of Crystals