The Sex Files
In the microscope-aided photography competition, these embryos stand out

Chick embryo (6x) This shot of a nine-day-old chick embryo won first place in the popular vote on Nikon Small World’s website. The New York Times’s John Tierney thinks that’s just because it’s so dang cute, but I beg to differ: as ridiculously cool as it is, it looks something like a fruit snack-cum-monster. De Azevedo obtained this image by staining the embryo with green dye, immersing it in wintergreen oil, and photographing it with a stereomicroscope. Courtesy Nikon Small World Photo Micrography Competition; Photographed by Tomas Pais de Azevedo

Nikon’s annual Small World Competition has been awarding prizes to the country’s best microscope-aided photography since 1977. The contest winners always present a reliably fascinating and freakish slice of life at a Lilliputian level. Last week, this year’s 115 winners were announced.

Since this is a column about reproduction—and since everyone loves to gaze upon an embryo every now and then—here’s a selection of the best of the unborn, ranging from the merely small to the seriously minuscule.

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2 Comments

Those creatures seems to be aliens. so odd!!

www.lipoaspiracao.org

When we think of aliens we think of them as invaders and abductors, now they have cleverly found a way to fool us by making themselves small enough to strategically invade us without causing or creating a stir.
They will soon announce their victory on alien controlled tv and the internet. They will have control of the broadband and our computers. Resistance is futile. We were doomed anyways.



June 2013: American Energy Independence

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