Forest of Diatoms

This image, taken by scanning electron microscope, captured a community of diatoms, unicellular algae characterized by a peculiar glass-like cell wall, attached to the basal segment of a marine invertebrate (Eudendrium racemosum).

The microscale image, named The Glass Forest, won the 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, sponsored jointly by the journal Science and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The contest awards "breathtaking photographs and graphics that reveal intricate details of our world."

--LiveScience Staff

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• Image: Diatom Species Cyclotella ocellata

Image credit: Mario De Stefano, The 2nd University of Naples