Mysteries of the Unseen World Page #3

goes out of focus.

We needed a microscope

that used something smaller

than visible light.

The scanning electron microscope

fires electrons,

smaller than atoms,

creating an image

that magnifies things

by as much as a million times.

It shows that deep

inside the tiny scales

of a butterfly's wing

are even smaller structures

which are shaped to reflect

only pure blue light waves,

giving the wings

of a Morpho butterfly

one of the most brilliant blues

in nature.

The electron microscope

reveals things

both bizarre and beautiful.

Guess what this is.

A butterfly egg.

The skin of a shark.

A caterpillar's mouth.

The eye of a fruit fly.

An eggshell.

A tomato stem.

A flea.

A snail's tongue.

We think we know most

of the animal kingdom,

but there may be millions

of tiny species

waiting to be discovered.

Even the air we breathe

is full of unseeable stuff-

pollen...

skin flakes...

insect parts...

animal hairs.

There's even matter from space,

including micro diamonds and jewels

from other planets

and supernova explosions.

30,000 tons of space dust

falls to the Earth every year.

Some of it is

in every breath inhaled

by all the living things on Earth,

including you.

And it gets

even more personal.

There are unseen creatures

living all over your body,

possibly including mites

that spend their entire lives

dwelling on your eyelashes,

crawling with their eight legs

over your skin at night.

They're on some of you...

right now.

When you're unlucky enough

to get a case of head lice,

this is what's living

in your hair.

More than 1,000 strains of bacteria

could be in your belly button.

This is what causes stinky feet.

Some 32 million bacteria

live on your skin,

most of them harmless

or even good for you.

There are far more organisms

living on you

than there are people on Earth.

It turns out that the world

of the really small

is full of clever things

we can use.

The surface of a lotus leaf

repels almost any liquid.

Whoa! That's so cool!

A super-close

look reveals the secret:

tiny hair-like bumps

that cause drops

to roll right off the leaf.

Maybe we could mimic this,

making a coating to shield

airplanes from ice buildup.

Once, it was a mystery

how a gecko could walk up

smooth glass.

Gecko feet are covered

by half a million tiny bristles

that branch into split ends,

each with a pad on the tip.

The structures build up

an electrical charge

that attracts them

to the surface,

adding up to incredible

sticking power

and a model

for a new kind of robot

that could climb

almost anything.

A spider also harbors secrets.

Spider silk thread is,

pound for pound, stronger than steel

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