Microcosmo

I've been thinking a lot about size lately, as my post about perspective, and yesterday's post about tiny and large sculpture probably show. Then when I went to Magic Wings on Saturday, it inspired me to find a documentary on insects. This one is incredible. Its called Microcosmos. There is no speaking... it just shows the insects in their amazing beauty. I'm not usually a big insect fan in person... but they are wonderful to see on screen.



You can watch the full thing on my science playlist.

One of the thing I love about looking at the world of the small is that it makes you think about things differently. A rain drop can be killer to an insect.. like a meteorite falling... and a drop of water appears to have a 'skin' that needs to be punctured like a balloon.

I loved 'Honey I Shrunk the Kids' when I was young. Here's a clip from it. The special effects look SO outdated now. At the time, they looked so cool.



Another crazy thing to think about is how the human body is like its own ecosystem. 90% of the cells in our body don't actually contain human DNA, but instead belong to microbes. Another fun fact, is that there are more viruses in a cup of sea water than there are humans in the world.... and there's a lot of sea water out there! Ok.. I realize I'm a geek, but this just fascinates me.... I guess thats why I have a masters in the epidemiology of microbial diseases. FYI, there's a great documentary on viruses on my science playlist as well.

Anyway, thats my thoughts on the world of the small today. I'm off to drink a tonic. It's sitting here on the table and says 'drink me'. Hey, what could it hurt?