Beautiful microscope images

You're looking at a water flea, as captured by Dr. Jan Michels of the University of Kiel, Germany. It's the top-prize winner in the 2009 Olympus BioScapes contest—a competition focused on images taken via microscope. The winners gallery is full of gorgeous pictures in striking, day-glo purples, greens and reds. Worth browsing, for both art and science nerds.

Olympus BioScapes 2009 Winners Gallery || Via: Boingboing

Pocket Telescope/Microscope

This little 6 power telescope looks like a handsome pen and is small enough to be carried in your pocket.

It is as powerful as many small binoculars, but unlike binoculars it can focus on objects as close as five feet — which also makes it great for poking around in museums, etc.

A great plus is that it can be used (with the included attachment) as a 30 power microscope to inspect really small things like slivers, tool edges, or spider mites on your plants.

Complete with a hard-shell case for storage. Metal tube with glass optics and a 10mm objective lens. Measures 5" overall; 7-1/2" with microscope attachment. LINK