Rose-ringed Parakeets roost in a copse in Wormwood Scrubs Park on December 6, 2011 in London, England. Approximately 2,500 parakeets roost in the copse at the centre of Wormwood Scrubs which has been designated by English Nature as an important site of natural significance. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Artist Vik Muniz is known for his gigantic composite installations and sculptures created from thousands of individual objects. In this new collaboration with artist and MIT researcher Marcelo Coelho, Muniz takes the opposite approach and explores the microscopic with a new series of sandcastles etched onto individual grains of sand.

The bloodwood tree (Pterocarpus angolensis) is a deciduous tree with a high canopy, reaching about 15m in height and has dark bark. The red sap is used traditionally as a dye and in some areas mixed with animal fat to make a cosmetic for faces and bodies. It is also believed to have magical properties for the curing of problems concerning blood, apparently because of its close resemblance to blood. The name bloodwood for these trees stems from the dark red to brown sap that accumulates on wounds on the trunks.

Ballroom dancers Andrei Toader and Mia Linnik-Holden compete in the “North of England Amateur Ballroom Dancing” competition at the 49th British National Dance Championships, in the Empress Ballroom of Blackpool's Winter Gardens, in Blackpool, north-west England, on November 21, 2024. The four-day British National Dance Championships have been taking place since 1975 with dancers competing in Ballroom and Latin dancing disciplines. (Photo by Oli Scarff/AFP Photo)

Kamaz' Russia driver Andrey Karginov, co-driver Andrey Mokeev and Igor Lenonov compete during the Stage 6 of the Dakar 2020 between Ha'il and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on January 10, 2020. (Photo by Franck Fife/AFP Photo)

People enjoy the fine weather on the coast at Wembury during the first ever nationwide survey to map the location of the threatened and creatures on March 24, 2011 in near Plymouth, England. Often found on the coast, and particularly in the south west of England, the number of oil beetle species found in the UK has halved in the last 100 years and the survey will help establish the whereabouts of the remaining four species and boost efforts to secure their future. The survey is being launched today by Buglife: The Invertebrate Trust and the National Trust in partnership with Natural England and Oxford University Museum of Natural History. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Participants run through the flames in the 2011 Spartacus Challenge on October 2, 2011 in Wolverhamton, England. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Visitors look at a tower exhibit of 429 different kinds of pumpkins and squash from all over the world at the Buschmann and Winkelmann pumpkin farm on October 9, 2011 in Beelitz, Germany. The farm, located in Brandenburg state near Berlin, harvests tens of thousands of pumpkins from approximately 40 different kinds between August and October and is known for its elaborate, theme-based pumpkin exhibits. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)