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Macro or Micro? Scientists’ pictures baffle our sense of scale. It began when Stephen Young, a geography professor at Salem State University in Massachusetts, tricked his biologist colleague Paul Kelly into thinking a satellite image was one of his electron microscope scans. The two then began collecting and creating images that baffle our sense of scale. The images, which include close-ups of a dragonfly wing and aerial pictures of the Sahara desert, have now been exhibited at both Salem State University’s Winfisky Gallery and Clark University’s Traina Center for the Visual and Performing Arts. Can you guess whether they are close-up or very far away?


Micro or Macro? It's micro: this is an electron microscope image of the wing of a Green Darner dragonfly. (Photo by P. Kelly)

Micro or Macro? It's micro: this is an electron microscope image of the wing of a Green Darner dragonfly. (Photo by P. Kelly)




Micro or Macro? It's micro: this is a 1mm-wide sample of green Alga Marchantia. (Photo by P. Kelly)

Micro or Macro? It's micro: this is a 1mm-wide sample of green Alga Marchantia. (Photo by P. Kelly)



Micro or Macro? It's macro: this image is a satellite photograph of central Mali, in Saharan Africa, processed to show heat and photosynthesis. (Photo by S. Young)

Micro or Macro? It's macro: this image is a satellite photograph of central Mali, in Saharan Africa, processed to show heat and photosynthesis. (Photo by S. Young)




Micro or Macro? It's macro: these are sand dunes in the Erg Oriental region of Algeria, as seen from the International Space Station. (Photo by S. Young/Johnson Space Center)

Micro or Macro? It's macro: these are sand dunes in the Erg Oriental region of Algeria, as seen from the International Space Station. (Photo by S. Young/Johnson Space Center)




Micro or Macro? It's micro: this is an electron microscope image of a polished Magnetite sample. (Photo by P. Kelly)

Micro or Macro? It's micro: this is an electron microscope image of a polished Magnetite sample. (Photo by P. Kelly)




Micro or Macro? It's micro: these cave-like organic structures are the muscle fibres from a sparrow's heart. (Photo by P. Kelly)

Micro or Macro? It's micro: these cave-like organic structures are the muscle fibres from a sparrow's heart. (Photo by P. Kelly)




Micro or Macro? It's micro: although it looks like a coastal landscape, this is in fact a polished mineral sample 2.5mm wide. (Photo by P. Kelly)

Micro or Macro? It's micro: although it looks like a coastal landscape, this is in fact a polished mineral sample 2.5mm wide. (Photo by P. Kelly)




Micro or Macro? It's micro: you're looking at the skin of a Leopard Frog, taken with an electron microscope. (Photo by P. Kelly)

Micro or Macro? It's micro: you're looking at the skin of a Leopard Frog, taken with an electron microscope. (Photo by P. Kelly)
21 Apr 2014 10:24:00