Don’t let this ghostly image frighten you. Though spectral-looking, this depiction of a thale-cress flower is the result of chemically clearing its outer tissue so you can see inside the flower. Don’t ...

While this might look like an impressionistic painting of a lush bouquet, it’s actually a microscopic image of mold growing in a culture dish. In fact, if you’ve ever wondered what the fuzz on those ...

This yawning abyss surrounded by colorful ovals is a cross section through the spore-bearing part of a fungus that’s a cousin of the famous (at least in culinary circles) porcini mushroom. Get a ...

This might be the youngest plant you will ever see: a brand-new thale-cress sprout, or germen, emerging from its seed casing – ready to take root and grow. This might be the youngest plant you will ...

These golden strands look as if they could be the “amber waves of grain” extolled in the song “America the Beautiful.” But they’re actually spore-producing filaments, growing from a tangle of fibers ...

It looks as if this juvenile crab got a dye job at the salon – but it’s actually an image taken under ultraviolet light. Tiny crabs at this stage of their life cycle are free-floating. As adults, they ...

This hermit crab has poked its head out of its protective shell to take in its surroundings. Hermit crabs long ago established a tight relationship with the marine snail shells they live in. Since ...

The green wormlike structures covering the blue cell in this image are individual Ebola virus particles. This is the virus that causes Ebola virus disease (EVD), also known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever; ...

Wouldn’t it be great to have food constantly delivered to your doorstep? If you look closely at these coral polyps, you can also see zooxanthellae, single-celled algae, doing exactly that – providing ...

While this tailless whip scorpion may look like a creature from a nightmare, it’s a harmless critter. Contrary to the implication of its common name, it can’t whip or sting and none of its many pointy ...

This woodlouse, also known as a pill bug or roly-poly, is demonstrating how the species can roll its armored body into a nearly impenetrable sphere when it’s threatened. This woodlouse, also known as ...

The serrated orange spheres in this image are pollen grains, snug within the anther of a chicory flower. According to European folklore, chicory flowers can open locked doors or grant their possessor ...