Canopy on Kepler-452b. I let a solution of the amino acids alanine and glutamine recrystallize on a slide. This scene, one of the many I spied on the slide, would fit on a bell pepper seed. Perhaps looking up through tree-like life on a habitable exoplanet like Kepler-452b would look like this.

Glycine is one of the 20 amino acids that build into your body's proteins. In 2016, NASA scientists found glycine in particles of the comet Wild 2 that were returned to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft. I recrystallized glycine on a glass slide. The area shown would fit inside of this printed o.

Abstract of an octopus dream. I found this sesame-seed-sized composition on a microscope slide on which I recrystallized the amino acid combo of alanine and glutamine from a solution. It elicited a cephalopod hallucination, until I looked away.

Begetting Flames. The recrystallization of the amino acids alanine & glutamine onto a glass slide almost always delivers surprises wrapped in beauty. Here I see a core of flame on the purple side of the spectrum giving way to flames on the yellow/red side. This visage would fit on a dragonfly's eye

Curtain Call. Could be a design for a 3-leaved theater curtain. What you see, actually, is a result of a recrystallization onto a microscope slide of the acetaminophen/codeine combo in a percocet pill that I had dissolved into an ethanol solution . The area you see would fit inside this printed O.

Portal in a Thicket. This dendritic formation emerged on a glass slide during a re-crystallization of the natural sweetener stevia and nitrogen-rich urea. On the slide, this molecular sculpture is the size of a freckle.

My book BEYOND BELIEF is out today! It says: in a world flooded with questionable claims and misinformation, evidence from science can help show what’s nonsense – and what’s not. In other words: "Essential reading for the rational-minded". Please repost! 1/🧵 @princetonupress.bsky.social

Small Salt. I recrystallized a pellet of Morton's water-softener salt, which is almost 100% NaCl, onto a microscope slide. The "big" cubic crystal would fit inside this O. The littler ones in the other picture, with the salt swords and waves, would fit on this period. Click pix for larger formats.

Portraits of Spring during a late April, late afternoon walk in South Mountain Reservation in NJ.

A maiden study of combining my crystal photomicrography imagery with original music. Turn on the sound!

Gratitude to Knowable Magazine for giving this article and second wind.

Roiling. On a microscope slide I recrystallized a combo of alanine and glutamine. These are two of the 20 amino acids that bond into the protein machines that do pretty much everything your body needs to be alive rather than dead. The actual area shown here could fit on a bell pepper seed.

Yang and Yang? Here I recrystallized urea, the world's most used fertilizer, with the amino acid taurine, first isolated from the bile of a bull. The symmetry of this formation, the size of a bread crumb, reminds me of the Yin-Yang symbol, except both components seem more Yang-like than Ying-like.

Crossing Paths. This formation emerged during a re-crystallization of the sweetener stevia nitrogen-rich urea onto a microscope slide. Stevia has a complex molecular structure, urea a much simpler one. On my slide, the hub of this criss-cross is the size of a the period at the end of this sentence.

Sweet Nitro Tsunami. This formation emerged during a re-crystallization of the natural sweetener stevia and urea, the world's largest nitrogenous commodity fertilizer and a end-chemical in your body's own metabolic industry. This wall of crystal plumage could fit inside of a pigeon's pupil.

A Drop of Rainbow. When it recrystallizes on a microscope slide, vitamin C can assume an astonishing range of forms. Here the edge of a curvaceous front, itself composed of linear crystallites, seems to drip with a chromatic drop of a mystical liquid. It would all fit inside of this printed O.

Seeing C. Shown here is a sesame-seed-size patch of a microscope slide on which I recrystallized vitamin C, aka ascorbic acid. Nature's beauty goes deep. Sometimes it takes tools like microscopes to show just how deep it goes.

The C Dragon. A sprinkle of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) dissolved in Mezcal. The solution, gently applied onto a glass slide. Then, heat and time. As the the vitamin recrystallized, a curious crystalline creature crawled onto the slide. I was not alarmed; it could be caged inside this printed O.

Outward Bound. On this patch of a microscope slide the size of this little o, a couple of amino acids, taurine and threonine recrystallized from a solution into this micronova. A polarizer helped bring out the texture and another optical filter helped to generate the colors.

Sweet & sour moon. The Artemis II mission has been gifting us with new vistas of our gorgeous Earth-Moon duet. This combo of mannnitol and vitamin C delivered their version of a microcosmic pair as they recrystallized on my microscope slides. Here, the moon would fits inside this O.

Fire and Ice. A combo of vitamin C and ascorbic acid, recrystallized from a Mezcal solution into formations that here mash crystalline cold w/flaming heat. Polarizing filters and a retarder, a wavelength-affecting optical element, help bring out the details. This formation would fit on this emogi: 🔥

A preseason dawn in Cape May, NJ.. Two pictures, a few minutes apart.

Mezcal in a C-scape. A solution of Vitamin C in Mezcal, gently applied onto a smooth glass slide. Then, heat and time. Such rewards for this preparation, including this formation showing multiple crystal fronts creating boundaries with each other. This formation would fit within this printed U.

Birds of Paradise in homage of Spring. I spied this floral composition on a slide of recrystallized glutamine & alanine, a pair of amino acids, which are the kinds of little molecules that build into the big protein molecules that get stuff done in your cells. The area here is the size of a lentil.

Starved for Fertilizer. The war with Iran has disrupted the world's fertilizer supply chain, which relies on urea. Here I recrystallized urea with the amino acid taurine, first isolated from the bile of a bull, onto a microscope slide. The area you see here would fit would fit on a sesame seed.

PORTAL OF TU. Another image from a recrystallization of the amino acid taurine with urea, a fertilizer (and urine component), onto a microscope slide. This sesame-seed-sized spot on the slide delivered a grabbing composition, rife with a "deep" portal and a fine geometric texture on the left

Oil prices are spiking due to Trump's war with Iran, but so are prices of fertilizers, including urea. I recrystallizerd urea with the amino acid taurine, which is in @redbull.com energy drinks, onto a microscope slide. This phyllo-like formation would fit within a pigeon's pupil.

Two chemicals: urea (in urine and fertilzer) and glycine (one of the 20 amino acids in our proteins). Dissolved in grain alcohol and then recrystallized onto a microscope slide. Here's one of the resulting formations. The area of the slide shown here would fit inside this printed O.

Urea-ka. Urea provides the molecular means by which your body rids itself of nitrogen-bearing waste. It also makes for a great agricultural fertilizer. I recrystallized urea, with a pinch of the amino acid glycine, on a microscope slide and took some pix. This formation is the size of a gnat.

Scenes from Analgesia. Recrystallized onto a microscope slide from a solution in ethanol, aspirin – aka acetylsalicylic acid, aka C9H8O4 – assumed many arresting forms. This one, which reminds me of snow-weighted boughs, would cover an area the size of a teeny pill suitable for a chipmunk.

Flaming Aminos. On a microscope slide, the amino acids alanine and glutamine recrystallized from a solution into roiling formations like this one. Your proteins, which are molecular actors for everything you do, are rife with these biochemicals. The area shown here would fit on the head of a match.

Spiraling Vitamins. I recrystallized vitamins B12 and C onto a microscope slide. I was thunderstruck by the gorgeous spiral formations that emerged. In this case, a winged being also appears to be escaping from my microscope slide. The area shown here might fit in side one this letter B's windows.

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts has released the 2025 Artist Fellowship Catalog, now both online and as a hard copy. I am thrilled and grateful that the council included me and my crystal photomicrography work among such an engaging and diverse group NJ artists. lnkd.in/e8rhzJKW

An Arc of C. As it recrystallizes from a solution (in this case with the solvent known as Mezcal), ascorbic acid, aka vitamin C, seems to revel in the forms it can accrete into. The Arc of C that you see here, on a microscope slide, would just about overlay the span of this printed s.

The Eye of C. A recrystallization of Vitamin C – a life-affirming arrangement of 20 carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atoms – from a solution in @Mezcal, delivered wondrous formations on my glass slide. This one stared right back at me. On the slide, it's way smaller than a dragonfly's eye.

A mini-shot of Mezcal. A sprinkle of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C). The solution, gently applied onto a smooth glass slide. Then, heat and time. Such rewards for this preparation, including this alluring formation, replete with hints of citrus. On the slide, it would within the arms of this printed U.

The antihistamine cetirizine, aka C21H25ClN2O3, sold as Zyrtec, quells one of your body's world-class agitators: histamine, aka C5H9N3. I recrystallized cetirizine onto a glass slide and got gobsmacked by gorgeous crystal formations like this one. It's the size of a fruit fly's face.

Acid-freedom II. Another image from a recrystallization of Omeprazole, a proton-pump inhibitor (stomach-acid blocker) sold as Prilosec. Lots of intersecting needle crystals formed on my microscope slide into formations like these. The area shown is about the size of an asterisk.

Acid-freedom. I recrystallized Omeprazole, a proton-pump inhibitor sold also as Prilosec, onto a microscope slide It can be a help in tamping down stomach acid, which can cause troubles like heartburn and the discomfort of reflux conditions. The area shown is about the size of printed asterisk.

Amino Acid Amore. Gotto bless amino acids, the building blocks of all of our proteins without which our living tissue would be as inanimate as styrofoam. Here's one crystalline formation, which could fit inside this O, of the amino acids alanine and glutamine. You can see waves of crystal growth.

Ascorbic Prayer Flags. On a slide bearing recrystallized Vitamin C, aka ascorbic acid, this cluster of crystal platelets aligned like Tibetan Prayer Flags. Only the crystal flags are the size of poppy seeds.

Just can't get enough Vitamin C, a 20-atom superhero in our cells with a chemical formula of C6H8O6. I recrystallized it using cover slip and ended up with this plate-dominated formation on the microscope slide. If this were a high-fashion scarf, it would be sized right for a mosquito.

I took a look at de-icing salts, which I recrystallized onto a glass slide, under my microscope. This product included three slats" sodium chloride, calcium chloride & magnesium chloride. Each element of the image shown is comparable in size to a bit of fly anatomy, say, an eye or a knee joint.

Points and Lines. An experiment in recrystallizing salicylic acid (C₇H₆O₃), a staple for wart medicine (think Dr. Scholl's) and a chemical precursor to aspirin, yielded a variety of microscopic formations, including this one The area here on a microscope slide is the size of a typical freckle.

Acetaminophen (aka C8H9NO2), the active ingredient in TYLENOL, recrystallized from an ethanol solution onto a microscope slide. This formation, about as wide as a mosquito leg and half the length of its body, caught my eye. Brace for the cold and a near infinitude of gorgeous snow crystals!

I recrystallized the combo of vitamin C and the sweetener stevia from a vodka solution onto a microscope slide. This is one of the beautiful formations that took shape as the ethanol solvent evaporated. This fanlike crystal would be about the right size for bee in need of cooling on a hot day.

A combo of the amino acid alanine and the sweetener stevia recrystallized onto a microscope slide from a solution in a 75% grain alcohol. A microscopic kelpscape, which could probably fit within the area of a guppy's eye, emerged along with a couple of half-faces with deep meditative expressions.

A combo of two chemicals found in cells, inositol and alanine, recrystallized from a solution onto a slide into a strange microcrystalline fossil spine. I wonder what kind of full-fleshed creature such a spin might support. This crystallo-skeletal fragment would fit inside of a spineless fruit fly.

Portrait of a Relaxer: First chemically synthesized in 1961, cylcobenzaprine was initially studied as an antidepressant, but now is mostly prescribed as a muscle relaxant. I recrystallized a pill's water-soluble components onto a microscope slide. Here's one formation. It's the size of a fly's eye.

Another from the Aging with Grace series. Here, a pair of amino acids (lysine and glutamine) solidified on the slide. The slide sat for a few days enough time for some slow sublimation that I suspect contributed to the mosaic-like result. The area shown here might cover a pigeon's pupil.