magnification

Who knew a dipperful of seawater contained so much life? Well, photographer David Liittschwager, that's who, because in 2006 he captured this eye-opening photograph for National Geographic.

Next time you're at the beach, forget about the sunset or the crashing waves or the light that's reflecting off of the water just so; if you want an amazing photo opportunity, all you have to do is look down at the stuff between your toes.

We're talking, of course, about sand. And if you're thinking that sand isn't exactly photogenic we have a feeling your opinions will change once you feast your eyes on what Dr. Gary Greenberg saw when he put sand grains under the microscope.

Are you ready for this? An international team of researchers have developed the world's first telescopic contact lens -- a 1.17mm thick pair of contact lenses that, when you want them to, will magnify your vision by 2.8x.

Last month we wrote about how the small focusing lens inside a laser pointer can be repurposed as a cheap macro lens for your smartphone. After seeing this project online, photo enthusiast John Coleman decided to give it a shot. To keep the lens secure against your phone, you'll need something to hold it (e.g. a hair pin) and some tape to attach the holder to the phone. The photo above shows the super simple attachment Coleman created.

Ever wonder what a vinyl record looks like under an electron microscope? Okay, probably not. Luckily, there's people who do, including Chris Supranowitz, who created a number of electron microscope images for a course at the University of Rochester.

Here's a photograph of the record grooves captured by Supranowitz at 500x magnification. Those dark chunks you see are dust particles.