It's a Small World

When viewed through a microscope, everyday items may take on an entirely new appearance.

An electron microscope, such as the one used to take these pictures, allows scientists to view smaller objects in greater detail than an ordinary optical microscope does. It can create images of things as tiny as molecules and atoms.

These photographs by Dee Breger are three of the 50 that appear in a new book, Journeys in Microspace (Columbia University Press, $39.50.)

Can you identify the subjects? (Answers below.)

1. A mosquito wing. 2. The soft side of a Velcro fastener. 3.The fabric of a nylon stocking.