A fortune cookie, Vitamin C, a brussel sprout, an Oreo cookie, a shrimp tail, a pineapple leaf, a passionfruit and a raisin under Caren Alpert's microscope.

"What’s the difference between a bird’s-eye view of a remote vegetable crop and a microscopic swath from a pineapple leaf? How distinct is a pile of table salt from miles and miles of icebergs?"

"The genesis of this project started when I was probably too young to even realize it. As a child, my parents subscribed to “3-2-1 Contact” Magazine for my sister and me. [ “3-2-1 Contact” was a science educational television show which aired on public television in the 1980s, and had an accompanying children’s magazine.] I was always fascinated with the backpage quiz. It was a tiling of approximately 9 photographs: 3 across/3 down, and all abstractions/details of some commonplace object that we, as kids, generally overlooked. I recall it so clearly: bicycle spokes, bubbles in soda pop, the treads on the bottom of a tennis shoe, etc….The reader had to guess what the photo was. This kept me entertained the whole month, until the next issue came in the mail."

via kottke.