The tip of a spiral shell has broken off and become a grain of sand . It is opalescent from the repeated tumbling action of the surf. Surrounding the shell fragment are five other sand grains, from top middle clockwise, (1) a pink shell fragment, (2) a foram, (3) a microscopic shell, (4) a volcanic melt, and (5) a bit of coral. Image Copyright 2008 Dr. Gary Greenberg, All Rights Reserved.

Sand from Zushi Beach, Japan, contains what looks like a sapphire crystal. The crystal is larger than the surrounding grains and has survived eroding because of its hardness and quality. Image Copyright 2008 Dr. Gary Greenberg, All Rights Reserved.

The glacially deposited sands around Lake Winnibigoshish, Minnesota, contain abundant sediments from the igneous and metamorphic minerals of the Lake Superior basin. A sample includes pink garnets, green epidote, iron-rich red agates, black magnetite, and hematite. Image Copyright 2008 Dr. Gary Greenberg, All Rights Reserved.

About the Author

Artist/scientist/inventor Gary Greenberg combines his passions for art and science, creating dramatic photographic landscapes of everyday objects. Originally trained as a photographer and filmmaker, at the age of 33, he moved from Los Angeles to London, to earn a Ph.D. in biomedical research from University College London. Dr. Greenberg was an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California during the 1980’s, and in 1990, he began inventing and manufacturing high-definition three-dimensional light microscopes.

For the past six years, Greenberg has focused his microscopes on common objects, such as grains of sand, flowers, and food. These everyday objects take on a new reality when magnified hundreds of times. His images of sand make us realize that as we walk along a beach we are strolling on millions of years of biological and geological history. He believes that art is a window through which we can appreciate the miracles of nature.