Fruit Fly Foot and Beetle Antenna

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Smalls things, big thinking

Dr Chris Forman from the University of Cambridge explores the incredible images of a fruit fly foot and beetle antenna. The images depict the incredible complexity that exists in what we might consider to be a fairly simple organism.

Forman is looking into the way nature constructs materials from only a small collection of core elements, such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen. His research is currently looking at how such processes can be integrated into modern manufacturing, combining the same basic materials into a wide range of structures for all kinds of products 'from food to factories'.

Size of these images:

μm = micron (one thousandth of a millimetre)

Fruit fly foot: 50 μm across (thin strand of human hair).Antenna: 60-70 μm across (strand of human hair)