This is a tiny biological factory, called a diatom. There are trillions of them in the oceans and they are responsible of 20% of the oxygen generated each year. . Diatoms have cell walls made of literally glass, these magnificent cell walls are called the frustules. The frustules often have species-specific decoration on them. Can you see the beautiful lines running horizontally on this one in the clip? . I feel so happy when I watch diatoms be diatoms on my slides. Thank you for reading. . Best

These are some diatom under low magnification, it's just magnified 40x. They are long dead, but because the diatoms have something unique, their corpses look really beautiful. . Diatoms have literally glass cell walls called the frustules. It's made of silica, the main ingredient of glass, and when the diatoms die these frustules deposit on the ocean floor for millions of years and create meters thick layers of something called the diatomaceous earth. . Can you imagine dead bodies of microscopic

2.8K views · 168 reactions | This is a diatom and it’s dying. ....