Rutgers Scientist Transforms Tiny Critters Into Art (VIDEOS)

You don’t have to scour the ends of the Earth to catch a glimpse of amazing and awe-inspiring creatures. In fact, some of them can be found in a puddle in a New Jersey parking lot.

Julia Van Etten, a doctoral student in ecology and evolution at Rutgers University has been building up an audience of thousands of social media users with her breathtakingly detailed videos and images of diatoms, algae, plankton, insect larvae and other microorganisms.

“Major research groups are going to the ends of the earth to search for diverse beautiful species to uncover and of course that’s really important, but there are literally undiscovered species right in our backyards that need to be found as well,” Van Etten said.

“I love capturing them as both a scientist… and an artist,” she added.

The photos of her “subjects” – all collected from New Jersey bodies of water – have been thrilling Instagram users for more than a year (you can order prints of her work here). But the fascinating pics are now starting to make waves in the scientific community, as well as the art world.

The photos are now the basis for a research and teaching project at Rutgers–New Brunswick’s Genome Cooperative, according to Van Etten’s doctoral advisor, Debashish Bhattacharya.

Bhattacharya said the cooperative wants Van Etten to lead research on understanding the diversity of local algae and learning how to adapt it for human needs – similar to work being done by ExxonMobil and other companies which are seeking to use algae for fuel production and other applications.

Here’s perhaps the coolest thing about Julia Van Etten’s breathtaking “microorganism art”… it’s all science she did at home with a humble $315 microscope.

According to Rutgers University:

“Van Etten began sharing images of microorganisms on her Instagram page in July 2017, after late-stage Lyme disease forced her to delay her start date at Rutgers for a year while she recovered. Unable to spend time studying algae out in the field, she worked on locally collected samples and viewed them with a home microscope – hence the name “Couch Microscopy.”

Here's what the artist/scientist says about her Couch Microscopy movement:

“Couch Microscopy is a project I started in July, 2017 from my couch while I was recovering from a long-term illness and stuck at home. I go out as often as I can with a tiny plankton net and a few jars and collect water samples from puddles, ponds, streams, swamps, oceans, and any other weird location I find myself in. I use inexpensive equipment that anyone can purchase online… I think that microscopy is an underutilized and super interesting art form and hobby that anyone can learn.”

• See related article: Vincent Van Gogh-Bot Paints Murals In West Orange (VIDEOS)
• See related article: These Scientists Just Got $1 Million To Study Fish Pelvises

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Main photo: A tardigrade in a darkfield (by Julia Van Etten, via Rutgers University). Additional photos used with permission, Rutgers University