September 26, 2002

10:13 AM

Vovox: An alga consisting of photosynthetic, flagellated cells, organized into a spherical colony, which may contain daughter colonies. But the main issue is: they're really neat-looking. And here they are in anaglyph 3-D.
posted by interrobang (11 comments total)

God, a typo in the first word. My ears are all hot and stuff. Sorry.
posted by interrobang at 10:15 AM on September 26, 2002

oh, interrobang! I forgive you the typo: the links are gorgeous!
posted by realjanetkagan at 11:15 AM on September 26, 2002

I was hoping this was a post about Voivod or Xymox or some shit.

Seriously, though. This is really cool stuff. Flagellated algae definitely blur the line between plant and animal, but this is the coolest part:

This arrangement may be an ancestral form of multicellularity.

Very cool.
posted by mikrophon at 11:16 AM on September 26, 2002

Back in freshman biology, Volvox were the killer app for binocular microscopes. Very cool looking when you can see them as spheres.
posted by straight at 11:22 AM on September 26, 2002

Ditto straight, this takes me straight back to high school.
posted by Grod at 12:00 PM on September 26, 2002

Thanks interrobang! I think they're neat-looking as well. I actually love all forms of microscopy. Some of my favorite sites are : pollen, fungi, and this guy who has a searchable image library from viruses to insects. And if you think you have a firm grasp on all things microscopic, then check out the mystery images of nanoworld. No one has guessed this one correctly yet.
posted by snez at 12:03 PM on September 26, 2002

Neat! Thanks, snez. Among the many incorrect guesses for this are:

ears
gonads
salami


yuk, yuk.
posted by interrobang at 12:53 PM on September 26, 2002

Volvox was the high point of eigth grade biology...the links are great, but they don't capture the incredible perfection of the spheres and the spacing. Beautiful things!
posted by hippugeek at 1:55 PM on September 26, 2002

Volvox are probably the favorite of every student who took microbiology 101 just because they are so easy to recognize...and they dance!
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 3:24 PM on September 26, 2002

I'm rather fond of the phylum Rotifera.
posted by rotifer at 4:51 PM on September 26, 2002

That's no moon ....
posted by dhartung at 8:56 PM on September 26, 2002