Big Microgametophytes
November 2, 2022 9:43 PM   Subscribe

The 3D Pollen Project have scanned and modeled about twenty types of pollen grain for those with access to a printer.

Interactive virtual models of some are at sketchfab.
The project also has a page of resources for some not-pollen models, including foraminifera, radiolaria and phytoplankton.
posted by thatwhichfalls (5 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
The gallery of pollen at your second link is amazing. I found the maple pollen especially entrancing. What a strange and unaccountable shape! Yet it seems to be trying to tell me something …

A long time ago I read a fascinating article about pollen in Scientific American featuring electron micrographs of pollen at a time when electron micrographs were still uncommon enough to feel exotic, and in the letters column the next month, some poor innocent scientist pointed out that the dimples on some made them look like golf balls, and then speculated that the dimpling reduced drag on pollen the way it did on golf balls.

And then either in the letters column next month or that month by special invitation, reigning doyen of fluid mechanics Ascher Shapiro just tore him to pieces with a brief and very pointed discussion of the importance of Reynolds numbers to fluid flow, and the orders of magnitude of difference of Reynolds numbers for the two situations. I felt very sorry for that guy, but it didn’t spoil my pleasure and awe at the complexity of these tiny things.
posted by jamjam at 1:36 AM on November 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Oooh, I’m going to print up some basketball sized hay pollen and then beat the ever-loving sh!t out of it with a baseball bat. I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 5:12 AM on November 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Is it any surprise that ragweed pollen* (and others like it) are so irritating? You might as well inhale a hedgehog.

*SEM image (2800x).
posted by cenoxo at 4:13 AM on November 4, 2022 [1 favorite]


Nice! I forwarded to one of my HS science teacher colleagues who is also a 3d printing enthusiast.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 11:43 AM on November 4, 2022 [1 favorite]


Ragweed pollen is a huge and growing international problem.

It’s native to South America, has conquered the US while laughing in the face of eradication programs, and is currently marching unstoppably through Europe. I don’t think it would be exaggerating to call it an unfolding, sub rosa, worldwide disaster.
posted by jamjam at 1:34 PM on November 4, 2022


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