Photo: Charles Krebs
RESEARCH

Poetic Algae Under the Microscope

Thinker-in-residence at the Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra, Australia pondered the patterns of algae he found on a walk. Charles Krebs noted the likeness of the forms to Japanese script – seeing the serendipity and beauty of nature and the interconnectedness of the world around us
"I stopped by a small lake today and found the surface covered by an algal bloom. Looking at a sample under the microscope it appeared to be the cyanobacteria ("blue-green alga") Aphanizomenon flos-aquae. At low magnification I was struck at how strongly the "clumps" of strands reminded me of Japanese hiragana and katakana characters"
Charles Krebs