Articles by Melissa Wiley | Smithsonian Magazine

In the garden, Levisticum is a tall plant with dark leaves and greenish-yellow flowers. Under a microscope, however, it can morph into a cellular rainbow. This image was made using polarized light to enhance contrast. Waves in polarized light share an orientation, and special filters can block out any unpolarized waves and make the fine details easier to see.

New Exhibit Showcases the Power of Light in Our Everyday Lives

The open-source show "LIGHT: Beyond the Bulb" crosses disciplines to show the many ways photonics has improved our lives

February 3, 2015

The underside of this recently flipped iceberg is glassy and free of debris.

An Iceberg Flipped Over, and Its Underside Is Breathtaking

On vacation in Antarctica, filmmaker and photographer Alex Cornell captured an unusual sight

January 22, 2015

This multicolored lily pad is actually a bloom of the iron-based mineral hematite in Brazilian quartz.

Surreal Photos Reveal the Otherworldly Insides of Gemstones

If you thought gems were beautiful to the naked eye, take a look at them under a microscope

January 13, 2015

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