microscope

Here's what you might not know about these banes of childhood: Though other species of lice infest other mammals and even birds, Pediculus humanus capitis lives on the human scalp and nowhere else. A louse spends the first week or so of its life as an egg, or nit, before hatching into a nymph. Over the course of about seven days, the nymph will molt three times, growing bigger each time, until it reaches the adult stage.

This is a compilation of videos and digital-time lapse footage from Nikon's photomicrography contest edited together by The Atlantic. 

The full list of winners can be found here: http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/news/a...

Individual Foldscopes, as Dr Prakash dubs them, are printed on A4 sheets of paper (ideally polymer-coated for durability). A pattern of perforations on the sheet marks out the 'scope's components, which are colour-coded in a way intended to assist the user in the task of assembly—for the Foldscope has no written instructions to guide, or possibly frustrate, the user.