The First Snowflake Photograph - Neatorama

We've seen some amazing photographs of snowflakes taken by microscope cameras. Did you know the first photograph of a single snowflake dates back to 1885? Wilson A. Bentley adapted a microscope to a bellows camera and worked for years before his first successful snowflake photograph.

In 1903, he sent 500 prints of his snowflakes to the Smithsonian, hoping they might be of interest to Secretary Samuel P. Langley. These images are now part of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Bentley’s book Snow Crystals, with more than 2,400 snowflake images, was published in 1931. This photomicrograph and more than 5,000 others supported the belief that no two snowflakes are alike, leading scientists to study his work and publish it in numerous scientific articles and magazines.

See Bentley's photographs, which are not on display at any museum, online at The Smithsonian Institution. Link

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I'll never get tired of looking at snowflakes! When I moved to Michigan with my ex-husband he thought my fascination with them was hilarious but hey...I was born and raised in Florida fer cryin out loud. I'd only seen snow two times in my life before that and it was more like what should properly be called sleet. It wasn't flakes. The ex looked at me like I was crazy the first time I noticed some snowflakes on a window and blurted out, "WOW! Snowflakes really DO look like all the drawings I've seen of them!" I always thought the six-pointed flakes like the one in the picture here were just a fanciful representation of snowflakes and they didn't really look like that.

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Actually, there is an entire (though small) museum exhibit dedicated to Bentley's work in Jericho, Vermont, his hometown. The Jericho Historical Society has original photographs, reprints, and some of his original equipment are on display.

http://snowflakebentley.com/museum2.htm

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Coral isn't a plant.

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Corals aren't plants...

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D'oh. I was slow.

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Not a plant.

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Things that look even more like the stuff on pandora are "christmas tree worms", they retract just as quickly and look the same.

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I always figured that's where they got the idea? Anyway, what about those little round things in tide pools? I always enjoyed poking them and watching them scrunch up. And those are hardly the only organisms which exhibit such behavior.

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I'm pretty sure the idea came from the polychaetes, a class of annelid worms. Yes, they're animals and worms.

As whiterabbit said, I think it's based on "Christmas tree worms" (Spirobranchus giganteus). Here a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVJcBRqzr8Y

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There are also tube worms that do the same thing in coral reefs. But as almost every one else has said, corals aren't plants.

Cola: tide pools where? There are lots of different critters in different tide pools all over the world.

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Pandora envy sweeeps the nation! That is really cool though, makes you think the creators of the film had based the plants on this exact species.
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Um yeah.. it's not a plant, and it's not a coral either!
It's a sea cucumber(an Echinoderm), probably in the order Dendrochirotida.

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Here in the Philippines, we have a similar plant. It's called the makahiya. It folds up its leaves when it's touched.

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You mean this?

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Zava, tide pools in Oregon. I'm pretty sure these critters are common in this climate. I can't seem to find the species, though. It's some kind of anemone. It looks like a little green mouth with fuzzy lips and it scrunches up and closes when you touch it into a little brown lump.

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Everything on Pandora was based (in most parts) on stuff you find on Earth. I don't know why people are so surprised to find similar stuff here...

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Everything on Pandora was based on a really dumb film.

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"Pandora Depression" makes me want to self-hurt.

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here in brazil we have a plant that folds its leaves when touched http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP7Y5cv9fP0

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In France we have snails...

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