Life Magnified Stamps

Description

With 20 otherworldly images, this issuance explores ife on Eath, as few have ever seen it. The pane features images taken usingmicroscopes and highly specialized photographic techniques to capture details of life undetectable by the human eye.
The stamps include vivid images of red blood cells, the feather of a macaw parrot, a knotted strand of human hair, moss leavesdiatom shells (photosynthesizing algae), freshwater protozoans, an acorn barnacle, a moth's antenna, the front foot of a divingbeetle, neurons from a mouse's brain, bone tissue from a starling, scales on the wing of a Madagascan sunset moth, a juvenilezebrafish, mushroom gills, the tongue of a freshwater snal, a blue button (an organism similar to a jelyfish, mold spores, the legsknown as cirri of a bamacle, flame ilv polen, and the surface of a southern ive oak eaf.
For hundreds of vears, scientists have held deep fascination with making the invisible elements of our world visible. The imagesthat result from microscope-based research show, in exquisitely fine detal, the phenomena of life. While stunning on their own asworks of art, these images also hold scientific significance.
Microscopists, both professional and amateur, use a variety of technigues to capture the beauty of their subjects. A scanningelectron microscope (SEM), which directs beams of electrons at a sample and then records the electrons emitted by that sample.can provide an extended depth of field giving the impression of a three-dimensional subiect, SEMs produce black-and-whiteimages that are often colorized by scientists.
Confocal microscopy is a process that scans a specimen to create several optical sections of the subject. Scientists then stackthese images to provide an extended depth of field giving the impression of a three-dimensional reconstruction of the subiectMany more techniques and equipment exist for capturing specimens in ever greater detail.
Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamps and the stamp pane using existing photographs.The Life Magnified stamps are being issued as Forever@ stamps, These Forever stamps wll always be equal in value to thecurrent First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Made in the USA.